NOTES ON ASHBURNE CHURCH. 107 
On this side we laid bare the remains of the ancient north 
doorway—the holes in which the massive draw-bar once moved— 
the hook and latch of the door itself still remained, and these have 
been carefully preserved, whilst the recess thus gained has been 
utilised for a coil of hot water pipes. A passage originally 
crossed over to the south porch, but these doorways having both 
perished, there seemed to be no adequate reason for restoring the 
alley. 
The subject of seats and passages occupied our attention for 
_ some considerable time, but at last we planned what seemed to 
be the proper arrangement under the circumstances; and we 
were gratified to find, as the work went on, that the proposed 
central passage coincided exactly with the ancient plan. People 
can now pass freely round the Church, without being restricted . 
to two alleys separated one from the other by impassable pews. 
Perhaps my readers may appreciate in part the labour which 
has devolved upon us, when I state that 500 new stones 
have been inserted in the north wall of the nave alone; but so 
carefully has the stone been matched, that it is difficult to believe 
that so much labour has been expended. 
Here, let me remark, that clearing the walls of cement and 
plaster has other advantages, besides that of displaying the 
beauty of the building, for we can now trace by the different 
courses and quality of the stone exactly where the plan of the 
Church has been altered and the walls raised during the 
Perpendicular period. 
In the tower itself we disclosed two small windows, which had 
previously been filled up with bricks and plaster, and the lines of 
the high pitched roof which once existed can now be readily 
perceived. Here also, as in the nave transepts and south aisle, 
ominous cracks were laid bare, and ugly settlements which had 
been caused by those once fashionable underground pews, called 
vaults—these dangerous symptoms when detected were carefully 
filled in with grouting of the best quality, and the damaged 
stone cut out and replaced by new ashlar. 
The south aisle had been clearly added at a later period than 
