294 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
back-board to each. These we should not hesitate to say are 
coeval with the present church; and especially as it is to be 
observed that, at their ends, they are ornamented with carved, 
blunt Gothic niches, exactly correspondent to the arches of the 
church, and to a niche in the south wall. The fourth aisle also has 
arow of these benches; but some are decayed through age, and 
the rest much disguised by modern alterations. 
At the upper end of this aisle, and running out to the north, 
stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, 
measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen teet 
from east to west: this was intended, no doubt, as a private 
chantry : and was also, till of late, divided off by a Gothic frame- 
work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt Gothic arch, 
lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the shape of 
its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of the reign 
of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years ago, but 
contained nothing except the skull and thigh-bones of a large tall 
man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a very irregular 
manner, without any escutcheon or other token to ascertain the 
names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very shallow, and 
lined with stone at the bottom and on the sides. 
From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I conclude 
supported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilaster, jutting 
out between this transept and the chancel, there is a very sharp 
Gothic niche, of older date than the present chantry or church. 
But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow stone coffin-lids, 
which compose part of the floor, and lie from west to east, with the 
very narrow ends eastward : these belong to remote times; and, if 
originally placed here, which I doubt, must have been part of the 
pavement of an older transept. At present there are no coffins 
under them, whence I conclude they have been removed to this 
place from some part of a former church. One of these lids is so 
eaten by time, that no sculpture can be discovered upon it; or, 
perhaps, it may be the wrong side uppermost ; but on the other, 
which seems to be of stone of a closer and harder texture, is to be 
discerned a discus, with a cross on it, at the end of a staff or rod, 
the well-known symbol of a Knight Templar.* 
This order was distinguished by a red cross on the left shoulder 
of their cloak, and by this attribute in their hand. Now, if these 
* See DuGDALE, Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. ii., where there is a fine engraving of a 
Knight-Templar, by Hollar. 
