James Wyatt and the Fire of 1803
A Chapter minute of 5 May 1775 refers to the large openings in the sides of the lantern, which had been temporarily blocked by Hawksmoor in 1727 (p. 55), ordering that ‘the four spaces in the dome, now boarded, be filled with chiaro scuro painting on oil cloth, according to the drawings produced. And also the centre circle on top of the dome with the same’.136 This implies that William Kent’s scheme had fallen out of fashion and was superseded, assuming that his paintings had been installed in the first place (p. 55).137
While we might have veered towards the conclusion that the arcading seen in the lantern in 1784 was not Kent’s work of 1727, but was the trompe l’oeil painting ordered in 1775, it cannot be so because the latter appears unmistakably in Thomas Malton’s engraving of the south transept in 1793. Malton shows that the chiaroscuro paintings simulated Gothic rose windows and filled only the blocked arches: they did not depict arcading.138 [88] Trompe l’oeil tracery patterns executed in chiaroscuro were very popular at this period, particularly for wallpaper. The installation of the new paintings was effected by Henry Keene (Surveyor, 1752–76), just before his death. Hence, either the order given in 1775 was not carried out for at least nine years, or we have to accommodate a further phase of decoration for which no other evidence is known. There is an undeniable problem with the chronology, and for the time being the conundrum remains.
88 Malton, 1793. Detail from an engraving of the crossing, seen from the south transept, showing Hawksmoor’s ceiling and trompe l’oeil painting of a rose window in the blocked arch on the north side of the lantern. WA Lib., Langley Coll. II.1.(22)
89 The central portion of Wyatt’s vaulted plaster ceiling in the lantern. Photographed in 1937. WA Lib., RPHG neg. 1742
90 Neale, 1819. Engraving showing a section through the crossing and lantern tower, looking south. Neale and Brayley 1823
The Lantern Burns, July 1803
Keene was succeeded by James Wyatt (Surveyor, 1776–1813). He had evidently instructed roof repairs to be carried out on the lantern, where, on 9 July 1803, a fire occurred, caused by an unattended workmen’s brazier. Hawksmoor’s roof and plaster vault were lost. The boarding in the lateral openings and the painted oilcloth, ‘placed here with execrable taste thirty years before’, apparently held out against the fire, preventing it from spreading into the high roofs.139 The architect-antiquary John Carter witnessed the conflagration, describing the event at great length and in melodramatic terms in the Gentleman’s Magazine.140
‘It was three o’clock this afternoon … on looking towards the Abbey Church I beheld the summit of the lantern, or great tower in the centre of the building, one entire blaze of fire. … I passed in by Poets’ Corner, amidst rushing crowds, and armed volunteers. … Burning timbers of the roof, and groins (wood) tumbling down in dreadful crash; wide-spreading flames, clouds of smoke, rivers of water … by five o’clock the roof of the lantern and the greater part of the groins connected with them, had fallen on the pavement, putting an end to the horrid ravage …’
Carter recounts that a few days before the fire he had been on the roof of the Abbey (measuring and drawing), and ‘I warned those present of the danger likely to ensue from the manner in which a portable furnace was left without any attendant, instancing the late fires at Boston church, Lincolnshire, Norwich Cathedral, Covent Garden church, etc.’
Wyatt’s Reconstruction
The quire was out of use for nearly two years while Wyatt constructed a new roof over the lantern and another ornate, Gothic vaulted ceiling. Wyatt’s vault was again of timber and plaster construction, embellished with numerous bosses in an admixture of styles (thirteenth century and Tudor).141 [89] The plasterwork was by the notable stuccador Francis Bernasconi, who also created the reredos and high altar in 1823 (later destroyed). This time, the vault was not provided with an oculus. The lateral arches opening into the roof voids were infilled with plain brickwork, plastered on the inner face, and a central doorway was provided in each side. These features appear in several drawn sections through the crossing,142 and also in early nineteenth-century views of the interior.143 [90, 91, 92] Evidence of the fire is still discernible in the form of patches of blackening around the edges of the arches (as viewed from within the roof voids) where smoke penetrated between them and the inserted boarding.144 [93] Wyatt’s doors in the lantern were probably of timber, the present iron ones more likely being Scott’s work.
91 Ackermann, 1812. The quire and crossing, looking east, showing the chequered marble floor of 1677 and the interior of the lantern. Ackermann 1812
92 Anonymous, c. 1819. Engraving of the crossing from the south-east, showing Wyatt’s vaulted plaster ceiling. Cocke 1995
A new low-pitched roof was constructed over the lantern which, most unusually, was covered with large slabs of Penrhyn slate, bedded in cement on boarding supported by timber trusses. [94] It is not recorded why Wyatt chose this unconventional method of roofing, but it may have been on account of the very exposed location, and the justifiable fear that lead sheeting could be lifted in a gale.145 The roof and vault structures are recorded in published section drawings. [90] It also seems likely that Wyatt adapted the string-course around the top of the tower to form the unconventional parapet that we have today. Repairs were completed in 1805, and one of the workmen inscribed his name: ‘D. HOUSDON 1805’.146
93 Interior of the roof of the south transept, showing the large aperture in Hawksmoor’s lantern, blocked with brickwork by Wyatt. Patches of smoke blackening on the edge of the arch resulted from the fire in 1803. Author
94 Roof of the lantern, from the south-east, in the 1870s. This shows Wyatt’s slate slabs and two men working in the gutter. WA Lib., Langley Coll. I.3.(24)