THE MINSTER, CATHEDRAL AND COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS AND ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (now the Parish Church of St John)
by David Chesters on Tuesday, 26 July 2011 at 18:55
St John’s, The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of this City from 1075
until the Reformation in 1541 when the College was dissolved and the Bishops Seat (Cathedra) for the new Diocese of Chester under Henry VIII was first set
up here but then transferred to the dissolved Abbey of St Werburgh, which was in better condition and had not suffered quite the same rigorous attention of the King’s Commissioners. It is a popular misconception that St John’s ceased to be a Cathedral when the second Norman Bishop took himself off to Coventry in 1102, but it is very clear that Bishops from the Norman Conquest until the Reformation retained St John’s as the northern centre of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, retained their seat here, although they resided principally at Lichfield, but described themselves as Bishops of Chester when appropriate. The date of foundation in 689AD by Æthelred King of Mercia is likely to be set aside and the date taken further back, possibly to the third or fourth centuries AD as recent doctoral scholarship is revealing much about St John’s that was hitherto unknown; and it is possible that we may find that this beautiful Church is one of the oldest in Europe still used for the worship of Almighty God. That said it is fairly clear that Æthelred did build, but on a site already in use as a Christian Centre, quite possibly by the remnants of the Celtic Church so derided by the Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum). Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said on entering St John’s that it was like taking a walk back into the twelfth century and he was especially taken with its fine Norman and Early English Architecture. St John’s predates Durham Cathedral by some thirteen years and one of our tasks in the years ahead is to see if we can find whether the same masons worked on both Cathedrals. In the Middle Ages St John’s was known as the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and St John the Baptist; it was supposed to own a relic of the true Cross brought back from the Crusades. FACTS AND LEGENDS ABOUT ST JOHN’S
Early Christian Church
Arthurian Legends
Royal Minster Foundation
Site of the Homage of the Kings to Edgar, first King of the English in 973AD
King Harold Godwinson Escapes from Senlac Hill (Battle of Hastings 1066) Flees to Chester and lives in the Anchorite Cell attached to St John’s!!! Norman Cathedral
Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross (Rood) and St John the Baptist
Mentioned in Piers Plowman
Collegiate Church of Secular Clergy with an early Grammar School together with the subsidiary chapels of St James and St Anne
From approximately 1102 until 1746 the Cheshire Minstrels were required to attend Divine Service at St John's on the Feast day of St John the Baptist and receive their licences as minstrels to stop them being arrested as rogues and vagabonds (this commemorates the lifting of the seige of Rhuddlan by a rag tag army assembled by the Constable of Chester - The pageantry was re-started in 2008
First Sitting of the Medieval Court of Chivalry in 1383
Embellished by King Richard II
Gruffudd ap Maredudd ap Dafydd’s Poems about the Rood of Chester and St John’s are classics in the Welsh Language
College Dissolved at the Reformation and its treasures removed – the Church falls into disrepair
Elizabeth I grants Parish Church Status (What a come down!)
Used by Commonwealth Troops to bombard the Walls of Chester and snipers where used ( one to fire at the King on the tower of the new Cathedral)
St John’s Organ was used at the Coronation of Queen Victoria
Victorian Restoration of the Church – Pews and Pulpit installed
1881 Tower Falls
Twentieth Century – Various Appeals
Twenty-First Century (2008) The St John’s Project set-up to repair, restore and re-order this famous church
The Church as we see it today shows to the outside world a Victorian facade but open the doors and see why Pevsner made his comment that he had been transported back to the twelfth century. Alex Clifton Ward and Simon Jenkins record its fame. There are so many legends as well as facts about St John's that it is easy to understand why Pevsner made his comment and Sir Neil Cousins then Chairman of English Heritage called it the hidden gem of Chester
COMMENTS ON ST JOHN;S
Sir Neil Cousins, lately Chairman “The ‘hidden gem’ of Chester”
of English Heritage
Sir Niklaus Pevsner (internationally known Architectural Historian)
together with Edward Hubbard
“One is transported into the early 12th Century with Norman Nave and
a splendid Norman Crossing.”
Arthur Mee, Writer, Journalist and Educator
“We leave the vestibule to find the glory of St John’s – this fragment of a Norman Church, is amongst the finest in the land.”
Dept of History, University of Manchester
“One of the most important Churches in England”
‘Treasures of Britain’ 1980’s publication
“….large and impressive Norman building….has fine Norman pillars and arcades.”
Simon Jenkins (England’s Thousand Best Churches)
“The forms and spaces of the interior are still those of an abbreviated Norman Cathedral.”
Brian Harris (Architectural Historian)
“The Norman work at St John’s is impressive the more because it has been better preserved than the ( present Chester) Cathedral Norman work.”
OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
a) Installation of a new system of central heating, possibly
incorporating solar energy
b) Installation of new lighting (based on a similar project at St
Bartholomew the Great, London.) c) Improvements to the sound system
d) Vandal protection for its priceless windows
e) Floodlighting of the main body of the Church and the ruined west
tower
f) Glazed entrance doors and internal porch at the West End. Improvements to the Porch and Narthex… making both more
welcoming. g) Re-ordering the Chancel to create a large ‘concert’ space together
with a better Nave Altar and removable communion rails to allow
secular activity
h) Opening up of the Chapter House and the building of new facilities
along the south wall of the Church, based on plans already in
existence. Provision of new vestries, meeting rooms, kitchen, wc’s
and store rooms. Extension of the water supply and installation of
telephone facilities. Creation of a Visitor Centre, Café, Museum and
Shop. Provision for Exhibition area. i) Examination of the feasibility of glazing part of the Lady Chapel to
insulate it from the rest of the Church and provide a place of
quietness and also for on Sunday, a Children’s area. j) Removal of pews in the north and south aisles
k) Restoration and conservation of the Medieval Painting of St John the
Baptist
l) Restoration and conservation of all monuments in the Church
m) Removal of the Saxon/Viking Crosses to the Church Museum
