1323 | And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

St Albans Abbey in 1323

Tradition claims that King Offa of Mercia founded a monastery in 793 on the site of the tomb of St Alban. We know little of this early foundation other than that it was a double house for both men and women. The first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen, was appointed in 1077 and immediately set about rebuilding the Abbey church in the Norman (or Romanesque) style, starting with the great tower. Built from bricks and tiles from the ruined Roman town of Verulamium, this Norman church was largely completed by 1088. It was consecrated in 1115 under Abbot Richard d’Albini.

St Alban’s Abbey, one day’s ride from London and site of the martyrdom of the first English saint, began to gain in prestige and importance. Throughout most of the medieval period it was England’s premier Benedictine Abbey. Learning flourished – the Abbey’s scriptorium was known for its high-quality book production and writings. Famous chroniclers included Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris and Thomas Walsingham; their writings are still valuable historical sources. Among the monks we find not only theologians and philosophers but also artists such as Walter of Colchester, poets, scientists and even a very early clockmaker, Abbot Richard of Wallingford.

At its height there were approximately 100 choir monks in the Abbey. The Benedictine rule of receiving all guests as though they were Christ himself led to many visitors passing through the Abbey and the town which grew up around it. Pilgrims came to pray at the shrines of Alban and Amphibalus, and kings with their courtiers came on progress.

Pilgrims arriving at the Abbey were said to fall to their knees in wonder at the sight of the nave with the magnificent collection of wall paintings which gave colour to the interior. The west-facing paintings on the north piers depict the Crucifixion with scenes of the Virgin Mary’s life below. The earliest of these is on the westernmost pillar. Dating from about 1225, it is the work of Walter of Colchester. Of the four large standing saints facing into the nave, the one of Saints Alban and Amphibalus overlooked the shrine of St Amphibalus in 1323. All are painted in earth colours onto a dry surface in the secco manner.

For further information on the wall paintings, see M.A Michael, Wall Paintings of St Albans Cathedral, (Scala, 2019), available in the Cathedral Shop. You can also see them, reimagined as they were 700 years ago, on guided tours and when the Cathedral’s Wondrous Wall Paintings are illuminated.

Cover Photo: © Luke Watson © St Albans Cathedral and Angelo Hornak

| A ‘truly awful’ catastrophe

On 10 October 1323, while the church was full of men and women who had come to attend Mass, two large columns on the south side of the nave suddenly collapsed. The Abbey Chronicler, whose writings are recorded in The Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans, described it as a ‘catastrophe so horrific’ that previous disasters paled into insignificance by comparison.

Shortly afterwards, part of the roof fell in, crashing down on the shrine of St Amphibalus and damaging the marble columns. Fortunately, no one was harmed – a miracle attributed to St Amphibalus himself. The monk who had been celebrating at the shrine was luckily nearing the end of the ‘secret mysteries’, and was saved by a timely side-step. The relics in their wooden box were also unharmed.

The most severe injury recorded was sustained by one of the workmen who was helping to clear the site a few days later – he climbed to the top of the wall, which then collapsed under him. His thigh was broken, but he survived the incident.

We remain unsure as to exactly why the collapse happened. What we do know is that drainage and water damage was an issue elsewhere in the Abbey complex – earlier in the summer of 1323 part of the dormitory collapsed due to water dripping down the walls from the roof, rotting the walls right down to their foundations. During this period the monks would also keep buckets of water near the roof to catch rainwater and serve as emergency fire extinguishers in case of lightning strikes. It’s therefore entirely possible that water contributed to the great nave collapse.

Whatever the cause, Abbot Hugh de Eversden now had a major piece of reconstructive work on his hands. The work would take around 20 years, and Abbot Hugh would not live to see it completed.

© St Albans Cathedral and Angelo Hornak

© St Albans Cathedral and Angelo Hornak

An account of the collapse by the Abbey Chronicler The Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans

‘The terrible fall of the south side of the church during the time of Abbot Hugh

In the same year after the celebration of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin on the day of St Paulinus, Bishop, (10 October), there happened a catastrophe so horrific that previous disasters could be justly regarded as small or nonexistent compared with the magnitude of it.

For when a large crowd of men and women had gathered in the church to pray and hear Mass, two huge columns on the south side of the church crumbled from the base and fell down to the ground one after another with a great crash. It was awful. Monks and laymen, trembling with fear, rushed up from all sides to look at the dreadful sight.

Barely one hour had gone by when the wooden roof built on the columns with its ceiling panels and beams, the south aisle, and practically the whole of that part of the cloister also crashed down. In this sudden, dangerous collapse the hand of God was clearly seen in marvels or rather miracles – helped by the blessed Amphibalus, whose glorious relics lay nearby. For none of the many men and women who were standing by the collapsing building was badly hurt. That was a miracle, but a far greater one followed.

The monk who looked after the relics of the glorious martyr was celebrating at his altar at the time. He had completed the secret mysteries of the Mass, received the life-giving Sacraments and fortunately had done everything as far as the washing of the chalice, when he saw the columns tumbling above his altar and all around him.

He took a little step aside, and so was saved from danger of death and all physical harm by the help of him in whose service he was engaged and the merits of the Blessed Martyr. And then the pile of wood placed to hold up the ruin fell down on the Martyr’s shrine, but, although the marble columns of the tomb were smashed, no harm was done to the wooden box containing his remains.

Three days later a gang of workmen were trying to disentangle and take away the wood, stones, lead etc. which lay there all pressed together. One of them, holding a mattock, rashly dared to climb to the top of the wall, and was struggling to dig out and knock down a part of the wall which was hanging and about to fall, when the whole part on which he was standing collapsed under him and he himself followed it down with a great crash. Although, of course, his thigh was broken and he was very badly hurt, his wound was not mortal and so he had a miraculous escape from the danger of death.’

Text © The Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans, translated by David Preest, edited by James G. Clark, The Boydell Press, 2019, pp. 632-633.

© St Albans Cathedral

Abbot Hugh of Eversden, 1308 -1327

Abbot Hugh has been variously described as a man of the world and a cultured gentleman. He was a close friend of the king, Edward II. The Abbey was in financial difficulties and during this time there were problems between the monastery and the town of St Albans, and between the monastery and its daughter houses. The chronicler laid much of the blame for these problems on Hugh himself, saying that he was unpopular with his monks and an incompetent administrator and financial manager. On becoming abbot, Hugh said that the brothers might have chosen a wiser and more learned man, but not a friendlier abbot. He had spent four years as cellarer, so was not lacking in experience, but he made a mistake at the beginning of his abbacy by sending proctors (these were qualified practitioners of law in ecclesiastical courts) to the Pope in Rome, and yet still had to go himself afterwards, causing significant financial expense. He was also accused of neglecting the Rule of St Benedict and particularly of allowing the entertainment of ladies within the Abbey.

Hugh did much to improve the fabric of the monastery. He made sure building work continued on the Lady Chapel and on the retro-choir. He made the monks’ cemetery a pleasant and less neglected place. From 1312-1314, he made sure the Abbey’s charters were confirmed by the king. He encouraged scholarly writing in the scriptorium and he improved the Grammar School. However, the wall of the lavatorium fell down and had to be repaired and in 1323 columns on the south side of the nave fell and also had to be repaired at great expense.

Hugh had a special relationship with Edward II and received gifts from the king for the monastery. Edward had bad relations with the barons, particularly over his favouritism of certain individuals and his disastrous war with Scotland, when England was defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn. In 1327 Edward abdicated and was murdered.

In St Albans in 1327, the people of the town staged an uprising against the authority of the Abbey. They demanded more freedom from the rule of the abbot. They wanted the town to be made a borough, to be able to use the Abbey’s fishponds, hunt in its woods and use their own hand-mills for grinding corn. The Abbey was besieged, but the monks were defended by 200 soldiers hired by Abbot Hugh.

The townspeople convinced the new king, Edward III, to grant them a charter which made the town a borough. The townspeople invaded the Abbey’s ponds and warren and set up their own hand-mills. The borough court was reinstated and they sent two MPs to parliament. Abbot Hugh died in 1327, however, and the town’s victory was short lived under his successor, Richard of Wallingford.

© Toby Shepheard Photography

Richard of Wallingford, 1327 – 1336

Richard was the son of a Wallingford blacksmith and was sent to study at Oxford by the Prior of Wallingford, a daughter house of St Albans. In 1314 he came to St Albans and became a monk, but then returned to Oxford for further study. He spent the next 9 years studying theology, although most of his time was focussed on astronomy and trigonometry. He wrote a number of treatises and designed several astronomical instruments, including the Albion which predicted eclipses. He was ordained a priest in 1317. He returned to St Albans and was elected abbot in 1327.

He had many problems to deal with. The monastery was in debt and discipline was lax. The collapsed south wall of the nave had not been completely rebuilt. The town had gained a charter which had reduced the abbot’s control.

After getting the Pope’s approval, he returned to St Albans and began to restore discipline amongst the monks. He then looked to the daughter houses, restoring discipline and to the manors and churches, where he made repairs and removed bad officials. He also paid off some of the Abbey’s debts.

He re-established the Abbey’s control over the town by persuading the leading townspeople to give up the charter and seal to the monastery. They also surrendered their hand mills which he used to pave the parlour floor.

He continued his scientific work and began building his astronomical clock. He was questioned by Edward III about spending time on this when the nave rebuilding was still not complete and replied that any abbot could deal with the rebuilding, but only he could build the clock. He did spend time ensuring the monastery buildings were in good repair and he rebuilt the almonry.

During most of this time he was suffering from leprosy, a feared disease where the sufferers were usually isolated.

He died in 1336 and was buried before the high altar. He is remembered as one of the great abbots.

© Elizabeth Fotheringham

© British Library Board, Cotton Claudius E. IV, f.201. Held and digitised by the British Library; image in the public domain.

Abbots Michael Mentmore

(1336-1349) and Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396)

Abbot Michael de Mentmore had studied at Oxford and was renowned for his scholarship. He was admitted to the monastery when Hugh de Eversden was abbot and was charged with the task of looking after the scholars and their studies. He was elected abbot on 1 June 1336 and, as a bibliophile, he acquired many books for the monastery including two fine bibles.

Mentmore is credited with the completion of the works in the collapsed part of the nave due to the ‘care and attention’ of brother Adam de Doncaster, the sacrist’ and efforts of ‘Abbot Michael who […] always filled any shortfall from his own pocket.’ This had taken 20 years, due to “misfortunes, abbatial vacancies and invasions of the Scots into Northumberland”(The Deeds of the Abbots). He acquired the quarry at Egelmunt near Totternhoe which supplied stone to the monastery and repaired two parts of the cloister: a passage called the ‘keep’ and the Great Passage which ran alongside the vault of the Abbey from the Abbot’s door.

Besides having a hand in completing the repair work, Abbot Mentmore had two bells cast, named after Saints Alban and Amphibalus, in the hall of the sacristy. This was located outside the church just to the north of the north transept.

Thomas de la Mare became a monk at Wymondham during the abbacy of Hugh de Eversden. He held the offices of kitchener and cellarer before being appointed prior of Tynemouth, a post he held for nine years before being elected abbot of St Albans. As Mentmore’s successor, Thomas de la Mare completed the repairs to the refectory, the King’s hall and the cloisters including glazing two thirds of them. He also built a new guest house and rebuilt the almonry, the bake house and the watergate. The Great Gatehouse was rebuilt from the foundations up and was crenelated. Some of the works were overseen by the London mason Henry Yevele, whom de La Mare had admitted into the fraternity in 1377, and used stone from the quarry at Egelmunt. His sacrist, Ralph Whitchurch, commissioned a ‘very beautiful stone pedestal’ base for the shrine of St Amphibalus which was then moved to a more prominent location in the retro-choir.

© St Albans Cathedral

The repairs: a new architectural style

The collapsed south section of the nave was not rebuilt to match the Romanesque arches on the north side. Instead, the latest architectural style was used – Decorated Gothic. There were now three different styles of building in the nave: the original Norman rounded arches, an Early English extension, and new Decorated Gothic.

The western part of the nave dates from the early 1200s and has slender columns of soft chalkstone, pointed arches and dog-tooth decoration in the Early English style.

The new Decorated Gothic section also has slender columns and pointed arches, but is more elaborate. It has decorative floral designs, especially ball flower, and also features carved animals and human faces. At this time wider windows with elaborate stonework and richly coloured stained glass were introduced.

Understanding the Medieval Architecture of the Cathedral

The Cathedral is awash with various styles of architecture. Below is a brief chronological guide to understanding which styles were used throughout the medieval period.

Early medieval, pre-1066

What little remains of the early medieval church are a number of baluster shafts located in the triforium level in both the north and south transepts. These were most likely made of material salvaged from the Roman ruins of Verulamium.

Romanesque, c.1066-1250

After the Norman conquest, buildings often took inspiration from Roman structures. As a result, the architecture of this period is often referred to as ‘Romanesque’. Certain features include semi-circular arches, the zig-zag pattern of the chevron moulding and the bobbin ornament, as can be seen on the arcading of the slype in the south transept.

Gothic c.1190-1550

Gothic medieval architecture did not follow a classical model and is divisible into the following three stages:

Early English, c.1190-1275

Early English churches took on slender vertical lines, using lancet-shaped windows for instance, and capitals were adorned with botanical designs, such as the stylised acanthus leaf.

Decorated, c.1275-1350

As the name suggests, more grandiose foliage (such as the ball flower) were introduced and windows were frequently topped with the pointed ogival arch, which is shaped like a wishbone.

Perpendicular, c.1350-1550

Throughout this tall and light-filled period, ceilings featured fan-vaulting and narrower window traceries were introduced. This was where thinner stone frames allowed for more glass to be used, thus increasing the amount of natural light in the interior of the building.

© Elizabeth Fotheringham

Masterminding the repairs: the masons

Master masons would act as contractors, engineers and architects - not just leading the design phase but also getting their hands dirty with the building work. They learned their trade on building sites, rising up the ranks of roughmasons (unskilled) or freemasons (skilled) to the elite role of master mason, responsible for all stages of the building process. In manuscripts, they are usually depicted with a setsquare and also sometimes a pair of compasses.

Leading the start of the rebuilding project in the nave was Master Henry Wy, about whom it is written that ‘he deserved to be specially chosen for this job of great importance’ (The Deeds of the Abbots). He was supported in his work by Abbot Hugh de Eversden, about whom the Abbey Chronicler wrote: ‘he began to reduce the day to day food for himself and his monks in the hope that by that means he might be allowed somehow to make good that grievous loss. The consequence was that God saw his pious intention and opportunely helped the work…’ (The Deeds of the Abbots)

St Albans Abbey had not always been fortunate in its choice of master mason, however. In about 1200 Master Hugh de Goldcliffe was described as ‘deceitful and a liar’, and his bad advice led to the work falling into ruin before it had even been completed. According to the Abbey Chronicler, ‘the ruins with their pieces of carved images and flowers and the work aroused the laughter and jeers of onlookers. The workmen departed in despair without being paid for the work that they had done.’ (The Deeds of the Abbots)

Some later works undertaken in the 1300s were overseen by renowned master mason Henry Yevele, although it is unlikely that he was appointed early enough to have been involved in the rebuilding work on the nave. Yevele also worked on the Palace of Westminster, Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey, and was one of the period’s most prolific masons.

Nave carved heads

It is believed that one of the master masons is depicted in the most westerly of the four carved heads in the repaired south section of the nave. It may have been Henry Wy, who started the project, or a later master mason – perhaps the one who completed it, although we don’t have their name.

Of the other carved heads, the most easterly is an abbot – probably one of those involved in the rebuilding work. The two central heads are those of a king and queen. There is debate whether these are Edward II and Isabella of France, or Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. Both kings had strong connections with the Abbey: Edward II visited at least nine times during his reign, giving 100 marks and a supply of timber for the building of a new choir in 1314, and Edward III regularly broke his journey north to enjoy the hospitality of the Abbey. At this date, standardised carvings for figures were used rather than likenesses, which doesn’t help identification.

© St Albans Cathedral

Disaster Averted

The conservation of the building is an ongoing challenge, and the 1800s saw a few near-collapses averted through the diligent work of John Chapple, Clerk of Works, and Cathedral Architect, George Gilbert Scott.

In 1870, Chapple alerted Gilbert Scott to suspicious ‘cracks and crushing’ in the fabric around the presbytery and Ramryge chapel near the base of the Norman Tower. Closer inspections revealed the full danger of a possible tower collapse. In October 1870 all services were moved to the nave while work began to shore up a huge cavern in the foundation of the south-east pier. The void was backfilled with brickwork, grout and several feet of cement, making safe this last remaining roman brick tower on a medieval cathedral church.

Then in 1875 a report found that the south wall was leaning out by 28 inches at the upper level, threatening another collapse of the nave. Immediate steps were taken to shore up the building both internally and externally with timber. Meanwhile Gilbert Scott devised a hydraulic system whereby the roof would first be raised to take the weight off the wall and then pushed back to a true vertical position. This operation, using iron rods and screw jacks on the exterior, was carried out on 2 May 1878, five weeks after Gilbert Scott’s death, and took just two and a half hours to complete. The exterior walls were then heavily buttressed and ‘flying’ buttresses put in the roof space of the south aisle.

George Gilbert Scott was dedicated to the preservation of the building, writing in his report on the fabric “no church in Great Britain more thoroughly deserves a careful and conservative restoration, nor would any more richly repay this labour of love” (published in The Times, 1872).

Conservation of the fabric is ongoing – from restoring the shrine of Amphibalus to cleaning the black and white marble pavement of the presbytery platform, removing layers of Victorian wax.

© St Albans Cathedral

© St Albans Cathedral

References:

Chapple, John. St Albans Cathedral Muniments room, Fabric I (6) Restoration and Repair 1870-1900. “Paper on the Restoration.” February 1874.

Jones, Charles. E., St. Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. “The Restoration of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban.” 1937.

https://www.stalbanshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/1937.05_ JONES_with_SL_cover_05151.pdf

Pevsner, Nikolaus; James Bettley and Bridget Cherry. The Buildings of Hertfordshire: Pevsner, Bettley & Cherry. 1977.

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol4/pp372-416

Roberts, Eileen. The Hill of the Martyr: an Architectural History of St Albans Abbey. Dunstable: The Book Castle, 1993.

The Deeds of the Abbots of St Albans. Translated by David Preest. Edited by James G. Clark. Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2019.

Windley, H.C., Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 1905. https://archive.org/stream/journalofroyalin1219roya/ journalofroyalin1219roya_djvu.txt

Exhibition supported by the Friends of St Albans Cathedral.