Archaeological Journal/Volume 2/Notices of New Publications: Remarks upon Wayside Chapels
North East View of the Chapel on Wakefield Bridge.
The chief object of this little work is to call public attention to the interesting Chapel on Wakefield Bridge, and this part of the title would more correctly have stood first, as the few preliminary Remarks on Wayside Chapels in general are merely introductory to a detailed account of this one in particular. The general subject of the chapels on bridges and by the side of highways, and, in many instances, the formation of those ways for the purposes of communication with the larger monasteries, is deserving of more careful investigation than it has hitherto received, as part of the history of the civilization of the country; the public are indebted to the Messrs. Buckler for the few scattered notices they have here thrown together, as forming a nucleus from which a more full and detailed history may hereafter be developed. The learned President of Trinity College, with the concurrence of the Oxford Architectural Society, has endeavoured to call attention to the ancient bridges that still remain, but of which all vestiges are but too likely to disappear in this age of rapid improvement of our public ways. He has hitherto met with little encouragement, the subject being too generally considered dry and uninteresting, but we trust that ere long he will be induced to put together the materials he has collected, and to connect the history of the bridges with that of the roads themselves, and the chapels which were found at intervals along their course. These seem in some degree to have served the purpose of the inns of a subsequent age. They are accordingly found to have been usually placed at such convenient intervals as would form stages in the progress from the monastery to the distant city. In many instances, but by no means always, chantries were founded in these chapels, and sometimes the chapels were built for this purpose, or were rebuilt by the munificence of the same donor who founded the chantry, but the two things, though frequently confounded together, are distinct in themselves, and it by no means always follows that a chapel is necessarily of the same age as the foundation of a chantry. In the case of the chapel on Wakefield bridge this popular error has led to an erroneous conclusion respecting the age of the building; a royal chantry was founded and endowed in this chapel after the battle fought near the spot between the conflicting forces of York and Lancaster in 1460, and this date has been universally assigned to the building itself, but the Messrs. Buckler endeavoured to shew by architectural evidence, that the structure is of the age of Edward II. The general style of the building and the specimens of sculpture agree with this date, but it is to be regretted that the authors have not furnished the public with a few more architectural details, especially sections of mouldings.
General View of Chapel.
"The Bridge at Wakefield is of considerable length, and was, till within little more than half a century, a footway about sixteen feet in width between the parapets, with triangular recesses over the side piers.
"Nine arches with their supporting piers were required to carry the way over the river at this place. . . . . The basement upon which the Chapel is raised from the bed of the river to the level of the bridge, offered no temptation to mischief, and consequently retains its pristine simplicity unimpaired; its firm and compact condition is of the utmost importance to the permanent safety of the superstructure, which, by the care and skill of its builders, alike shewn in their choice of materials and ability in the use of them, retains a strong hold upon its massy foundations after long exposure to the excessive and repeated injuries it has suffered. . . . . It abuts upon a pier of the bridge between two of the main arches. . . . . The breadth at this extremity is limited to about nine feet, in order to prevent further impediment to the impetuous course of the Calder than is occasioned by the resistance of the pier itself.
Plan of Basement.
"This precaution has given rise to the most clever contrivances:—
"The basement becomes gradually increased by a slant on each side, the impending superstructure being carried over a bold projection by means of radiating corbels.
"This gain in space is surmounted by another continuous line of corbelling on each side, altogether thirty-five feet in length, and jutting forward so far towards the north and south, that the lateral walls are actually made to press their entire weight upon the outer verge of the deep and finely-moulded corbels, with the exception of an inconsiderable portion at the eastern extremities, which rests in the accustomed manner on the walls beneath, beyond the point at which the necessary width for the Chapel had been acquired, without encroachment on the current's passage.
"By the same ingenious application of corbels, the Chapel at Rotherham is sprung over two of the arches of the bridge, against a pier of which it is built.
"Although the water washes the plinth on both sides, and sometimes rises several feet above the bank, it has never occasioned any material injury to the structure or the material of which it is built. . . . . . The parapet is full of sculptures beneath triple canopies richly groined and ornamented with pinnacles, over which rise the battlements completing the design."
The authors of this interesting work have concluded, from architectural peculiarities, that it may confidently be ascribed to the beginning of the fourteenth century, or the reign of Edward II. It must, however, be observed, that the peculiar features of military costume, displayed in the curious sculpture which appears in the centre of the western front, representing the Resurrection, are more properly those of the succeeding reign. The long shield, which was in fashion in earlier times, had given place to the small shield of a form approaching to an equilateral triangle, as early as the reign of Edward I., but the pointed basinet, with the camail appended to it, the short hauberk, and close fitting jupon, worn with demi-brassarts, vantbraces, and greaves of plate, are in accordance with the fashions of a somewhat later period than that which has been assigned by Messrs. Buckler as the probable date of the chapel. Upon the evidence of costume we should be inclined to consider this sculpture as a work of the later half of the fourteenth century, and reign of Edward III.
Sculpture in the Central Compartment of West Front.