Footnotes

'ALL WAS MANAGED BY THE SURVEYOR MR INIGO JONES' – A SCHEDULE OF THE PERSONNEL EMPLOYED TO RESTORE ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. St Paul's, described by Archbishop Laud as the 'mother church of this City and Diocese and the Great Cathedral of the kingdom' was in a state of considerable disrepair by the early seventeenth century; and James I appointed Inigo Jones to undertake restoration of the building, which has been described as 'the greatest of all Jones's undertakings while Surveyor of the King's Works' (John Schofield, St Paul's Cathedral before Wren, 2011, p. 195). The main feature of the restoration was the erection of a classical portico to the West Front which in fact was to survive the Great Fire which destroyed most of the mediaeval fabric; but much of the work was left incomplete on the outbreak of civil war.

The main text of the document itself was probably drafted between December 1631 when the Commission was established and about 4 February 1633 when the Committee of the Commission appointed Jones as Surveyor. By the latter date Laud's fund-raising campaign for the Cathedral was well under way and the work could begin. It begins with a list of the officers in charge of the restoration of the cathedral, both Commissioners and otherwise, namely a surveyor [Inigo Jones, who acted in an honorary capacity] (who "is to make the Platts and geve directions what shall be done from time to time, and of what materialls, and to make the estimate of the charges, all which hee is to make knowne to the com[m]issioners before any proceedings"); two comptrollers and a paymaster [Michael Grigg], a "Clark of the Check and ingrosser of the accompts" [John Webb], a "Clark of the Store and measurer of materials" [Robert Cooke] and a purveyor [John Williams]. The "Articens" are also listed: mason, carpenter, plumber, smith and glazier.

The remaining two pages describe the duties of each officer, including those of Webb as clerk engrosser: "to call the workmen and labourers fower times every daie at the least by his booke and to check them in their wages if they be absent [or idle – inserted] hee is to bringe the booke unto the Surveior and Comptrollers with the stile speacifyinge at large what hathe bene done that moneth".

In his later autograph additions Webb states twice that there were actually no comptrollers ("...but all was managed by the Surveyor Mr Inigo Jones..."). His other notes betray a rivalry between him and Jones's substitute, Edward Carter, whose role in the restoration he somewhat down-played. Webb's own job as Jones's assistant included preparing clean drawings and plans from Jones's sketches: "Mr Webbe copied all the designes from the Surveyors Invention, made all the traceryes in great for the worke, & all the mouldings by the Surveyors direction so that what the Surveyor invented & Mr Webbe made, the substitute [Edward Carter] saw putt in worke & nothing else". Webb's comments may be read as an attempt to deflate Carter's own claims as to his responsibilities. The first likely date for them, therefore, is towards 1643, when rivalry between the two was at its peak: Carter was to replace Inigo Jones as Surveyor and oust Webb from the Office of Works, where he had been Deputy Surveyor. It is possible, too, that Webb's notes date from 1660 or 1669 when Webb was himself bidding for the position of Surveyor-General.

The present document was printed in the London Topographical Record, xviii, 1942, pp. 41-46 under the title 'Inigo Jones and St. Paul's Cathedral'. It has since been cited by various architectural historians, including: H.M. Colvin (general editor), History of the King's Works, III, 150 (1975); J. Orrell, The Theatres of Inigo Jones and John Webb (1985), p.15; J. Bold, John Webb (1989); and Vaughan Hart, 'Inigo Jones's Site Organization at St. Paul's Cathedral: "Ponderous Masses Beheld Hanging in the Air"', Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol.53, no. 4, December 1994, pp.414-427. See also John Harris and A.A. Tait, Catalogue of the Drawings of Inigo Jones, John Webb and Isaac De Caus at Worcester College Oxford (where Webb's handwriting is illustrated, 1979); and Gordon Higgott, 'The Fabric to 1670', St. Paul's: The Cathedral Church of London, 1604-2004, edited by Derek Keene, Arthur Burns and Andrew Saint (2004). We are grateful to Gordon Higgott for his help and interest.