106 NOTES ON ASHBURNE CHURCH. 
here piled up promiscuously, until the ammonia had actually 
eaten away the stone-work. Tiles, bricks and mortar had been 
freely used in order to make up the deficiencies, but the offensive 
smell still remained ; and the workmen whom I employed were 
at times rendered quite sickly by the odour arising from the 
impregnated stone wall. I ought also to mention that skulls 
and bones were lying freely about underneath the flooring, and 
actually in the flues, and the entire surface of the Church was 
polluted by human remains. 
Passing along the north side of the nave, I should wish to 
point out the windows closely similar in character to the upper 
windows of the presbytery in S. Alban’s Abbey ; they cannot be 
considered to belong to a much later date than the latter half of 
the thirteenth century, and thus mark the transition from Early 
English to Early Decorated work. These, having been cut in 
half by the gallery, never displayed their simple beauty in the 
unrestored state of our Church. One of this series (the eastern- 
most) has been altered in times past from a three-light to a 
two-light window, and an iron stanchion had superseded the 
mullion and tracery; the former has been removed and the 
stone-work replaced. 
Now that the plaster and whitewash have been cleaned off, 
the broken courses can be discerned, and the exact space 
occupied by the three-light window can be pointed out. The 
interesting semi-arch, and the clever way in which the wall is ~ 
managed, must be seen to be appreciated. 
Another striking improvement appeared when the clerestory 
windows had been cleaned down; although elliptical in shape 
and belonging to a much later period, they possess a certain 
character of their own, and, of course, add considerably to the 
light and airiness of the building—a feature which did not escape ~ 
the notice of Dr. Johnson when he worshipped within its walls, — 
for we read in Boswell’s well-known life the following entry in his — 
diary :—“On Sunday, Sept. 12, we went to the Church of 
Ashburne, which is one of the largest and most wminous that I 
have seen in any town of the same size.” 
