Chichester Cathedral: A Norman and Gothic Cathedral in England
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical, Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- English, Norman, Roman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page12 sections
History
Chichester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the United Kingdom, founded in 1075 in the Norman period after the seat of the Bishop of the South Saxons moved from Selsey. It replaced the cathedral established at Selsey in 681 by St Wilfrid, the Anglo-Saxon bishop associated with the conversion of the South Saxons to Christianity. Construction began in 1076 under Bishop Stigand, and Bishop Ralph de Luffa consecrated the new cathedral in 1108. Built on the foundations of a Roman basilica, it developed through successive Norman and Gothic building campaigns.
Foundation and Norman beginnings
The cathedral’s earliest fabric belonged to the Norman architectural tradition, the Romanesque style introduced into England after the Norman Conquest and known for massive masonry and round-headed arches. The initial church established the main ecclesiastical centre of the diocese, while later work expanded and altered the building over several centuries.
Fire and medieval enlargement
Late in the twelfth century, the cathedral began to acquire new Gothic elements. The Chapel of Saint Pantaleon, beside the south transept, was probably begun shortly before the fire of 1187. That fire destroyed the wooden roof and damaged much of Chichester. The cathedral was substantially rebuilt and was reconsecrated in 1199. The rebuilding introduced an Early English Gothic eastern extension, while retaining much of the earlier Norman character.
During the thirteenth century, the central tower was completed, the Norman eastern apse was replaced, and the Lady Chapel and additional side chapels were constructed. The building also acquired its unusual double-aisled arrangement. Richard de la Wyche served as Bishop of Chichester from 1245 to 1253 and was canonised in 1262 as Saint Richard of Chichester. His shrine made the cathedral an important pilgrimage destination until it was destroyed in 1538 during the English Reformation under Henry VIII.
Structural damage and religious change
Structural instability repeatedly affected the cathedral’s towers. The south-west tower collapsed in 1210 and was rebuilt. The north-west tower fell in 1635 and was not reconstructed until 1901. The separate bell tower was positioned away from the main building in response to problems involving the ground and the weight of the towers.
The Reformation brought substantial losses to the medieval interior. The shrine of Saint Richard was destroyed, along with medieval stained glass, carvings, sculptures, and memorial plaques. During the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops besieged the cathedral in 1642. The cathedral continued to be used for religious and secular music from the medieval period, although musical activity was interrupted during the Commonwealth.
Restoration and the nineteenth-century spire
The masonry spire was struck by lightning in 1721 and survived, although its upper part was later repaired. By the early nineteenth century, the cathedral had fallen into poor repair. Major restoration began during that period, including repairs and improvements carried out while the cathedral was closed for several months in 1829. Dean George Chandler continued the programme from 1832, and Dean Walter Hook assumed responsibility after 1849. The sub-deanery was removed to a newly built church as part of the work.
On 21 February 1861, the spire collapsed inward, without loss of life. The possible removal of the Arundel Screen had been discussed as a cause, but other factors were considered more likely, including subsidence, the separation of the spire’s foundations from the tower, the disintegration of the supporting columns’ rubble cores, and high winds. A rebuilding fund of £48,000 was raised through donations, including gifts from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. George Gilbert Scott rebuilt the tower and spire over five years, using drawings and measurements prepared by Joseph Butler. The new structure was about 6 feet (1.8 metres) higher and reached approximately 82 metres. Rubble from the fallen spire was reused in the former West Ashling Congregational Chapel.
Later cultural life and conservation
The cathedral community celebrated the nine-hundredth anniversary of the 1108 consecration in 2008. Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, preached at the festival Eucharist and dedicated a new guest house. In the early 2020s, a major roof-renovation programme replaced the post-Second World War green copper covering with thick grey lead panels intended to offer greater protection from coastal weather.
Music has remained an important part of the cathedral’s life. Dean Walter Hussey commissioned Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for the 1965 Southern Cathedrals Festival. The independent Chichester Singers, founded in 1954, adopted the cathedral as its principal venue for major concerts, and the building has hosted visiting choirs and performers from Britain and abroad.
St Mary’s Almshouses, a Christian charity associated with the cathedral, dates from the thirteenth century. Its related medieval hospital is one of two surviving buildings of this type in the world, the other being in Germany. The cathedral also contains the burials of Gustav Holst, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond, and James Hargraves. The tombs of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, and Eleanor of Lancaster, together with that of FitzAlan’s grandmother Joan de Vere, were moved from Lewes Priory to Chichester during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Chichester Cathedral has also appeared in painting, literature, and television. Works associated with it include J. M. W. Turner’s Chichester Canal, Joseph Francis Gilbert’s 1833 oil painting, and John Constable’s 1824 watercolour. The Arundel Tomb later became the subject of Philip Larkin’s poem An Arundel Tomb.
Remains
Chichester Cathedral is a cruciform building, meaning that its plan takes the shape of a cross. It measures 408 feet (124 metres) in length, 157 feet (48 metres) across, and 61 feet (19 metres) in height, while the spire rises to approximately 84 metres. An aisled nave and choir cross a transept, and the nave has two side aisles on each side, producing a five-aisled plan. A cloister stands on the south side. The eastern end is long and square-ended rather than apsidal, with a projecting Lady Chapel. Paired towers mark the west front, and a taller central tower rises above the crossing.
Norman and Gothic fabric
Norman masonry survives especially in the nave, transept, crossing, and adjoining choir bays. Round-headed openings, a low arcade, heavy piers, and Romanesque galleries give these areas a markedly solid character. The nave elevation is divided into three levels: the main arcade, an open triforium gallery above it, and a clerestory, the upper windowed stage. Each gallery bay is separated by a slender column. Dark Purbeck-marble shafts with leafy capitals stand beside limestone shafts with cushion-shaped capitals.
After the 1187 fire, the clerestory was rebuilt and the nave received its present ribbed stone vault. The eastern end was lengthened into a square retrochoir, the space behind the high altar and choir, with lancet windows in a transitional Norman-Gothic style. Its Early English Gothic vault is supported externally by flying buttresses, which carry the outward pressure of the vault away from the walls, and by large pinnacles. Much of the interior was refaced with regularly cut ashlar masonry, while the replacement arcades and clerestory retained the earlier round arches. The post-fire programme was probably directed by Walter of Coventry.
Central tower, spire, and bell tower
George Gilbert Scott reconstructed the central tower in the Early English style. Each side has two tall pairs of openings framed by deep mouldings. The original stone spire was built in the late fourteenth century by John Mason, who also worked on Vicars’ Hall. Unlike a timber spire covered with masonry, it was constructed entirely of stone. Its design drew on Salisbury Cathedral’s spire but was made lower, probably because of concerns about subsidence. The rebuilt spire is described as the fourth tallest cathedral spire in the United Kingdom, after those at Salisbury, Norwich, and Coventry, and it can be seen from the sea.
The detached bell tower stands north of the cathedral’s western end. Dating from the early fifteenth century, it was probably designed by William Wynford, who also designed the cloisters. Its openings are Perpendicular Gothic, a phase of English Gothic marked by strong vertical lines and large traceried windows. The tower contains eight bells and is the only surviving English campanile, or separate bell tower. Its tenor bell was cast by Richard Phelps in 1706, weighs 2,056 pounds (933 kilograms), and is tuned to E-flat. An hour bell made by John Taylor and Company in 1877 weighs 73 long hundredweight (3,700 kilograms), while a service bell dating from about 1399 was cast by William Dawe.
A turret clock was installed on 9 November 1878 in memory of Dean Walter Hook. Made by J. B. Joyce and Company, it has a double three-legged gravity escapement, Westminster chimes, quarter and striking trains, and an hour bell weighing 73 long hundredweight. Its main wheels measure 20 inches (51 centimetres) in diameter, and its pendulum weight is 2.5 long hundredweight (130 kilograms).
Chapels, screens, and medieval carvings
The Lady Chapel lies east of the retrochoir. It is long and narrow, with large late-thirteenth-century windows in the Decorated Gothic style. Its surviving ceiling painting was made by Lambert Bernard in 1533 and is described as the last surviving part of the cathedral’s original ceiling decoration. The nave and choir were once divided by the three-arched Arundel Screen, a Perpendicular stone screen. It was removed in the mid-nineteenth century and reinstated in 1961.
Two exceptionally rare carved reliefs from the twelfth century survive in the cathedral. Roman mosaic pavement can be seen through a glass window, while thirty-eight medieval misericords date from about 1330. Misericords are small carved ledges beneath hinged choir seats, intended to support clergy during long services. The rest of the choir furniture is largely the product of Victorian restoration.
The Arundel Tomb shows Richard FitzAlan and Eleanor of Lancaster lying side by side and holding hands. The cathedral also preserves a bronze statue of Saint Richard of Chichester by Philip Jackson and the pennant carried by Francis Chichester during his circumnavigation of the globe.
Modern art and music
The cathedral’s later artistic furnishings include tapestries by John Piper and Ursula Benker-Schirmer. Piper’s 1966 choir tapestry behind the high altar was woven in France and represents the Holy Trinity. Benker-Schirmer’s German-English tapestry, made in 1985 for the retrochoir, incorporates biblical symbols connected with the life and legends of Saint Richard.
Other modern works include Marc Chagall’s 1976 stained-glass window depicting Psalm 150, Graham Sutherland’s Noli me Tangere from 1962, Hans Feibusch’s 1952 painting of the Baptism of Christ, and a reredos by Patrick Procktor in the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist. John Skelton made a Marian sculpture for the Lady Chapel in 1988 and a black Cornish stone and copper font in 1983.
The principal organ incorporates pipework dating from the Restoration, while the Hurd Organ dates from the late eighteenth century. The organ case was designed by Arthur Hill in 1888, and its display pipes date from 1678. The instrument originally had 35 stops and was extensively reorganised in 1984 and 1985. It now has four manuals and pedal, 55 stops, and 16-foot lowest stops. The late-twentieth-century Nave, Walker, and Allen organs provide additional instruments. The Walker is a small portable Baroque-style organ, and the Allen is an early digital electronic organ. The Nave Organ has seven stops on one manual and pedal and can also be played from the main console.
Wildlife at the spire
A crenellated turret at the base of the spire provides a nesting site for peregrine falcons. Four chicks, three female and one male, hatched there in April 2009.
