Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See

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CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY

The details of the founding of the cathedral of Carlisle are very precise and clear.

When William Rufus returned southwards after re-establishing the city of Carlisle, he left as governor a rich Norman priest named Walter. He began at once to build a church to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was to have in connection with it a college of secular canons. Walter did not, however, live to see the building finished, and Henry I. took it upon himself to complete the good work. It is said that his wife on one hand, and his chaplain on the other, urged him to do this. By the beginning of the twelfth century (1123) he founded and endowed a priory of regular Augustinian canons, making his chaplain the first prior.

Ten years afterwards—1133—Henry founded the see of Carlisle, and the priory church became the cathedral. At its endowment Henry laid on the altar the famous "cornu eburneum," now lost. This horn was given, instead of a written document, as proof of the grants of tithes. Its virtue was tried in 1290 when the prior claimed some tithes on land in the forest of Inglewood, but it was decided that the grant did not originally cover the tithes in dispute. "The ceremony of investiture with a horn is very ancient, and was in use before there were any written charters. We read of Ulf, a Danish prince, who gave all his lands to the church of York; and the form of endowment was this: he brought the horn out of which he usually drank, and before the high altar kneeling devoutly drank the wine, and by that ceremony enfeoffed the church with all his lands and revenues." (Jefferson, "History of Carlisle," 171n.)

Aldulf (or Æthelwulf) was made the first bishop, and he placed Augustinians in the monastery attached to the cathedral. These were called "black" canons, their cassocks, cloaks, and hoods being of that colour. A further difference between them and other monks was that they let their beards grow and covered their heads with caps. As a consequence of this order being introduced into the monastery the Episcopal chapter was Augustinian, other English cathedral chapters being generally Benedictine.

On some high ground between the west wall of the city, and the road to the castle the cathedral was built. The site was nearly square in shape, about five acres in extent, and was the highest part in Carlisle after that on which the castle stood. This situation was very advantageous owing to the presence of water near the surface, its frontage to the city wall, and proximity to the river. A narrow piece of ground of about half-an-acre, extending along the walls, and upon which the monastic grounds abutted, was in after years given to the priory by its owner, Robert de Eglesfield, who was chaplain to Philippa, wife of Henry III.

The church was set out, almost due east and west, diagonally across the north-west part of the site, the west end being about 100 feet from the boundary; and was finished about 1130. Its nave consisted of eight bays, and was about 140 feet long.

There was a very fine west front with a handsome central doorway of four orders. The western wall was more than 7 feet in thickness, and had four flat pilaster buttresses nearly 7 feet broad, and 15 inches deep.

The nave was provided with north and south aisles covered with high-pitched wooden roofs, while the north and south transepts were also roofed in a similar manner, and a small apsidal chapel projected from the eastern face of each. The archway of the south transept apse is now the entrance to St. Catherine's Chapel. With the exception of the present elaborate entrance to the south transept and the window above it, the transept is identical with that of the Norman minster.

The choir was only 80 feet long, reaching to the end of the present stalls. Eastward it terminated in an apse. Its width can be judged from traces of the original roof, still perceptible in the west wall of the present choir. In accordance with a frequent arrangement, the ritual choir extended westward of the crossing, and included the two eastern bays of the nave.

In the centre was a low square typical Norman tower, 35 feet square, of which the lower parts of the piers remain. To allow for the extension of the ritual choir the eastern and western arches of the crossing were carried on corbels.

White or grey sandstone from quarries in the district was used in the construction of the minster, perhaps supplemented by stones from the Roman wall. Stucco was applied to the exterior, red lines marking the joints. There is no doubt that this stucco has materially helped to keep the Norman stone-work in a good state of preservation....