Monument record 10641 - Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary

This monument refers to the post- Dissolution Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, formerly the medieval Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh (CHER 10640), and is discussed in a number of individual monument records for clarity: the bell tower is represented by CHER 10641/1, the bishop’s palace by CHER 10641/2, the deanery by CHER 10641/3, the abbey courtyard by CHER 10641/4, the cemetery by CHER 10641/5 and the King’s school by CHER 10641/6. Please note that any formerly medieval elements of the cathedral, that continued to exist into post medieval times and beyond, are discussed within the sub-records for CHER 10640. More detail can be found in these individual records.

Between 1538 and 1541 Henry VIII began to confiscate the property of all formerly monastic institutions as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but in anticipation of this, the Abbey of St Werburgh in Chester had already released all of its possessions. By January 1540 the abbey’s 28 monks and annual income of £1,073 had been surrendered to the crown. Ten of the staff, including the abbot, remained to staff the new Chester Cathedral. The newly-created diocese of Chester became the seat of the new Bishop (1).

The cathedral church and chapels, the cloister, the administrative and domestic buildings of the former Benedictine abbey were simply transferred to their new uses with the context of a cathedral rather than an abbey, and over the course of this period, several significant architectural alterations took place. The south transept with two aisles also served as St Oswald's parish church during the sixteenth century, perhaps since 1509, when St Oswald's became a separate parish and the abbey precinct became an extra parochial area. The doorway at the south end of the transept would have been made about this time for the parishioners to enter. The south transept has a nineteenth century figure of a saint in a niche. The late Lady Chapel, as it stands is of a late thirteenth century date. The west window has glass of 1961 by WT Carter Shapland depicting Mary, the northern saints and Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia. The consistory court in the stump of the south-west tower has screen to nave and full furnishings of early seventeenth century date for Bishop Bridgeman. The six-bay nave has south arcade of mid fourteenth century date and the north arcade, largely designed to match, was built between 1485 and 1493 for Abbot Simon Ripley with his monogram on west respond capital; the east bay of each arcade has continuous mouldings; the shafts, triforiums and clerestorys above each arcade slope outward. The north aisle wall is covered by mural mosaics depicting Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah. The south chapel, with sedilia (seats used by officiating clergy) and the piscina (stone basin used for washing items used at Mass and the hands of the priest) in its south wall. The choir aisle gates are from 1558 from Guadalajara, presented to Chester Cathedral in 1876. The late fourteenth century stalls with fine misericords, richly carved bench-ends and canopies, some restored 1870s, are of high quality and interest. The Lady Chapel east of the high altar is a three-bay structure with tripartite vaulting shafts sloping sharply outward as they rise and rib-vaults with three fine carved bosses: the Trinity, the Virgin and Child and the murder of St Thomas Becket. St Werburgh's Shrine, behind the high altar is of stone and dates to the fourteenth century. At the corner with the nave aisle is a seventeenth century whale-ivory carving of the Tree of Jesse (2).

<1> Burne, R. V. H., 1958, Chester Cathedral: from its founding by Henry VIII to the accession of Queen Victoria (Book). SCH4878.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<3> Hicklin, John, 1850, Christian Monuments (Article in Journal). SCH5497.

<4> Rickman, Thomas, 1864, On the Architectural History of Chester Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH5516.

<5> R.C.H., 1868, Notes on recent discoveries in Chester Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH6529.

<6> Scott G.G, 1885, Architectural History of Chester Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH6419.

<7> Lewis C.P & Thacker A.T. (eds), 2005, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume Vii, The City of Chester - The City of Chester, Culture, Buildings, Institutions (Book). SCH6522.

<8> Burne, R. V. H., 1948, The Dissolution of S. Werburgh's Abbey (Article in Journal). SCH5769.

<9> Maddison J.M., 1981, The Choir of Chester Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH5934.

<10> University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2001, Chester Cathedral External Elevation drawings of the North Transept. Part of the Stage 2 Cathedral Survey Work (Client Report). SCH6201.

<11> Ward, S. W., 2000, Recent Work at St John the Baptist, Chester's Medieval Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH6498.

<12> Chester Archaeology, 2000, Chester Cathedral Song School 2000: Evaluation, R2337 (Client Report). SCH3922.

<13> Ayrton, William, 1850, The Norman Remains of Chester Cathedral (Article in Journal). SCH5499.

<14> Chester Archaeology, 1998, Chester Catherdral 1998, Cloister East Range: Survey and Assessment (Client Report). SCH3988.

<15> Higham N J, 1984-9, Professor Nick Higham's Aerial Photographs, 1986/5/50 & 1986/6/36, 54, 56 (Aerial Photograph). SCH7659.