south transept from the south-east
(from a photograph by j. l. allen).
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
ROCHESTER
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE
BY G. H. PALMER, B.A.
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1897
CHISWICK PRESS:—CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
GENERAL PREFACE.
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to thegreat English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide booksat a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a workcompiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to thestudent of archæology and history, and yet not too technical in languagefor the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each casewould be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the generalsources of information which have been almost invariably found usefulare:—firstly, the great county histories, the value of which,especially in questions of genealogy and local records, is generallyrecognized; secondly, the numerous papers by experts which appear fromtime to time in the transactions of the antiquarian and archæologicalsocieties; thirdly, the important documents made accessible in theseries issued by the Master of the Rolls; fourthly, the well-known worksof Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals; and, lastly, the veryexcellent series of Handbooks to the Cathedrals, originated by the lateMr. John Murray, to which the reader may in most cases be referred forfuller detail, especially in reference to the histories of therespective sees.
Gleeson White.
Edward F. Strange.
Editors of the Series.
PREFACE.
Within the limits of a short preface it is impossible to enumerateall the sources of information, printed and in manuscript, to whichreference has been made in the writing of this little work on theCathedral church of the author’s native city. He must especially mentionthe extent to which he has consulted the works of the Rev. G. M. Livett,Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, and Canon Scott Robertson among livingauthorities, while in the “Collections” made by Mr. Brenchley Rye,preserved in the British Museum (where Mr. Rye was once a keeper), noteshave been found of many matters that might otherwise have escapednotice.
Most of the illustrations appear for the first time in this book. Theyare reproduced, by kind permission, from pen-drawings by Messrs. H. P.Clifford and R. J. Beale, and from photographs by Messrs. Horace Dan,J. L. Allen, F. G. M. Beaumont, and Messrs. Carl Norman and Co., ofTunbridge Wells.
Thanks are also due to the Very Rev. the Dean, the Rev. E. J. Nash, Mr.George Payne, F.S.A., and Mr. S. S. Brister, for kindnesses and helpfulsuggestions, as also to the head-verger, Mr. Miles, who, having beenconnected with the fabric for more than half a century, has a p