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Dedication: The Holy Trinity. A Church served by Secular Canons.

Special Features: Five Aisles; Spire; Campanile.

Chichester (the camp of Cissa) stands at the head of an arm of the English Channel. Its Cathedral is the only one in England that can be seen from the sea.

In 1082 the South Saxon See was removed from Selsey to Chichester. The church of the monastery, dedicated to St. Peter, seems to have been used until Bishop Ralph Luffa (about whom little or nothing is known) founded the existing Cathedral. This was completed in 1108, partly destroyed by fire in 1114 and partly restored by the same Ralph, who died in 1123.

“Chichester Cathedral, though one of the smallest, is to the student of Mediæval architecture one of the most interesting and important of our cathedrals. At Salisbury one or two styles of architecture are represented; at Canterbury two or three; at Chichester every single style is to be seen without a break from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Century. It is an epitome of English architectural history for five hundred years. Early Norman, late Norman, late Transitional, early Lancet, late Lancet, early Geometrical, late Geometrical, Curvilinear, Perpendicular and Tudor work all appear in the structure side by side. We have many other heterogeneous and composite cathedrals, but nowhere, except perhaps at Hereford, can the whole sequence of Mediæval styles be read so well as at Chichester.”—(F. B.)

Chichester was consecrated in 1148, again suffered from fire in 1186-1187 and was restored and enlarged by Bishop Seffrid II. (1180-1204).

“The fire of 1186 was not as serious as that of Canterbury in 1182, so that there was no need of rebuilding. Bishop Seffrid, however, covered the Cathedral with a stone vault and added the necessary buttresses and flying-buttresses. He also built the Choir, making great use of Purbeck marble. He removed the Norman apse and built the aisled retro-choir of two bays.

“This is the architectural gem of the Cathedral. The idea of it probably came from Hereford, where the retro-choir is a few years earlier. At Hereford, however, the retro-choir projects picturesquely and forms an eastern transept. The central piers of the Chichester retro-choir are remarkably beautiful. They consist of a central column surrounded by four shafts very widely detached; columns and shafts are of Purbeck marble. The capitals are Corinthianesque; their height is proportioned to the diameters of the column and shafts. This beautiful capital was reproduced a few years later by St. Hugh at Lincoln. The triforium is of quite exceptional beauty, as indeed is the whole design. Semicircular arches occur in the pier arcade and triforium, and some of the abaci are square; otherwise the design is pure Gothic. Here, as at Abbey Dore, St. Thomas’s, Portsmouth, Boxgrove and Wells, we see the transition to the ‘pure and undefiled Gothic’ of St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln. In these beautiful churches the ancient Romanesque style breathed its last.

“The aisles of the new retro-choir were continued on either side of the first bay of the Norman Lady-Chapel whose three bays had probably been remodelled before the fire in Transitional fashion. The capitals of the Lady-Chapel are of exceptional interest and importance, as showing experimental foliation which had not yet settled down into the conventional leafage of early Gothic. The apse also of the south transept was replaced by a square chapel, now used as a Library, in the vaulting of which the Norman zigzag occurs.

“A little later in the Lancet period was built (1199-1245) the lovely south porch, with small exquisite mouldings, and the charming foliated capitals and corbels. The difference between early Transitional, late Transitional and Lancet foliation may be well seen by examining successively the capitals of the Lady-Chapel, the triforium of the retro-choir and the south porch. The north porch is almost equally fine. The vaulting ribs, square in section, show that the two porches both belong to the very first years of the Thirteenth Century. Rather later, the sacristy was built on to the south porch, with a massive vault supported by foliated corbels.”—(F. B.)

Chichester’s saint was one of its own bishops—Richard de la Wych—who died in 1253. He was canonized in 1261. In 1276, his remains were removed from their first resting-place to the shrine in the south transept opposite the beautiful Early Decorated window (one of the loveliest examples of this style in England). Edward I., his Queen and the Court were present at the Translation. From that time the shrine received many visits from pilgrims.

The central tower was built during the first half of the Fourteenth Century, and the spire was completed at the end of the Fourteenth Century. The campanile was built by Bishop John de Langton (1305-1336). Bishop Sherborne (1507-1536) added the upper portion of the choir-stalls and the decorations of the south transept. These are the ornamentations referred to by Fuller, who quaintly says Bishop Seffrid “bestowed the cloth and making on the church, while Bishop Sherborne gave the trimming and best lace thereto, in the reign of Henry VII.”

In 1643, the Parliamentarian troops broke the organ, defaced the monuments and hacked the seats and stalls, which, of course, necessitated restorations and repairs. Repairs, restorations and alterations were also made from 1843 to 1856, the most important of which was the reconstruction of the central tower and spire under Sir Gilbert Scott. In 1867 the floor of the Lady-Chapel was lowered to its original level and the Gilbert Chapel restored; and during the last half of the Nineteenth Century, the cloister was restored and the roof of the Lady-Chapel, and a new north-western tower designed by Mr. J. L. Pearson.

“The Cathedral stands on the south of West Street, where a fine view may be had of the whole of the north side of the building and of the detached Campanile. The Close occupies entirely the south-west quadrant of the city, being bounded by South and West Streets and the City Wall. The central tower and spire, rising to a height of 277 feet, are conspicuous for many miles around, but the west front is much shut in. Perhaps the most pleasing view is that seen from the meadows on the south of the city, from which point the Campanile fits in admirably with the general mass of the building.”—(J. C.-B.)

This Campanile, in which eight bells hang, stands on the north side of the Cathedral, and was built in the Fourteenth Century. It covers a square of 50 feet and consists of two cubes with an octagonal lantern (8 feet).

The Central Tower and its delicate Spire have had a peculiar history. Exposed to the south-west gales from the Channel, the authorities in the Seventeenth Century had fears for its safety; and, consequently the upper part was taken down and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, who placed within it a pendulum-stage of wood and iron to steady it. This ingenious invention lasted until 1861; and it is said that Wren’s contrivance prevented the spire from toppling over when the collapse occurred.

About 1859 this spire showed signs of weakness, and underpinning was of no avail. On the 21st of February it inclined slightly to the south-west, then seemed to right itself; and then, amid a great cloud of dust, descended perpendicularly into the walls of the tower, doing no harm to the roof of the church. The fall only lasted a few seconds. As this happened in Queen Victoria’s reign, the old Sussex prophecy was fulfiled:

“If Chichester Church steeple fall

In England there’s no King at all.”

The rebuilding was entrusted to Sir Gilbert Scott with a stipulation that the new tower and spire should be exact reproductions of the originals. Scott, however, added six feet to the height.

“The central tower, which is battlemented, with octagonal turrets at the angles, also battlemented, has in its principal or second story, two couplets in each face, with a quatrefoil in the head, each under a pointed arch. The spire is of beautiful design, octagonal; in each face is a window of two lights, flanked by pinnacled turrets, crocketed and canopied. Its elegance has constantly led to its being compared with that of Salisbury, which, however, differs from it in age and many other particulars, as well as size. It forms not only the central but the principal feature of the church, all whose lines are designed to work in with it, a very perfect effect of unity, as at Salisbury, being attained. It is locally said that the master built Salisbury and the man, Chichester.”—(W. J. L.)

The West Front is composed of three stories, a gable, porch and two towers. The northern tower is modern, copied from its twin, which is Early English above the third story. The great West Window is modern, copied from Fourteenth Century examples. The central porch (Early English) is of the same date and character as the south porch, which opens into the cloisters. The north porch (Early English) lies between the aisle and the north-west tower.

The north wall of the nave has some curious buttresses. In the south transept notice a richly traceried window (Decorated), of seven lights, with a beautiful rose window above. A trefoiled string-course ornaments the parapet in the transept and choir. The East Window consists of three lancet windows, with a rose window of seven foliated circles of the choir in the gable; it is flanked by arcaded pinnacles with small spires.

The first view of the interior of Chichester is somewhat severe.

“On entering the nave the eye is at once caught by the five aisles, a peculiarity shared by no other English cathedral but that of Manchester, although some parish churches have it on a smaller scale, as Taunton and Coventry. On the Continent the increased number of aisles is common, witness Beauvais, Cologne, Milan, Seville, and seven-aisled Antwerp. Grand effects of light and shade are produced by these five aisles: remark especially the view from the extreme north-east corner of the north aisle, looking across the cathedral. The great depth of the triforium shadows is owing to the unusual width of this wall passage. The breadth of the nave (91 feet) is greater than that of any English cathedral except York (103 feet).

“The first two stories of the south-west tower at the end of the nave deserve examination. The rude, long capitals, and plain circular arches, probably indicate that it formed a part of the first church completed by Bishop Ralph in 1108. The nave itself, as far as the top of the triforium, and the two aisles immediately adjoining, are the work of the same Bishop (died 1123),—or should perhaps be described as having formed part of the Norman cathedral completed in 1148. The clerestory above, and the shafts of Purbeck marble which lighten the piers, are Seffrid’s additions (died 1204). The vaulting is perhaps somewhat later; and it was because it was determined, after the burning of 1187, to replace with a stone vault the wooden roofs to which the frequent fires had been owing that Seffrid carried up his vaulting-shafts along the face of the Norman piers, some of which he re-cased. The two exterior aisles, north and south, were probably added by Bishop Neville (died 1244), when it became necessary to provide additional room for chantries and relic shrines. The positions of the various altars are marked by piscinas and aumbries in the walls. The two, however, occur together in the south aisle alone; in the north are aumbries only, an arrangement possibly resulting from the feeling with which that quarter was always anciently regarded. A certainly triplicity pervades all this part of the cathedral, which was dedicated by Bishop Seffrid to the Holy Trinity. The side shafts are triple throughout. The bearing-shafts of the vaulting are clustered in threes, and branch out with three triple vaulting-ribs above. The transitional character of Bishop Seffrid’s work is especially marked in the clerestory, the inner arcade of which is pointed, whilst the windows themselves are round-headed.”—(R. J. K.)

The nave is full of monuments and tablets, some of which are by Flaxman. The one in the Chapel of the Four Virgins (north side) is a memorial to Collins the poet. Near it are the two figures of the Earl of Arundel and Maud, his wife. Arundel was beheaded in 1297. He is represented in full armour and at his feet is a lion.