Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons.

  • Dale, Herbert D.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    TllK ClfYl’T splendid Clmrcdi of St. Peter Maiicroft, at Xorwieli, is built at the furthest western ex- tremity of the churchyard. And so side arches, foianing a passage through the tower (in addition to the west door), liave ‘Ijeen constructed. Wrotham, in Kent, is another example. The south door of onr Crypt being the finest, I imagine the old processions had to enter that way, leaving by the north entrance, which, being in the rear of the procession, did not require such elaborate treatment, although, of course, this latter idea is only a surmise. But all the surroundings prove that the Crypt it- self was built for a processional, not a chapel. It could no doubt have also been used as a place for exhilhting relics, pilgrims entering l^y one door and leaving Ijy the other; Ijnt there is no sign or tradition of its ever having l)een fitted up for this ])iirpose. We know, on the other hand, that there was a floiirisliiim' guild at Ilytlie centuries ago, and that on the guild festival they had a grand procession. It will be noticed that Leland does not say a word about there being any l)ones in the Crypt when he visited it in 154o. It is not safe to form conclusions from merely negative evidence.