well as a gold medal, engraved with the name of
Bishop Liudhard, and now deposited in the British Museum.
A chrismatory, or anpulla, for holding the
consecrated oil, was found on the wall-plate, at the last restoration,
about forty years ago. It is probably of the fourteenth century.
The so-called tomb of Queen Bertha is interesting. It can
hardly be an Easter tomb, as it is not within the altar-rails. The
chamfered slab, covering the sarcophagus, is formed of (perhaps)
Portland oolite, a stone certainly rare in Canterbury. It must (if a
coffin), from its position in the church, have covered the remains of
some distinguished person.
Let me say, in conclusion, that every detail (which |
|
want of time has compelled me to sketch thus badly and
briefly) is worthy of consideration and reverence, as connected with a
church where the functions of religion were "irradiated (in the
words of an old chronicler) by the apostolic life and doctrine of St.
Augustine, and by an abundance of miracles"; the
"Mother-church of England," as it is called by the late Dean
Stanley, who loved it well, who illustrated its history by a graphic
picturesqueness of detail, and whose name and memory will never be
forgotten by all worshippers at St. Martin's who take to heart his
lessons, and to whom "the view from this hillside is still one of
the most inspiriting that can be found in the world." |