CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL ON FIRE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 10, 7 December 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL ON FIRE.

Great excitement has prevailed at Canterbury in consequence of the cathedral catching fire. Thereof of the cathedral is under repair, and it isbelieved that some lighted charcoal was upset, which fell among the woodwork. In a comparatively short time the flames had complete hold of the east end of the roof over the altar and the shrine of Thomas a Becket. The garrison turned out, and aided the citizens at the fireengines with such hearty good will that in little more than an hour the flames were suppressed. That portion of the roof of the cathedral which covered Trinity Chapel at the extreme cast end of the edifice, extending to the canopy over the spot which indicates where once stood the shrine of St. Thomas a Beckett, and over the altar and choir is entirely destroyed. Immediately after morning service the inhabitants were alarmed at hearing the cathedral fire bell tolled lustily, and hundreds rushed to the precincts. At that hour flames were issuing from the roof at the eastern end over Trinity Chapel, and a stiff breeze appeared to favour their spreading along the roof in a straight direction. The public authorities and private citizens immediately set to work, and three troops of military were promptly despatched from the barracks, but some time elapsed before much could be done, owing to the Canterbury Water Company’s mains not being laid within the cathedral precincts. The molten lead flowed like rivulets from the burning roof through the turrets on to the roof below. Firemen, belonging to the local brigade gallantly gained positions whence the hose could be brought to play upon the flames, but it was nearly an hour before their efforts were crowned with success. The military and the county and city police kept the people from the walls, and injuries from burning rafters, which, after falling upon the side roofs of the centre covering were thrown to the ground, were thereby prevented. Within the edifice, the cathedral and local clergy, the lay clerks, vergers, and others were busily engaged in removing the movable fittings, valuable books, &c., from the altar and choir into the nave. It was half-past 12 before the engines ceased to play, and the danger of further damage was at an end. The roof, extending from St. Thomas or Trinity Chapel to the choir, had entirely disappeared, the only relic remaining being glittering masses of lead amid the blackened ruins above. The damage inside was fortunately trifling. Within that portion known as St. Thomas’s , Chapel—the spot where once stood the •

shrine of St. Thomas a Beckett — showers of heated lead hadfallen through the “boss” in the canopy above. The beautiful mosaic pavement in front of it, which those who know Canterbury Cathedral will remember is railed off in order that it may not suffer injury, has been deluged by melted lead, but has escaped fortunately uninjured, It is believed, too, that none of the beautiful windows at this end of the cathedral have been damaged. Water by a similar aperture has deluged the altar and tha steps leading to it, and it is, therefore, fortunate that the appointments of this part of the cathedral were removed into the nave early. In Trinity Chapel, above which the fire jriginated. there stands the tomb of the Black Prince, and on a beam above it were suspended his surcoat, shield, gauntlets, and the scabbard of his sword. It was almost the first care of the authorities to remove these precious relics, and, in taking them down, the scabbard was snapped across in the middle. Neither the lead nor the water has occasioned any real damage, and the breakage of the scabbard may be said to be the only injury sustained by anything inside the Cathedral.

Archdeacon Harrison, Canon Thomas, and others of the Cathedral body determined shortly after the fire had been extinguished not to abandon the afternoon service which has been held daily without interruption during the past 300 years, but the hour of divine sendee was altered from three to four o’clock, and by that hour the choir was made available for the accommodation of a. large congregation. Archdeacon Harrison, who read the prayers, prefaced them by invoking the assembly to offer up thanks to God for his mercy in having saved the beautiful building from destruction. Subsequently a special Te Deuin was solemnized, and the sendee throughout was of the most impressive nature.

The damage is estimated at some thousands of pounds, but it is said that this will be covered by an insurance in the Sun office, in which the roof of the Cathedral and the movable fittings are insured. Of the origin of the sad catastrophe, there is but one opinion, viz., that it originated through some fire being used by the men engaged in soldering the lead on the roof.— London Standard.

The following is a rather barefaced story of how a Dublin chambermaid is said to have got twelve commercial travellers into eleven bedrooms, and yet to have given each a separate room. Here we have the eleven bedrooms :— ]M7T~27|~3~J 4-1 5 |7JB 4 9 I ldjTf|

“Now,” said she, “if two of you gentlemen will go into No. 1 bedroom, and wait there a few minutes, I’ll find a spare room for one of you as soon as I’ve shown the others into their rooms.”

Well, now, having thus bestowed two gentlemen in No. 1, she put the third in No. 2, the fourth in No. 3, the fifth in No. 4, the sixth in No. 5, the seventh in No. 6, the eight’ in No. 7, the ninth in No. 8, the tenth in No. 9, and the eleventh in No. 10. She then came back to No. 1, where you will remember she had left the twelfth gentleman along with the first, and said; “ I’ve now accommodated all the rest, and have still a room to spare, so if one of you will please step into No. 11, you will find it empty.” Thus the twelfth man got his bedroom. Of course, there is a hole in the saucepan somewhere; but I leave the reader to determine exactly were the fallacy is, with just a warning to think twice before deciding as to winch, if any, of the travellers was the odd man out. — English Paper.