Prodigy or eccentric?
Country Life UK|December 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue)
A monastic church converted to a cathedral at the Reformation is a building of European importance, yet it has twice narrowly escaped destruction, as John Goodall explains
John Goodall
Prodigy or eccentric?

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Bristol

ON the evening of Sunday, October 30, 1831, amid three days of rioting sparked by the defeat of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords, a large mob gathered outside the Cathedral Close in Bristol. The Bishop, a known opponent of Reform, was absent and his butler unsuccessfully attempted to defend his Palace from attack. It was overrun, sacked and burnt. The cathedral sub-sacrist, William Phillips, managed to bar the door between the cloister and church, saving the building-although not the chapter house-from the fury of the rioters.

Bristol Cathedral was in origin an abbey, founded according to the Newland Roll, compiled between 1481-1515-in 1140, by one Robert FitzHarding, who built the church and all other houses... by the space of 6 years'. FitzHarding was a wealthy Bristol burgess and merchant who gave financial backing to the Empress Matilda and her son, Duke Henry, during the civil war known as the  Anarchy. His foundation was established just outside the walls of this prosperous city and, unusually, was known from the first not only by its location 'beside' Bristol, but also by its dedication to St Augustine, the apostle of the English.

It can't be a coincidence, therefore, that a next-door chapel-now lost-was thought in the Middle Ages to be the burial place of Jordan, by tradition one of St Augustine's companions, who died in Bristol in 603. Presumably, the foundation of the abbey related to Jordan's pre-existing cult. That there was an Anglo-Saxon prehistory to this site is demonstrated by a magnificent 11th-century sculpture of the Harrowing of Hell that was discovered during the 1830s repairs to the chapter house.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM COUNTRY LIFE UKView all
Save our family farms
Country Life UK

Save our family farms

IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
A very good dog
Country Life UK

A very good dog

THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
The great astral sneeze
Country Life UK

The great astral sneeze

Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
'What a good boy am I'
Country Life UK

'What a good boy am I'

We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Forever a chorister
Country Life UK

Forever a chorister

The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Best of British
Country Life UK

Best of British

In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Old habits die hard
Country Life UK

Old habits die hard

Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It takes the biscuit
Country Life UK

It takes the biscuit

Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It's always darkest before the dawn
Country Life UK

It's always darkest before the dawn

After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
Country Life UK

Tarrying in the mulberry shade

On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024