the consent of the Prior and monks of Durham, ordained a sixth prebend in this church, called the Prebend of Skipwith. The prebendaries were obliged to keep the chancel or choir of the church in repair, to find bread and wine, and bell ropes, and to keep hospitality. In the 26th of Henry VIII. (1535) the prebends of this church were valued as follows, viz:-Howden, £18. 13s. 4d. in the gross, and £12. in the clear; Thorpe, £16. 11s. 8d. gross, £9. 18s. 4d. clear; Saltmarsh, £16. 13s. 4d. gross, £10. clear; Skipwith, £12. 10s. 6d. gross, £10. 11s. 24d. clear; Skelton, £15. 13s. 4d. gross, £9. clear; and Barmby, £16. 16. 8d. gross, and £9. 13s. 4d. clear. The collegiate establishment was dissolved in the 1st Edw. VI. (1547), and the temporalitics thereby became vested in the Crown, in which they remained till 1592, when Queen Elizabeth granted and sold them to Edw. Frost, John Walker, their heirs and assigns for ever. The revenues which supported the fabric having thus passed into private hands, the choir became totally neglected, and continued going gradually to decay till the year 1634 and 1635, when it became unsafe to celebrate divine service in it, and the nave was repaired, new roofed, and fitted up for that purpose by the parishioners. About the middle of the year 1696, the groined stone roof of the choir fell in. Gent, in his History of Ripon, published in 1733, tells us that the choir of Howden church "fell down not many years ago. But in the wicked usurper's time," he continues, "the inner part was miscrably rent to pieces; its comely, tuneful, and melodious organ pulled down; some of the vile miscreants, his soldiers, carrying the pipes, and scornfully striving to tone them, as they proceeded towards Wressle, two miles from this place." Besides the Canons of this church, there were chantry priests connected with it, for the altars of St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Catherine, St. Cuthbert, and St. Andrew. In the Saxon times this church had several shrines and relics. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, St. Osara, sister of Osred, King of Northumbria, had a shrine here, and her miracles had a fame beyond the confines of the kingdom. The date of the present church is not known, but it certainly stands on the foundations of a more ancient edifice-the church mentioned in Domesday. The plan is cruciform, having a nave, and north aisle, and two south aisles, a chancel and aisles, with a Chapter House on the south side, and transepts with east aisles. It is partly in the Early English, but principally in the Decorated style. From the centre rises a magnificent tower, of excellent proportions, in which is a sweet and musical peal of eight bells, which were opened on the 14th July, 1775. The west front is made into four divisions by buttresses, the two marking the nave, finishing above the roof in octagonal caps, richly crocketed, and pierced with small windows. The fronts of these two buttresses are panelled; and each has a niche containing a statue; one of them representing a Bishop with a church in his hand. In the centre division is a beautiful pointed doorway, the arch recessed, and resting on numerous columns with leaved capitals; and on each side are blank pointed arches. Over the doorway is a fine window of four lights, divided by a transom, and having much handsome tracery of a very original character in the sweep of the arch. The design rises to a crocketed apex, terminating in a foliated cross. In the divisions on each side of the nave is a pointed window of three lights, with elegant tracery. In the extreme south aisle is a depressed arched window of three lights. The windows of the other parts of the building are all pointed, and the buttresses of the nave and transepts have angular caps. The parapets of the aisles are plain, but supported on a beautiful cornice; the clerestory of the nave has a series of double pointed windows, and is finished with a plain parapet. In the front of each transept is a pointed doorway, and a large window above of four lights and a transom; and the finish of this part of the church is a sculptured block cornice. The beautiful choir is now in ruins. The east end is made into three divisions by highly enriched buttresses, entirely filled with crocketed niches, &c. The centre displays a noble window, the tracery and munnions of which are lost. This front, when perfect, must have been gorgeous in the extreme, and have presented a fine specimen of the architecture of the 14th century. The tower is very stately, and is said to have been built by Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham, about 1390. Camden and others have stated that it was built by that prelate, "that in case of a sudden inundation, the inhabitants might save themselves in it." Mr. Bigland calls this assertion, "a dream of the celebrated antiquary" (Camden), and a "romantic tale;" for if the banks of the two rivers in the neighbourhood (the Ouse and Derwent) were levelled, the town of Howden could never be laid more than six or eight feet under water. The lower windows of the tower are very lofty, being of three lights, with two transoms, in the purest perpendicular style; the upper windows have a single transom, and the top is embattled. The interior is spacious, and is about to be refitted; the nave is divided from the aisles by six pointed arches, springing from columns formed by the union of four cylinders with octagonal capitals. The extreme south aisle is short, and adjoining it is a porch, now used as a vestry. The arch between the nave and transept is filled up. Within the last dozen years great improvements and reparations have been made in various parts of the fabric, by public subscription, and the ruined part has been made more secure, by clamping it with iron. Two side screens were thrown across the transept, and several of the windows were filled with beautiful stained glass. The church has a fine organ. The font, of florid Gothic character, was presented to the church a few years ago, by Mr. Henry Rogerson, of Bramley. On the north side of the transept towards the south, are the remains of two chantries thrown into one; the piscinas remain, and the division walls may yet be traced. They were formerly the burial place of the Metham family, as also those of Hamilton, with whom they intermarried; but the whole is now, and has long been used as the burial place of Philip Saltmarshe, Esq., who lately introduced into it two elegantly stained glass windows. There were six fine windows on each side of the choir. The Chapter House is entered from the south aisle of the choir by a splendid arch, with canopied niches on each side, and on the left of the passage is a chantry, supposed to be that of St. Thomas, now the burial place of the family of Clarke, of Knedlington. The piscina still remains. There are some stone coffins in the choir, and several monuments in the church to the families of Scholfield, Saltmarshe, Dunn, Jefferson, Worsop, and others. The dimensions of this noble church are, length of the nave, 105 feet; breadth of nave, 66 feet; length of the transept, 117 feet; breadth of the same, 30 feet; length of the choir, 120 feet; breadth of ditto, 66 feet; and height of the tower, 135 feet. The Chapter House (now a ruin) is a superb and very beautifully proportioned octagonal edifice, with buttresses at the angles; each containing two pointed niches. In each division was an elegant window of three lights, and above each window was a pedimental canopy, crocketed, and terminating in a rich finial. The finish was a pierced parapet of quatrefoils, and pinnacles at the angles. Its beautiful groined roof and octagonal spire fell in on St. Stephen's day, 1750. The diameter of the interior is only 24 feet, and it contains 30 seats, separated by clustered pillars, very small and extremely delicate, having foliated capitals of pierced work, from which rises rich tabernacle work, ornamenting pointed arches. The seats are canopied, in imitation of a groined and ribbed arch. This is, doubtless, the most elegant part of the sacred edifice, and perhaps, may be considered the chef d'œuvre of its founder, Bishop * The stained glass in the three south windows of the nave, inserted in 1841, contains-the most eastward-the arms of Saltmarshe, Sotheron, Bethell, Empson, Worsop, and Eastcourt; the middle window contains the Royal Arms, those of the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ripon, Lords Hotham, Howden, and Galway; and the third window those of Clarke, Dunn, Jefferson, Thompson (Lord Wenlock), Athorpe, Wyndham, Menzies, and Broadley; all contributors to the reparation fund. The stained glass above the communion table represents the Blessed Virgin, St. Peter, and St. Cuthbert. VOL. II. 4 H Skirlaw, who was a man of exquisite taste in architecture, yet we can scarcely agree with Mr. Hutchinson, the historian of Durham, that it is the finest piece of pointed architecture in the kingdom. A connoisseur in pointed architecture, who viewed this edifice in company with Mr. Bigland, gave his decided opinion that it is inferior to the Chapter House at York; and others, who have been consulted on the subject, agree in this decision. There is no doubt that in minuteness and delicacy of workmanship, it is certainly superior to that at York; but in general effect and size it is much inferior. The vestibule or passage from the choir to this building is very rich in architectural elegance. The church of Howden is kept in repair by a yearly assessment throughout the parish, every township paying its proportional rate, as settled soon after the dissolution of the Collegiate establishment. The Bishops of Durham had a Palace on the south side of the church of Howden, the remains of which have been converted into a farm house, called the Old Hall, now in the occupation of Mr. George Clarke, Jun. To the east are the ruins of several large buildings, with the remains of the ribs and groinings of an extensive cloister. Over an arch here are the arms of Skirlaw, and over the gate leading out of the yard to the granaries are the arms of Cardinal Langley. On the south side of the mansion was a park extending to the banks of the Ouse. This palace was the favourite residence of many of the Bishops of Durham. Here Bishop Pudsey died in 1195, and was carried for interment to his Cathedral. Bishop Walter Kirkham also died here, in 1260, and after being embowelled, was taken to Durham; and in 1406, Bishop Skirlaw died and was embowelled here, and was buried in Durham. This great benefactor to the town of Howden, who raised the tower of the church, and spent large sums on the fabric, erected that architectural gem, the Chapter House, and built the large hall in the palace, was a native of Skirlaugh. (See vol. i., page 411; vol. ii., page 392.) Near the palace, forming the eastern boundary of the church yard, were the Prebendal Residences, which, after having stood for four centuries, were removed in 1850, by the Bishop of Ripon and his lessee. A recent writer contrasts the Howden of the 15th century with the Howden of to-day; then, he says, the town had residing within its narrow bounds a Bishop of Durham, almost equally potent in spiritual and temporal power. Around him assembled the six Prebendaries of the church, each of whom supported a Vicar for the performance of parochial duties in his own district. Again there were the five chantry priests, with a number of clerks, choristers, vergers, &c. The Reformation saw all these swept away, and what has the church of Howden now in the place of this grand array of dignity and wealth? It has one Vicar, subsisting upon a stipend (£162. a year) utterly insufficient for the maintenance of a gentleman and his family; and this trifling sum has been partly raised by an augmentation of £400. from Queen Anne's Bounty, in 1821 and 1826. Truly indeed does this writer exclaim, "the Reformation, dissent, and diversity of religious faith have done their work." There is no Vicarage House. The Living is in the gift of the Crown, and the incumbency of the Rev. Thomas Guy. The only Chapels of Ease in the fourteen townships of Howden parish, are at Laxton and Barmby. There appears to have been a Chapel in Howden dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, but its site is not known. It may have been a chantry connected with the church. There was also a Cell, or Hermitage, at "Ayngelstone Hyrst," probably Ringstone Hurst. John Richardson, a hermit or friar of • the Franciscan Order, officiated thereat, and had the grant of a penny a day for life from Bishop Fox, who was consecrated in 1494. The other places of worship in the town are the following. The Wesleyan Chapel, in Hailgate, built in 1786, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1832, is a neat edifice, into which a good organ was introduced in 1834, at a cost of £200. Attached to the chapel are a Sunday School and two good houses for the ministers, erected on ground given to the society by Mr. Wm. Dyson, of Howden; and there is a large Wesleyan School in Flatgate, built in 1847, at a cost of upwards of £800. The Independent Chapel, in Bridgegate, was erected in 1795, and enlarged in 1837. It is endowed with land worth £50. per annum, purchased with £500. left in 1725, by Mr. Joshua Jefferson, of Hook, subject to a weekly distribution of twelve penny loaves among the poor members. In it is a marble tablet to the Rev. Joshua Williamson, minister of the chapel for 52 years, who died in 1833, aged 81 years. The Primitive Methodist Chapel was erected in 1837, and the Reform Methodists worship in a chapel which was formerly used by the Inghamites. Catholic Church. - This neat Gothic edifice, which stands on the Knedlington road, is built of brick, with stone dressings. The foundation stone was laid with much ceremony, in September, 1850, and the building comprises a nave with side aisles, an apse, chancel, or sanctuary, and a bell turret. All the windows are of two lights, except those in the sanctuary, which are of one light. The interior is very neat and impressive, the five windows in the sanctuary are filled with beautifully stained glass, by Barnet, late of York, at the expense of Mrs. Maxwell, of Everingham; and Mr. Barnet filled the east window of the north aisle, or Lady Chapel, with the same fine material, at his own cost. The seats are single, the roofs open, and there is a tribune, or organ gallery, at the end of the nave. An altar, with a statue |