A crypt, as a portion of a church, had its origin in the subterranean
chapels known as “confessiones,” erected around the
tomb of a martyr, or the place of his martyrdom. This is the
origin of the spacious crypts, some of which may be called
subterranean churches, of the Roman churches of S. Prisca,
S. Prassede, S. Martino ai Monti, S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, and
above all of St Peter’s—the crypt being thus the germ of the
church or basilica subsequently erected above the hallowed spot.
When the martyr’s tomb was sunk in the surface of the ground,
and not placed in a catacomb chapel, the original memorial-shrine
would be only partially below the surface, and consequently
the part of the church erected over it, which was always
that containing the altar, would be elevated some height above
the ground, and be approached by flights of steps. This fashion
of raising the chancel or altar end of a church on a crypt was
widely imitated long after the reason for adopting it ceased,
and even where it never existed. The crypt under the altar
at the basilica of St Maria Maggiore in Rome is merely imitative,
and the same may be said of many of the crypts of the
early churches in England. The original Saxon cathedral of
Canterbury had a crypt beneath the eastern apse, containing
the so-called body of St Dunstan, and other relics, “fabricated,”
according to Eadmer, “in the likeness of the confessionary of St
Peter at Rome” (see Basilica). St Wilfrid constructed crypts
still existing beneath the churches erected by him in the latter
part of the 7th century at Hexham and Ripon. These are
peculiarly interesting from their similarity in form and arrangement
to the catacomb chapels with which Wilfrid must have
become familiar during his residence in Rome. The cathedral,
begun by Æthelwold and finished by Alphege at Winchester, at
the end of the 10th century, had spacious crypts “supporting
the holy altar and the venerable relics of the saints” (Wulstan,
Life of St Æthelwold), and they appear to have been common in
the earlier churches in England. The arrangement was adopted
by the Norman builders of the 11th and 12th centuries, and
though far from universal is found in many of the cathedrals of
that date. The object of the construction of these crypts was
twofold,—to give the altar sufficient elevation to enable those
below to witness the sacred mysteries, and to provide a place of
burial for those holy men whose relics were the church’s most
precious possession. But the crypt was “a foreign fashion,”
derived, as has been said, from Rome, “which failed to
take root in England, and indeed elsewhere barely outlasted
the Romanesque period” (Essays on Cathedrals, ed. Howson,
p. 331).
Of the crypts beneath English Norman cathedrals, that under the choir of Canterbury (q.v.) is by far the largest and most elaborate in its arrangements. It is, in fact, a subterranean church of vast size and considerable altitude. The whole crypt was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and contained two chapels especially dedicated to her,—the central one beneath the high altar, enclosed with rich Gothic screen-work, and one under the south transept. This latter chapel was appropriated by Queen Elizabeth to the use of the French Huguenot refugees who had settled at Canterbury in the time of Edward VI. There were also in this crypt a large number of altars and chapels of other saints, some of whose hallowed bodies were buried here. At the extreme east end, beneath the Trinity chapel, the body of St Thomas (Becket) was buried the day after his martyrdom, and lay there till his translation, July 7, 1220.
The cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester and Gloucester have crypts of slightly earlier date (they may all be placed between 1080 and 1100), but of similar character, though less elaborate. They all contain piscinas and other evidences of the existence of altars in considerable numbers. They are all apsidal. The most picturesque is that of Worcester, the work of Bishop Wulfstan (1084), which is remarkable for the multiplicity of small pillars supporting its radiating vaults. Instead of having the air of a sepulchral vault like those of Winchester and Gloucester, this crypt is, in Professor Willis’s words, “a complex and beautiful temple.” Archbishop Roger’s crypt at York, belonging to the next century (1154–1181), was filled up with earth when the present choir was built at the end of the 14th century, and its existence forgotten till its disinterment after the fire of 1829. The choir and presbytery at Rochester are supported by an extensive crypt, of which the western portion is Gundulf’s work (1076–1107), but the eastern part, which displays slender cylindrical and octagonal shafts, with light vaulting springing from them, is of the same period as the superstructure, the first years of the 13th century. This crypt, and that beneath the Early English Lady chapel at Hereford, are the latest English existing cathedral crypts. That at Hereford was rendered necessary by the fall of the ground, and is an exceptional case. Later than any of these crypts was that of St Paul’s, London. This was a really large and magnificent church of Decorated date, with a vaulted roof of rich and intricate character resting on a forest of clustered columns. Part of it served as the parish church of St Faith. A still more exquisite work of the Decorated period is the crypt of St Stephen’s chapel at Westminster, than which it is difficult to conceive anything more perfect in design or more elaborate in ornamentation. Having happily escaped the conflagration of the Houses of Parliament in 1834—before which it was degraded to the purpose of the speaker’s state dining-room—it has been restored to its former sumptuousness of decoration, and is now one of the most beautiful architectural gems in England.
Of Scottish cathedrals the only one that possesses a crypt is the cathedral of Glasgow, rendered celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of Rob Roy (ch. xx.). At the supposed date of the tale, and indeed till a comparatively recent period, this crypt was used as a place of worship by one of the three congregations among which the cathedral was partitioned, and was known as “the Laigh or Barony Kirk.” It extends beneath the choir transepts and chapter-house; in consequence of the steep declivity on which the cathedral stands it is of unusual height and lightsomeness. It belongs to the 13th century, its style corresponding to Early English, and is simply constructional, the building being adapted to the locality. In architectural beauty it is quite unequalled by any crypt in the United Kingdom, and can hardly anywhere be surpassed. It is an unusually rich example of the style, the clustered piers and groining being exquisite in design and admirable in execution. The bosses of the roof and capitals of the piers are very elaborate, and the doors are much enriched with foliage. “There is a solidity in its architecture, a richness in its vaulting, and a variety of perspective in the spacing of its pillars, which make it one of the most perfect pieces of architecture in these kingdoms” (Fergusson).
In the centre of the main alley stands the mutilated effigy of St Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow, and at the south-east corner is a well called after the same saint.
Crypts under parish churches are not very uncommon in England, but they are usually small and not characterized by any architectural beauty. A few of the earlier crypts, however, deserve notice. One of the earliest and most remarkable is that of the church of Lastingham near Pickering in Yorkshire, on the site of the monastery founded in 648 by Cedd, bishop of the East Saxons. The existing crypt, though exceedingly rude in structure, is of considerably later date than Bishop Cedd, forming part of the church erected by Abbot Stephen of Whitby in 1080, when he had been driven inland by the incursions of the northern pirates. This crypt is remarkable from its extending under the nave as well as the chancel of the upper church, the plan of which it accurately reproduces, with the exception of the westernmost bay. It forms a nave with side aisles of three bays, and an apsidal chancel, lighted by narrow deeply splayed slits. The roof of quadripartite vaulting is supported by four very dwarf thick cylindrical columns, the capitals of which and of the responds are clumsy imitations of classical work with rude volutes. Still more curious is the crypt beneath the chancel of the church of Repton in Derbyshire. This also consists of a centre and side aisles, divided by three arches on either side. The architectural character, however, is very different from that at Lastingham, and is in some respects almost unique, the
