On the Lady Chapel in Chester Cathedral — Reading Companion

Architectural Evidence and Lost Details

Blomfield grounds his analysis in physical traces. He describes how the original decorative colouring was discovered under accumulated coats of whitewash on bosses, ribs, window mouldings, and capitals. The remains were sufficient to indicate precise tones of colour, enabling the artist to restore the original design exactly. He also notes that the chapel's proportions were admired by the architectural writer Rickman, but the loss of all original windows and later alterations had obscured its qualities. The paper thus relies on close examination of surviving structural elements rather than documentary records.

Reformation and Desecration

Blomfield observes that at the Reformation, Lady Chapels were often desecrated to extinguish lingering devotion to the Virgin. Chester's Lady Chapel was converted to a consistorial court. There, in 1555, Bishop Cotes tried George Marsh for heresy and condemned him to be burned at Boughton. Later, in 1680, a mob instigated by the Duke of Monmouth destroyed the painted glass of the east window. Blomfield contrasts this with later restoration by citizens, who replaced the glass at a cost of £1,500, and notes that the chapel was restored to religious use after the Restoration.

A Buried Bishop and a Sapphire Ring

During restoration work, a stone coffin was discovered containing a bishop's skeleton in a perfectly preserved state, enveloped in cerecloth with an illegible parchment on his breast. A gold ring of office with a large sapphire was on his forefinger; this ring was not reinterred but preserved among the chapter's treasures. Blomfield presents this as a tangible link to the chapel's medieval past, though he does not identify the bishop. The discovery underscores the material evidence that supplements the sparse written history of the Lady Chapel.

Restoration and Its Patron

Blomfield concludes by describing the ongoing restoration, noting that the patron wished to remain anonymous, desiring all to be done to the glory of God. The object was to restore the interior to its original state as left by the first builders. He mentions that some viewed such attempts with suspicion, but he defends the careful, evidence-based approach. The restoration was guided by the surviving colour traces and the expertise of Mr. Octavius Hudson, whose work at Salisbury demonstrated his skill in ancient chromatic art.

Blomfield's paper is valuable for its direct engagement with physical evidence—from whitewash-hidden colour to a bishop's ring—and its candid acknowledgment of historical gaps. Readers interested in Victorian antiquarianism or the material history of ecclesiastical architecture will find here a focused case study that balances technical observation with a narrative of loss and recovery. The work is best approached as a period document that reveals how 19th-century scholars reconstructed the past from fragmentary remains.

The rain kept time with Blomfield’s careful notes on the Lady Chapel’s worn stone. His quiet reverence for what survives — the gilded ribs beneath later whitewash — lingered long after I closed the book, and I found myself reaching for something that followed that same patient light. Stained Glass Tours in France — Edition Insights reminded me of how color, too, endures in fragments.