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Home , Archdeacon of Winchester, Gordon Selwyn, Harold Browne, Henry of Blois, John Milner (bishop), Robert Horne (bishop)

A Brief History of The Great Screen of by Jeannie Berridge

Jeannie Berridge is a voluntary guide in .

Early in 2018, the Great Screen in Winchester Cathedral was thoroughly cleaned. The work was carried out by McNeilage Conservation, a husband and wife team based near ; the effect has been dramatic as the screen had not been cleaned since the restoration of the late 19th century, and in places it was covered with a layer of dust half an inch thick. Before and after pictures are shown for the statue of William Waynflete in Figure 1.

Fig 1.1 William Waynflete before cleaning Fig 1.2 William Waynflete after cleaning Photos: Simon Newman

The Great Screen was probably planned during the episcopate of Cardinal Beaufort (1405-1447) but completed during the time William Waynflete was (1447-1486). In many respects, the story of the Great Screen is mirrored in the wider history of Winchester Cathedral, starting with the great wealth and power of the medieval , through to the destruction inflicted during the , and followed by years of neglect. Once religious images became widely accepted in the in the Victorian period, the screen was restored to something approaching its original form with new statues being commissioned to fill the empty niches.

The Reverend David Warner, a former Winchester Cathedral guide wrote:

“The wealth of Beaufort contributed to its splendour and the influence of Bishop Waynflete is evident in the moulding and decoration”. [1]

This ambitious reredos was part of a wider design for the east end incorporating two further inter-related projects: a new shrine for St , and Cardinal Beaufort’s chapel. [2] St Swithun’s Shrine was 1 completed by 1476. The relics had been in storage for 20 years, most probably because because the reliquary given by King Edgar had been melted down to provide materials for the new ‘frontall’ that was to be the centrepiece of the great screen. [2] It is possible therefore that the Great Screen was also complete, at least structurally, by 1476; the statues may have been added at a later date. The screen is built mainly of Caen stone and stands 44 feet high (13.5m) and 39 feet wide (12m).

Fig 2 The Great Screen freshly cleaned Photo: Simon Newman

An undated inventory of the Cathedral [3], given by the Prior to Thomas Cromwell, gives us an indication of the screen’s original splendour and decoration:

“The nether part of the high altar, being of plate of gold garnished with stones. The front above being brodering work and pearls and above the Table images of silver and gilt garnished with stones. Above that Altar a great cross, and an image of plate of gold, garnished with stones.”

The surviving pieces of the original statues (until recently on display in the Triforium Gallery) suggest that the original design could have consisted of a central tableau with eighteen full size statues and thirty eight smaller ones. There is still evidence of coloured pigments on the statues.

In his book ‘The Great Screen of Winchester Cathedral’ [4] written in 1891 George William Kitchin puts forward the following suggestions for why the Great Screen was built:

1. Stability Dean Kitchin claimed that this was the foremost reason the Great Screen was added, but David Warner has since maintained that there is no evidence at all that it serves this purpose.

2. To “enable with all the splendour the High Altar of the mother Church”

3. To provide privacy and seclusion for the monks “. . . . . the tall Screen would be very welcome as an additional barrier against the unwashed and suffering crowd of common humanity”

2 David Warner suggested that the hollow octagonal ‘spire’ or corona (Fig 3) in the centre of the screen, once used to lower a pyx containing consecrated host for celebrating the , is predominant to the screen’s original purpose [1] and could be a vital clue as to why the screen was built.

Dean Kitchin may have been alluding to this in the second of his suggestions.

Fig 3.1 Top of the Screen showing the central spire or corona Fig 3.2 The underside of the corona Photos: JulieAdams

Time Line for the Great Screen

Circa 1476: Screen completed

Circa 1538: Screen desecrated

On the 21st September 1538 Thomas Wriothesley, chief clerk and personal secretary to Thomas Cromwell, entered Winchester Cathedral at 3 a.m. and ordered the destruction of St Swithun’s shrine. The altar was stripped of everything of value, and it is possible that the statues of the Great Screen were destroyed shortly afterwards. When they were removed the statues were cut into three sections. [6] Some of the torsos were used for filling in walls in the Cathedral Close; a large collection of heads were found centuries later under the Feretory floor.

3 The only medieval figures that survived in situ are two pairs of spandrel reliefs showing the Visitation and the Annunciation flanking the north and south doors of the western face. (Fig 4) These carvings are difficult to see from outside the sanctuary, but traces of the original colouring are still present.

4.1 Elizabeth from the Visitation, left, over north door 4.2 Mary from the Visitation, right, over north door

4.3 Mary from the Annunciation, left, over south door 4.4 Gabriel from the Annunciation, right, over south door

Fig 4 Medieval carved reliefs in the spandrels above the sanctuary doors Photos: Jeannie Berridge 1561-1580: Episcopate of Soon after the extreme protestant Bishop Horne’s arrival in Winchester in 1561, boards with the Ten Commandments were erected to cover damage to the altar area thereby emphasising the importance of the written word of the bible over visual images, painted or sculpted. The exact timing of the removal of the statues is unclear but in 1571 injunctions were issued by Bishop Robert Horne ordering the demolition of all “superstitious images”. The statues certainly would have been removed at this juncture if they had survived previously. 1632-1647: Episcopate of Bishop A wooden baldacchino (ornamental canopy) was erected over most of the lower third of the screen. Stonework was painted brown and additional wooden swags and ornaments were added. 4 The illustration (Fig 5) from the following century (circa 1733), shows the commandment boards at the centre and Jacobean panelling which was added over the vacant niches.

Fig 5 Great Screen taken from an engraving by Claude du Bosc after Hubert-Francois Gravelot circa 1733 (published in Paul de Rapin-Thoyras’ and Nicolas Tindall’s History of England. Both engravers are named on the plate)

Circa 1700: Dr William Harris Cathedral Prebendary and Headmaster of , Dr William Harris, whose memorial is on the western end of Wykeham’s chantry chapel, died in 1700 and bequeathed money to the Cathedral: “I give and bequeath unto the Deane [sic] and Chapter of Winchester the sume [sic] of eight hundred pounds in order to beautify the alter [sic], to pave it with black and white marble, to repair the rails before to [sic] communion table and to carry down the steps with a more easier descent at the discretion of the said Deane [sic} and Chapter soe [sic] far forth as the said sume [sic} of eight hundred pounds will goe [sic] towards the doeing [sic] the same item.” [5] The money was spent on wooden doors to the feretory and marble paving for the sanctuary. At some stage, twelve classical urns were purchased to fill the niches. The coat of arms of Dr Harris (sable three crescents argent) is shown above the two doors which lead from the sanctuary to the feretory area. (Fig 6)

Fig 6 South door in the Great Screen, showing the Annunciation and William Harris’s coat of arms Photo: Jeannie Berridge 5 1782: The addition of Benjamin West’s Raising of Lazarus

When Dean Newton Ogle was in post, The Dean and Chapter purchased a large painting ‘Raising of Lazarus’ by Benjamin West (1738-1820). This was placed in the centre of the screen above the altar in place of the commandment boards. A frieze of Caen stone was inserted above the altar and beneath the painting; this frieze is now partially assembled in the area of the under the .

Fig 7 Main: The Great Screen showing baldacchino, urns and Benjamin West painting Engraving; James Basire the Younger used in the 1809 edition of ‘The Survey and History of the Antiquities of Winchester” Insert: Detail from James Cave’s watercolour, 1808 © John Crook, Winchester Cathedral

Figure 7 shows the various features added to the Great Screen at different times; the baldacchino, the twelve urns and the Benjamin West painting can be clearly seen.

6 1810-1820: Prebendary Dr George Frederick Nott

Prebendary Nott removed the baldacchino and the urns. Repairs were carried out to make good where features had been eliminated but these were done in plaster of Paris and cement, not in stone. [6] For much of the 19th century the Great Screen must have been a bare and forlorn sight, in need of restoration. (Fig 8)

Fig 8 Engraving of The Quire looking towards the Great Screen taken from The Illustrated London News, 13th April 1854 7 1884-1899 Restoration

Fig 9 Diagram showing the arrangement of figures on the Great Screen (redrawn by Julie Adams)

The suggestion of a complete restoration of the Great Screen was first made by Dean Bramston in 1878, starting with the insertion of eight statues in the central niches and covering the plain stone of the central cross with enamel. However once the architect G E Street gave some indication of the magnitude and cost of the work due to the screen’s “mutilated and unfinished condition”, it was realised that substantial repairs to the fabric of the screen would need to be undertaken before any statues could be added. [6]

In December 1884 the much loved , Philip Jacob, died and it was decided that a suitable memorial to him would be the restoration of the Great Screen. Dean Kitchin had already set up a Cathedral committee to advise on all repairs and restorations to the Cathedral and in 1884 the Jacob Memorial Committee was formed to fund-raise and organise the restoration of the Great Screen. This involvement of multiple committees plus the overall responsibility of Chapter led to a 14 year project characterised by acrimony, misunderstanding and delay, often played out through series of letters in the Chronicle.

The architect John Dando Sedding was appointed and the Great Screen appeal raised £2,055. This was enough to repair the central section but by 1886 there was insufficient money to commission any statues.

In 1887 Sedding’s contract was terminated and in an effort to speed progress and keep costs as low as possible, all work was taken in-house under the supervision of Dean Kitchin’s son, the architect George Herbert Kitchin. All the canopies and pedestals were replaced or restored but there was much debate about the statues. Dean Kitchin believed at the time that the choice of the larger statues represented “the same 8 , Kings and Bishops whose effigies were originally placed in the greater niches”. [4] There was no clue to the identity of the smaller statues and much debate ensued, particularly whether post-Reformation people should be represented, who definitely would not have been present on the original screen. One of the original smaller statues, more recently discovered, has since been identified as St Christopher [7] who is not represented in the current scheme.

After much costly delay one stonemason, Thomas Nicholls, was commissioned for all the statues but pressure was mounting to complete the screen in time for the enthronement of Bishop Anthony Wilson Thorold in 1891. Thomas Nicholls carved eight of the large statues including the Blessed Virgin, St John the Evangelist, St and St Swithun, but due to delays the remainder of the statues were ultimately executed by a further four sculptors with Richard Lockwood Boulton of Cheltenham being responsible for thirty six of them, Emanuel Edward Geflowski created ten, Mary Grant made two, and the firm of Farmer and Brindley provided an image of William of Waynflete (shown in Fig 1).

Some of the pedestals are varied so that they feature a connection with the individuals represented by the statues. Beaufort’s plinth features a cardinal’s hat, shows the heads of the three figures at the foot of his effigy in his chantry chapel, and Bishop Fox stands upon a pelican.

Fig 10.1 Cardinal Beaufort Fig 10.2 William of Wykeham Fig 10.3 Bishop Richard Fox

Photos: Julie Adams

The screen was finally complete in time for the enthronement of Bishop Thorold with one exception; the central cross was empty. The Benjamin West painting was still in situ below the cross. The debate revolved over whether the central figure should be ‘Christ Crucified’ or ‘Christ in Glory’, both of which it was felt could offend. [6] Over Easter 1894 a trial image of ‘Christ in Glory’ (Fig 11) was briefly displayed on the bare stone cross, but it did not meet with approval, and was removed shortly afterwards.

9 Fig 11 Above: Photograph of Great Screen taken at Easter 1894 Left: Enlargement of Christ in Glory Photo: Winchester Cultural Trust

The issue was not resolved until 1897 when Valpy offered to pay for the central figure on the cross in memory of his first wife, Sophia. It was agreed that a Christ Crucified figure should be commissioned and the Benjamin West painting finally removed and sold. In March 1899 the new work was dedicated with the addition of the central figure and new statues of the Holy Family and six female saints.

The Great Screen remains unchanged from that date. The plan of the statues, devised by Dean Kitchin and still extant today, is shown in figure 9 on page 8.

What Happened to the Original Statues? The fifteenth century statues disappeared from public view from some time in the mid to late sixteenth century until 1907-1908 when building contractors compiled a photographic album, and included in it were images showing fragments of statues. No records exist giving us information on how the screen would have appeared or what happened to the statues, but some of the mystery can be solved by examining in detail those pieces that have been discovered. Philip Lindley’s excellent article in The Burlington Magazine gives a detailed account of what may have occurred. [8]

Dean Kitchin believed that heads from the Great Screen were stored in the feretory from the late sixteenth century, a suggestion that received support from John Crook’s investigations into the history of the development of the feretory. [9] There is a discrepancy in the height of the floors of Fox’s chantry chapel (1518) and Gardiner’s chantry chapel (1556). Gardiner’s is almost 1.2m higher, indicating that the pieces could have been put in the space behind the Great Screen, floored over, and then re-discovered in 1820 when, according to Dr Nott (see page 7), the floor level behind the screen was lowered by 90cm.

10 However, in the 1930s, at Dean Selwyn’s instigation, the Cathedral Architect Thomas Dinham Atkinson gathered together several hundred ‘fragments’ from statues scattered around the Cathedral and concluded that almost all of them had been brought into the Cathedral comparatively recently ‘from the garden walls of The Close’.

Many fragments of statues have been discovered but their original location in the Cathedral had never been documented. Philip Lindley puts forward a strong argument [8] that many of these fragments came from statues on the Great Screen and that both Dean Kitchin’s and Thomas Atkinson’s theories are plausible and not mutually exclusive. The rediscovered torsos had all been sawn into three parts after their heads had been taken off. [10] This was probably so that they could be used as building blocks for the new garden walls in the Cathedral Close; this would also explain how they reappeared in the nineteenth century as those walls were knocked down in 1856. Different sections of the same statues showed varying degrees of weathering, which could be explained by some being exposed to the elements in the garden walls and others having survived relatively unscathed beneath the feretory floor. Lindley observes that many of the torsos (all headless) appear to have a common origin by analysing their style of dress, hair, proportions and facial characteristics. The headless figures are all 75cm high, making them an ideal fit for the smaller niches. The heads are round but all the torsos are flat backed. So far there have been a total of thirty incomplete statues recovered. Their uniformity strongly suggests that they are all from the same scheme. The only place within the Cathedral that is large enough to accommodate a scheme of such magnitude is the Great Screen. None of the bodies of the larger statues have been retrieved, but amongst the collection of heads are five magnificent but scowling heads, two of which are shown in Fig 12, all thought to have come from the Great Screen.

Fig 12.1 Man in skull cap Fig 12.2 Head of King or Bishop

Extensive areas of colour remain on the recovered statues all of which are carved from Caen stone. The hair is gilded and flesh areas are coloured pink, eyes are pale grey with black pupils. On the most famous statue of the Madonna and Child (Fig 11), there is evidence that the lining of her cloak was deep blue whilst the robe was brilliant red with gold cuffs, giving an indication of how colourful and magnificent the statues must have been originally.

Photos: © John Crook Winchester Cathedral

11 In his article in Ecclesiology Today, [11] Geoffrey Brandwood uses the term “magnificent structure” to describe the Great Screen of Winchester Cathedral. On entering the presbytery, visitors cannot fail to be impressed when they see it for the first time in its entirety. Although it might be different from its medieval predecessor the Great Screen is undoubtedly an imposing sight.

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge the help and expertise of Dr John Crook (Archaeologist, Winchester Cathedral) and David Rymill (Winchester Cathedral Archivist) with helping to verify dates, and sourcing references and illustrations for this article.

I would like to give particular thanks to Julie Adams for her guidance, knowledge and generosity in editing the article. References

1. Warner, Rev David, Various Notes on The Great Screen, unpublished, stored in Winchester Cathedral Guides Reference Library, 1999

2. Crook, John, St Swithun of Winchester, in Crook, John (ed), Winchester Cathedral: 900 years, Phillimore, 1993, pp57-68

3. MSS (MS. Miscel.G) in the archives of Corpus Christi College,

4. Kitchin, George William, The Great Screen of Winchester Cathedral, Warren and Son, 1891

5. The Will and Testament of William Harris, Public Record Office, Catalogue reference: prob11/458, Image reference 165

6. Barrett, Philip, Georgian and Victorian Restorations and Repairs, 1775-1900, in Crook, John (ed), Winchester Cathedral: 900 years, Phillimore, 1993 pp 321-325

7. Winchester Cathedral Triforium Catalogue, The Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral, 1989

8. Lindley, Philip, The Great Screen of Winchester Cathedral, The Burlington Magazine, Sept 1989. pp 604-617

9. Crook, John, Excavating the Holy Hole in Winchester Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral Record 58 1989, pp. 34-42.

(and forthcoming publication, John Crook, The Cult of St Swithun in Winchester Cathedral after 1093, Winchester Studies Vol 4 ii)

10. Lindley, Philip, The Medieval Sculpture of Winchester Cathedral, in Crook, John (ed), Winchester Cathedral: 900 years, Phillimore 1993, pp 113-116

11. Brandwood, Geoffrey, Unlucky Experiments in Statues: Restoring the Great Screen, Ecclesiology Today 2003; ecclsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ET.31.pdf

12 Appendix: List of Donors

The central part was restored by public subscription in memory of the Venerable Philip Jacob.

Crucified Christ Canon Valpy in memory of his first wife, Sophia The Virgin Mary Canon V Musgrave St John E Freshfield Esq St Peter W D Freshfield Esq St Paul Dean Bramston & W S Portal Esq St Birinus Jacob Memorial Fund (Archdeacon) St Swithun The Bowker family St Hedda F Bowker Esq, Chapter Clerk St Ethelwold Right Rev Dr Anthony Wilson Thorold, Bishop St Ambrose Mrs Andrew Carnegie St Gregory the Great Church Choirs of the Diocese St Jerome West Surrey St Augustine Rev F P Phillips St Stephen Mrs Spender St Benedict Miss Corps (in part) St Giles Inhabitants of Winchester St Laurence (in part) King Queen Victoria St Edmund the King Mayor, Corporation, & Magistrates of Winchester King Edgar Family of H Edwards Esq Bishop de Lucy Jersey Bishop Minor Canons of Winchester Archbishop F Seymour Haden (in part) Earl Godwin Godwin family King Edward I Captain G F Hewson Queen Matilda Earl of Northbrook King Cnut American Friends Queen Emma Girls of Winchester Queen Victoria Misses Ballard and Miss Marett King Alfred Dean Kitchin King Col & Mrs Nicholl & Working Men King Egbert Earl of Selborne with Others St Ealswith Miss Brunner St Eadburga Mrs A C Bishop & Mrs W Cowper-Coles Bishop Edington Guernsey Bishop Canon Humbert Cardinal Beaufort Duke of Beaufort Bishop William of Wykeham St Mary's Colleges, Winchester & Oxford Bishop Waynflete Magdalen College Oxford Bishop Fox Corpus Christi College Oxford Cardinal Wolsey Christ Church Oxford Fishermen of England Bishop Andrewes Dr Fearon (a Winchester College housemaster) & family St Alphege Right Rev Dr E , Bishop St Grimbald H Littlehales Esq Bishop Ken Sunday Schools of the Diocese John Keble Rev J Frewen Moor Bishop Daniel Right Rev Dr E Harold Browne, Bishop St Boniface Rev Canon Benham Four Archangels Misses Jacob Angels by the Cross Miss Vibart, Mrs Lowth, Mrs Clapcott, & Mr and Mrs Lambert Holy Family and Six Saints Canon Valpy 13