Southwell Cathedral from south-east.
North Porch, shewing Porch Chamber above (THE PARVISE).
Before leaving the Nave we must visit the NORTH PORCH (1150). The doorway outside is highly ornamented. Notice how the Normans always decorated the outside and not the inside of their doorways. There are six orders of mouldings round it, including zigzag, dogtooth, beakhead, etc. The doors are old panelling, carved in the solid oak, at the least five hundred years ago. Let us now ascend the belfry stair to the PARVISE or room above the PORCH. The word is clearly derived from Paradise, i.e., as Paradise is to Heaven, so the Porch to the Church—the outer court in fact. There are two pinnacles either side of the gable; a chimney is in the west one. There is only one other Norman Parvise (or Porch Chamber) in England, that of Bredon in Worcestershire.
STORY OF THE PARVISE
Interior of Parvise.
THERE was always a tradition amongst the Clays that one of their family had been born in the Parvise during the Civil War, and this is the story as nearly as it can be traced from family history and through the registers. Young William Clay, the Registrar of Southwell Minster, had been married to Joan Williamson, of Fiskerton Manor, in the parish of Rolleston, in 1642. He was a man of some position in the Minster, having the care of documents, and probably of money, belonging to the Chapter, and as he was on the side of the King, the Parliament party tried to get hold of him.
When the troubles began in 1643, the Clays had been married just a year, and they already had a little daughter called Anne, whom the parents took to be baptised at Rolleston, and (during the disturbances at Southwell) the child was probably left in the care of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Luke Williamson, at Fiskerton Manor, the house now belonging to Wm. Wright, Esq.
Towards the end of the year 1643, William Clay dreamt one night that danger was about to fall on his house. Next day a friendly warning was conveyed to him that Cromwell's people were searching for him, and that he must leave Southwell at once or he would be captured and forced to surrender himself and everything in his charge. Such a warning could not be neglected, but his wife was unable to move, as she was very near her confinement; to leave her seemed out of the question, to take her was impossible. In their dilemma she bethought herself of the Parvise, the little room over the Porch, occupied not so long since by the Sacristan, whose duty it was to guard the church and ring or toll the “passing bell.” It contained a fireplace, a table, a bedstead and cupboards, and a few old books —otherwise it was perfectly bare. Cromwell’s soldiers, who now occupied the Nave, strangers to Southwell, little dreamt of such a hiding place.
After many entreaties on the part of his wife, Mr. Clay consented to flee from Southwell, and to leave her in hiding in this chamber, so she lost no time in secreting herself there. Cromwell was in possession of the Palace, and his soldiers, as we have said, overflowed into the Minster, and stabled their horses in the Nave. You can fancy that poor Joan had many a fright and many a false alarm. Her rest was disturbed by the rude noises of the men as they groomed their horses and cleaned their weapons, and by the dismal songs they indulged in; but she tried to keep up a brave heart for the sake of her hushand, and to be thankful for even this cold hiding place.
An old clergyman, chaplain to the Archbishop Williams, watched for opportunities to take her supplies of food, and later on the housekeeper from the Palace, an old family friend, fed and nursed her, and here, after some days, her little daughter Joan was born. The baby was at first weak and puny, and well it was so, or its feeble wail might have made itself heard beyond the Parvise walls. The font, as you know, was destroyed in the general pillage which took place at this time, when the lead was torn from the roofs, the brasses from the tombs, and every vestige of an image swept away, so that the baby could not be baptised in the Minster. As soon as Mrs. Clay could travel, the little Joan was taken to her grandfather's, and on January 13th, 1644, received her mother’s name at the font in Rolleston Church.
Alas ! the poor young mother never got over the fright and exposure to cold she went through in the Parvise (for though there was a fireplace in the little room, it was not safe to use it, as the smoke would have betrayed her). Sad to say, she died at Rolleston the following March, and this final entry concerning her may be seen in the church register — “Joan, the wife of William Clay, was buried March the 4th, 1644.”
The little baby throve, and in time grew up, and lived to bemarried to a Mr. Wilson.
I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, beyond the fact of the tradition in the Clay family, which I have often heard spoken about. I have also seen a note about it in their copy of Dickenson’s “Southwell,” written a hundred years ago, and the dates in the Rolleston Parish registers exactly correspond with the story. The register of Joan's marriage is to be found at Southwell.
William Clay was twice married after this, and died, leaving many children, in 1692. The little Anne married Mr. Whelpdall. Joan Clay's grave is in Rolleston Churchyard. Many people can remember her tombstone, which, in the restoration 1894-1895, was removed.
SCULPTURED CAPITALS support the east arch of the great Central Tower. Mr. Loughton is the only artist who has taken views of these most interesting subjects, and he has admirable photographs of them well worth the study of the archaeologist. Unfortunately, the organ hides them. Some authorities suppose them to be Saxon, others very Early Norman. Mr. Christian suggested that they were Saxon capitals saved from the earlier building, and replaced on the present lofty Norman piers. The subjects are on the North Capital—(i) A Procession, (2) The Presentation in the Temple, (3) The Last Supper; on the South Capital—(i) Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet, (2) The Lamb and Flag and conventional designs, (3) The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
ARCHBISHOP SANDYS’ TOMB. There is a fine alabaster tomb in the North Transept to Archbishop Sandys of York. He is represented in episcopal robes reclining on an altar tomb, and in front are represented his widow and nine children kneeling—July 10th, 1588. He was a great benefactor to Southwell. No less than six Archbishops of York are buried in the Cathedral.
Tympanum.
Let us turn into the North Transept for one moment and look at the SAXON SCULPTURE over the door leading to the belfry—probably the oldest sculpture in the Midlands. It is called a TYMPANUM. To the left side is seen a lamb, below it stands a lion, while a man kneeling in front of the beast is apparently taking something out of its mouth; at the other side of the lion is an angel contending with a dragon.
These mystic figures have been interpreted to mean that by the power ot Christ (as typified by the Lamb) (1) David rescued the lamb from the mouth of the lion, and (2) Michael the Archangel, by the same power, armed with sword and shield, conquered the dragon (i.e., the devil). “The lion and the dragon shall Thou tread under Thy feet.”— Psalm xci., 13. You will generally find the key to these early sculptures in the left-hand corner of the subject. In this case it is the Lamb. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”—Phil, iv., 13.
This and other fragments point to the existence of a Saxon church, and an even more conclusive argument remains in the record of a SAXON SAINT buried in Southwell, St. EADBURH by name; she was a friend of St. Guthlac, who died in 714. She was great-niece to St. Hilda.
There is an old book in the British Museum (1013) called “The Pilgrim’s Guide to the Saints of England,” and this is what it says—“There resteth St. Eadburh in the Minster at Southwell,” and again, speaking of the various Saxon shrines that are still left, “St. Eadburh’s shrine is still at Southwell.” Would that we could find a trace of it now ! I ought to mention also that she was daughter of Aldwulf King of East Anglia (who died 749), and abbess of Repton in the Diocese of Southwell.