North Lambeth

The history of this district was for many hundred years the history of Lambeth Palace, that picturesque pile of buildings of whose existence many hurrying Londoners seem ignorant. Let us wend our way thither, and as we go, we will think of the romantic story of its origin.

As we read previously, the manor in this part of Lambeth belonged to the Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. It was granted by her to the Bishop and monks of Rochester.

An interesting sidelight on the condition of the Thames at that period is thrown by the fact that one Bishop ordered Lambeth to supply him with 500 lampreys per year, while his successor demanded in addition one salmon per year.

In common with other districts in England, Lambeth was seized by the Conqueror, and part was granted to Odo, Bishop of Bayeaux: William Rufus however, restored the manor to the Convent of Rochester, giving in addition, the church, which previously had not been in their possession.

The nearness of the manor house to the ferry and its position nearly opposite the King's palace at Westminster, caused it to be a convenient resting place for the Archbishop of Canterbury on his way to and from the King's court. In addition to this, one Archbishop, Baldwin by name, having quarrelled with his monks at Canterbury over the building of a college, acquired from the Bishop of Rochester certain lands in Lambeth and began to build his college there.

His successor Hubert Walter continued the work. and in order to have more scope, exchanged with Rochester in 1197, giving the manor of Darent for that of Lambeth.

From that date, with the exception of a few years in the time of the Commonwealth, Lambeth has belonged to the Archbishops of Canterbury. The house, however, was a small manor house, not in the least befitting the dignity of its new owner. Its transformation into an episcopal palace was the work of Archbishop Boniface in the reign of Henry III, and a curious story in connection therewith is told by Matthew Paris, a monkish chronicler. The Archbishop paid a visit of inspection to the Priory of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, and the visit was resented by the Prior and monks, who acknowledged only the authority of the Bishop of London," which answer so much offended the Archbishop that he forthwith fell on the Sub-prior and smote him on the face, saying ‘Indeed!! Indeed!! doth it become you, English traitors, so to answer me?' His followers thereupon attacked the monks severely injuring them.

The citizens of London came to the rescue, and the Archbishop fled secretly to Westminster, where he threw himself on the protection of the King. The matter was later brought to the Pope, who took the side of the Prior and monks, and commanded the Archbishop to build, by way of expiation, a splendid mansion at Lambeth for the occupants of the See. Very little of his work remains to-day, but the Chapel, which you will see later, is probably of this period.

But now we have arrived at the Palace, and before entering, let us pause to consider its position and outside appearance.

The embankment and the splendid road which skirts the outside wall, are of course modern, while the Suspension bridge hard by dates only from 1862.

The Palace of long ago was not well protected from the flooding Thames, oft-times to the great inconvenience of the occupants. The archbishops crossed the river by the ferry, as the names Ferry Street in Lambeth and Horseferry Road in Westminster, remind us and many a famous man has alighted from his barge at the Archbishop's landing stage a flight of steps leading down from the water tower.

The appearance of the Palace is venerable and imposing, although architecturally it presents a motley appearance. This is because of the various re-buildings, alterations and improvements made by successive Archbishops.

Let us pause awhile outside the magnificent gateway built by Cardinal Morton of Morton's fame, between the years 1486 and 1500. You will notice that it has two immense square towers joined over the archway by the great Audience chamber. In this room the famous Sir Thomas More served as a little pageboy to Cardinal Morton.

At the gate "dole" used to be given to beggars every Friday. We read of one Archbishop, famous for his hospitality, besides the daily fragments of his house, he gave every Friday and Sunday unto every beggar that came to his doors, a loafe of breade of a farthing price, and there were usually such almsday in time of dearth to the number of 5,000, but in a plentiful, four-thousand, and seldom or never under, which amounted unto five hundred pounds in a year." The practice of giving dole still continues, but the gifts take the form of money, not food.

The small room adjoining the porter's lodge was once used as a prison, and scratches on the wall and iron rings, similar to those we shall see later in the Lollards' Tower, may be noticed.

Passing through the gateway, we enter the outer court. The water pipe just inside the gateway bears the arms of Cardinal Morton, and a rebus on his name - a tun surmounted by an M.

Directly in front of us appears a tall tower known generally as Chicheley's Tower. If examined closely it will be seen to be really three towers. The first is ascribed to Laud and was probably built about 1640; the second is known as the Water Tower probably because from it the archbishops had access to the river. On the front is a niche now empty, which once held the Statue of St. Thomas of Canterbury. This was placed there by the builder, Archbishop Chicheley, and the Watermen of the Thames used to doff their caps as they passed.

The third and lowest part is known as the Lollards' Tower, for reasons which you will hear later.

The little court in which we stand is flanked by an archway, with a small room above now used for records, and by the great Hall, now the Library.

This is a splendid building nearly a hundred feet in length, forty feet in breadth and fifty feet in height. The roof is of oak, elaborately carved, and has in the centre a curious lantern-shaped structure. Tall, narrow windows on each side of the Hall and two deep bays, give a subdued light.

On the window at the further end of the Hall you will notice the coat of arms of Archbishop Juxon, the builder of the present Hall.

The room was built originally by Archbishop Boniface in the thirteenth century but suffered many vicissitudes of fortune, until in the Commonwealth it was pulled down and the materials sold.

Juxon, becoming Archbishop after the Restoration, began the rebuilding on the site of the old Hall, and as nearly as possible in the same style. He was so anxious concerning its erection that he left the following direction in his Will, "If I happen to die before the Hall at Lambeth be finished, my Executors to be at the charge of finishing it according to the model made of it, if my successor shall give leave."

You will notice that the walls are lined with books, and ranged on each side are projecting bookcases, but the Hall has been used as a Library only since the days of Archbishop Howley in 1834. Previous to that it was used as a great dining-hall.

Try to picture it with an earthen floor, strewn with rushes, a large hearthstone for a fire in the centre and ranged on each side long tables accommodating the many guests entertained.

There is an account given by Strype of the hospitality of Archbishop Parker:- "In the daily eating this was the custom; the stewards with the servants that were gentlemen of the better rank, sat down at the tables in the hall at the right hand; and the almoner, with the clergy and the other servants, sat on the other side, where there was plenty of all sorts of provisions both for eating and drinking. The daily fragments thereof did suffice to fill the bellies of a great number of poor hungry people that waited at the gate; and so constant and unfailing was this provision at my lord's table, that whosoever came in, either at dinner or supper, being not above the degree of a knight, might there be entertained worthy of his quality, either at the stewards' or at the almoner's table.

And, moreover, it was the Archbishop's command to his servants, that all strangers should be received and treated with all manner of civility and respect, and that places at the table should be assigned them according to their dignity and quality, which redounded much to the praise and commendation of the Archbishop.

"The discourse and conversation at meals was void of all brawls and loud talking, and for the most part consisted in framing men's manners to religion or to some other honest and beseeming subject. There was a monitor in the hall; and if it happened that any spoke too loud, or concerning things less decent, it was presently hushed by one that cried ‘Silence'. The Archbishop loved hospitality and no man showed it so much or with better order, though he himself was very abstemious."

The Library contains over 25,000 volumes, relating to theology, ecclesiastical history, poetry and romance. There are also many very valuable MSS. now kept in the room over the entrance arch.

Of the many books to be admired, you may be most interested in an illuminated copy of the Gospels of Mac Durnan as they are called. This book is written in Latin, and the beautiful illustrations show us how much devotion and skill was possessed by the monks of Ireland when Christianity was at a very low ebb in England. An inscription states that the work was either written for, or was in the possession of Maelbrigid Mac Durnan, Abbot of Derry and Bishop of Armagh in the ninth century. A note on the flyleaf says that it was a present from King Athelstan to the City of Canterbury. It was brought to Lambeth by Archbishop Parker. Another wonderfully illustrated book is “The Daunce of Machabre", or "Death's Dance". There are thirty-five pictures painted on vellum, and they represent Death coming as a skeleton, to all sorts and conditions of people, from the Pope to the baby in the cradle.

Then there is a very early printed Bible from the press of Guttenberg, produced twenty years before Caxton produced the first printed book in England. The beautiful ornamentation and artistic capitals make it look like a manuscript.

Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book written in seven different languages, has pictures copied from the Dance of Death.

There are books containing the handwriting of James I, and of Charles I, a first edition of More's "Utopia", with illustrations by Holbein, Bibles used by the Archbishops at the coronation of the Kings, and many other treasures.

Boys will like to see an Atlas with a wooden cover containing a compass, while girls may be interested in Mrs. Tenison's Cookery Book, which contains among other things, a recipe "To make the cake that the Queen loves" - the Queen being of course Queen Anne.

Leaving the Library by a door at the further end, and passing through the Laudian room, we find a passage which leads to the Crypt or Undercroft, the oldest part of the existing buildings.

It consists of a series of stone arches supported by massive columns. We are told that when the crypt was excavated by the order of Archbishop Davidson in 1907, no fewer than five floors were discovered, one below the other, the raising being doubtless due to successive attempts to keep out the river.

There is a tradition that in this crypt Anne Boleyn was tried by Archbishop Cranmer on a charge of adultery. The result of the trial was a foregone conclusion, since Henry VIII wanted to get rid of the unhappy Queen, and the story says that she was taken from the Palace down the steps of the Water Tower, to the boat which bore her to the Tower, the scene of her execution.

After going up a modern staircase and passing across a gallery, once part of the old Library, we reach the chamber before the chapel door" now called the Post room from the post inserted to support the wooden ceiling.

We are now in Chicheley's Tower, built in 1432. The accounts of the building are still preserved in the Library.

From the North side a staircase leads up to the famous Lollards' prison. The title is probably a misnomer, for it is extremely doubtful whether any Lollards were ever imprisoned here. One theory has been advanced that when the Lollard's prison at St. Paul's was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, the tradition became attached to the Archbishop's Palace. Be this true or not, the room undoubtedly was a prison for some unhappy people, as the writings on the wall, and the iron rings testify.

An interesting story is connected with the window in the northern wall. Dr. Guy Carleton who held a living in Berkshire in the reign of Charles I, was ejected during the Commonwealth and imprisoned in the Lollards' Tower. His wife managed to send him a rope, and arranged to have a boat waiting by the Water Tower. He fastened the rope to the ring beneath the window and slid down. But it was too short, and he fell and fractured his leg. He managed however, to crawl to the boat, and escaped to a safe hiding place, where his devoted wife maintained him, until they could find a refuge in France. After the Restoration he returned to England, and eventually became Bishop of Chichester.

Notice the inscriptions on the wall. One under the name “John Frederick Barbur” runs as follows:- “Cyppe mi out of all il company. Amen.”

If we climb further up after leaving the prison, we shall reach the top of the Tower. This is not so high as the neighbouring tower of St. Mary's Church, nor does it afford so fine a view, but we can see plainly the curves in the river, and the flat character of the land stretching away to the Surrey Hills.

The Chapel is entered by a beautiful double doorway in the Post room. It is of early English architecture, and as we read previously, was built by Archbishop Boniface.

There are five lancet windows at the eastern end, and three triplet windows on each side. If any of you have visited the Temple Church you will notice a resemblance in the windows; the two chapels are probably about the same date. The glass in the windows is modern, having been put there as lately as 1880.

The original stained glass windows put in by Cardinal Morton, and restored by Archbishop Laud were the subject of much controversy in the reign of Charles I, when Laud was tried on charges of Popery.

These are his words at his trial:- "The first thing the Commons have in their evidence charged against me, is the setting up and repairing Popish images and pictures in the glass windows of my chapel at Lambeth, and amongst others the picture of Christ hanging on the cross between the two thieves in the Eastern window, the pattern whereof, Mr. Prynn attested, I took out of the very mass book, wherein he showed their portraitures.

"To which I answer first:- “That I did not set these images up, but found them there before. Secondly: that I did only repair the windows which were so broken and the chapel which lay so nastily before, that I was ashamed to behold and would not resort unto it but with some disdain, which caused me to repair it to my great cost. Thirdly: that I made up the history of these old broken pictures not by any pattern in the mass book, but only by the fragments and remainders of them, which I compared with the story."

Of the result of the trial, and the fate of Laud, you have heard in your history lessons.

During the Commonwealth the windows shared the fate of many other beautiful things in England, and were utterly destroyed. Fortunately we have travelled far from those days of superstition, and now realise that pictures and statues may express man's worship as truly, if not more truly, than words.

The screen, also erected by Archbishop Laud, divides the chapel into two parts, an inner and an outer, and the pews and stalls along each side of the chapel are for the members of the Archbishop's household.

The ceiling is modern, having replaced a flat roof which bore the arms of Archbishop Laud. Immediately before the Communion rails is a stone marking the tomb of Archbishop Parker and bearing these words: "Corpus Matthaei Archiepiscopi tandem hic quiescit."

During the Civil War in 1648, Lambeth Palace passed into the hands of one Colonel Scott. The Chapel was turned into a dancing hall, and because the tomb "stared them in the face and checked their mirth", the monument to the Archbishop's memory was destroyed, and his body dug up and buried in a heap of rubbish in the Palace grounds. After the Restoration, Archbishop Sancroft caused diligent search to be made, and eventually the bones were discovered and again buried in the chapel.

The door in the North wall of the chapel leads to the vestry which is part of a sixteenth century tower ascribed to Cranmer. Tradition says that he used as his parlour, what is now the organ loft, and that there he accomplished the revision of the English Prayer Book.

Retracing our steps through the Post room we pass along a gallery containing the shell of a tortoise placed in the garden by Laud in 1633, and accidentally killed by a gardener in 1753.

From the gallery we pass into the Guard room, so called because in former days it was used by the Archbishop's bodyguard. The timbers of the roof are old (fourteenth -fifteenth century) but the rest of the room is a modern restoration.

On the walls are hung oil paintings of Archbishops, some by very famous artists; e.g., of Archbishop Warham, by Holbein, Laud, by Vandyck, Herring, by Hogarth, and Secker, by Reynolds. The room is now used as a dining room, but has also been the scene of two Lambeth Conferences.

From the Guard room we emerge once more into the garden, and passing under the archway by Juxon's Hall, can obtain a good view of the residential part of the Palace.

This is quite modern, having been built for Archbishop Howley in 1829-30, but it is a very dignified, stately building, quite in keeping with the older parts.

The fig trees growing by the side of the Great Hall are off-shoots of the original trees planted by Cardinal Pole in Queen Mary's reign. The gardens extend for some distance behind the Palace, and originally included what is now known as Archbishop's Park, this having been granted to the Borough by Archbishop Temple in 1901.

Before we leave the Palace, let us try to recall a few of the famous incidents connected with its history. Of some you have had glimpses already, but here are others.

Stubbs, in his Ecclesiastical Register tells us that the Consecration of a Bishop took place at Lambeth in January, 1121. Thus, though the Archbishop had not become the owner of the Manor House, he was evidently in residence there.

You will remember that in King John's reign, the nobles asked for French help against their King. When the need had passed away, the English found difficulty in getting rid of their helpers, and it was only after Hubert de Burgh's naval victory, that the English and French concluded a Treaty at Lambeth in 1217, by which the French evacuated England.

We have already thought of the Lollards and seen their supposed prison in the Palace. Not only with them, but with their founder, John Wyclif, does Lambeth claim connection.

In 1378 Wyclif was summoned before the Archbishop at Lambeth to answer for his bold words against the Pope and the Church. But the citizens of London to whom he was a hero, forced an entrance to the Palace and demanded his release.

Three years later during Wat Tyler's rebellion, a mob again broke into the Palace. They were the men of Essex, who having beheaded Archbishop Sudbury on Tower Hill, went to the Palace, burned or spoiled all the furniture and books, drank the liquor and most important of all, destroyed many registers and public papers.

In the year 1501, Katharine of Aragon, afterwards Henry VIII's Queen, on her first arrival in England, was lodged with her ladies for some days at the "Archbishop's Inne at Lambeth".

Nor was she by any means the only royal personage to visit the Palace. Though there is no official record of Henry VIII's visit to Lambeth, we find the following account in Fox's Martyrology:- “The King (Henry VIII) finding occasion to solace himself upon the Thames, came with his barge, furnished with musitions along by Lambeth Bridge towards Chelsey. The noise of the musitions provoked the Archbishop (Cranmer) to resort to the bridge to do his duty, and salute the Prince. Whom when the Kinge had perceived to stand at the bridge he commanded the watermen to draw towards the shore and so came straite to the bridge."

Far less imposing, but of much greater historical significance, was the arrival at the Palace stairway of a slight fragile figure with keen irregular face, restless grey eyes, and kindly whimsical smile, no other than the great and good Sir Thomas More.

We have already thought of him as a page boy in that room over the Palace gate, where his wonderful ability had raised the highest hopes. Now after a splendid career as lawyer, diplomatist, courtier and writer, he was summoned to Lambeth to take an oath against which his conscience revolted.

They bade him walk in the garden that he might reconsider his reply. But the day was hot, so "he tarried in the old burnt chamber that looks into the garden", while Latimer and others made merry in the courtyard below. Called in again, he remained unshaken in his resolve, and passed from the Palace to the Tower, where he was executed as a traitor.

“Our silver cross sparkled before the prow
The ripples twinkled at their diamond dance
The boats that followed were as glowing gay
As regal gardens; and your flocks of swans
As fair and white as angels; and your shores
Were in mine eyes the green of Paradise."

These are the words in which Tennyson makes Cardinal Pole describe his return to Lambeth Palace, which Queen Mary is said to have refurnished for him at her own expense and where she visited him on several occasions.

His occupancy of the Palace, however, was short for he died four years later, and the next royal visitor to Lambeth was Queen Elizabeth, who often came to see Archbishop Parker.

One of her visits is thus described :-

"The Queen, removing from Hampton Court to Greenwich, visited the Archbishop at Lambeth, where she stayed all night. That day was Tuesday - the next being Wednesday - it was usual as it was the season of Lent, that a sermon should be preached before the Queen. A pulpit therefore, was placed in the quadrangle near the pump, and a sermon was delivered by Dr. Pearce. The Queen heard it from the upper gallery that looks towards the Thames, the nobility and courtiers stood in the other galleries which formed the quadrangle. The people from below divided their attention between Her Majesty and the preacher."

We have already spoken of Archbishop Laud, in connection with the chapel, and of his great unpopularity with certain people. Here is an interesting entry in his diary:- May 11th. (1641)

"Monday night, at midnight, my house at Lambeth was beset with 500 persons of the rascal riotous multitude. I had notice, and strengthened the house as well as I could, and, God be blessed, I had no harm.”  “Since then," he adds, "I have got cannon, and fortified my house, and hope all may be safe."

Later, by the King's desire, he removed to Whitehall, but not even the King's intervention could save him from his ultimate fate in the Tower.

After his execution, the See was vacant for nearly seventeen years, and the House of Commons voted that Lambeth House should be made a prison.

Several distinguished Royalists were imprisoned here, among them Richard Lovelace, the poet, the author of:

"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for a hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty."

Of the reconstruction of the Palace by Archbishop Juxon, we have heard already, and Evelyn and Pepys, the great diarists of the Stuart period, give us glimpses of the dignity and splendour of the Palace after the Restoration.

Perhaps one of the most romantic spots in the neighbourhood of the Palace is the little sheltered corner between the Palace wall and St. Mary's Church. There on a wild and stormy night in December, 1688, the luckless Mary of Modena, wife of James II, sheltered with her baby, afterwards called "The Old Pretender ". They had escaped from Whitehall unobserved, crossed the river, and then waited in this little corner for the coach that was to carry them to Gravesend, whence they embarked for France.

The Palace very narrowly escaped destruction during the Gordon Riots in 1870. On June 6th, a party of about 500 who had previously assembled in St. George's Fields came to the Palace with drums beating, and flags flying and crying "No Popery ". Finding the gates shut, they called out that they should return in the evening, and paraded round the Palace all that day. Application was made for a party of soldiers to protect the Palace, and a number of Guards arrived. Notwithstanding this the mob continued to parade round the Palace for some days, and the soldiers were compelled to remain in possession for about two months.

The days of such exciting adventures are over, but do not think the making of history has ceased with the clash of arms.

Archbishop Tait wrote of the changes at Lambeth.

"We may see a frequent example of the power of adaptation to the varying circumstances of a nation's life, in the use to which these buildings are put to-day. Juxon's great Hall and the adjoining Guard room, built for a very different purpose, offer abundant space and opportunity for those larger gatherings of clergy and laity by which men seek to further the work of Christ in these somewhat democratic times."

Possibly when you are older you will be able to realise the epoch-making nature of some of the suggestions, which have emanated from the Lambeth Conferences.