REPORT. XXXVil 
here from Whitwell early in the morning to say mass for the benefit of Gley, 
with his four sons and their sister, Matilda, and the Gurths and Wambas of 
his day. These four young men, if they married, left no children, and 
Matilda, becoming heiress, brought the property by marriage to the Vavasours, 
who held it till the year 1360. Thenceforward, and all through the Reforma- 
tion period, it was held by the Frechevilles. From them it passed to the 
Wentworths, to the Howards, and tothe Pelham Clintons. Although for 
some 200 years this building remained as a ‘‘ capella” in Whitwell parish, yet 
in the 14th century, while Roger Northburgh and Robert Stretton were 
Bishops of Lichfield, nine separate institutions are known to have been made, 
and the priest is called ‘‘ Rector of Steetley Church.” This brief inde- 
pendence of 40 years lapsed as mysteriously as it arose, and Steetley Chapel 
serves now once more the purpose for which Gley de Breton built it. 
The chapel is 56 feet long. It is divided into three parts—a nave, a chancel, 
and an apse (a parallelogram, a square, and a semicircle). The nave is 15 feet 
9 inches broad, and the chancel measures 13 feet 9 inches across. Mr. J. C. 
Cox (whose name needs no comment) has pronounced Steetley Chapel to be 
“the most perfect and elaborate specimen of Norman architecture to be found 
anywhere in Europe.” The chief features of interest are the porch, the 
chancel, and the apse. Observe the porch. It is composed of a triple arch 
resting on three pillars. | The inmost member of the arch is plain, the second 
and third are ornamented with the beak head and with the zig-zag design. On 
the pillars the sculptor has lavished his art. The inmost one is simply 
moulded ; the next is very rich with deeply-cut interlacing foliage, and on the 
capital are two fish ; the third is ornamented with picturesque medallions, and 
on the capital is a syren or mermaid. It is not extravagantly fanciful to 
suppose that these three pillars represent the works of Creation, three steps in 
the progress of life. The inmost is inanimate ; the second displays the wealth 
of vegetable growth; the third the activity of animal life—the sea monster ; 
the wild beast, the lamb of the flock, the man ; and the flying eagle—that is, 
things ‘‘in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the water under the 
earth.” This idea is visible on both sides of the porch. There is no doubt a 
further meaning in the medallions. Thus, on the left side, is plainly seen the 
Good Shepherd delivering the lamb out of the paw of a bear, on the right the 
figure of the pelican in her piety. Two new pillars have been added by 
Mr. Pearson on the old basement discovered. The carved stones lying on the 
grass may have originally belonged to the porch. They were found blocking 
up the lower of the two west windows. Outside the porch, right across the 
entrance, was found yonder priest’s tombstone, and beneath the stone a skull. 
On the stone is carved an altar with three legs, and on the altar a chalice and 
paten, and hand extended in blessing. At the head and foot is a sort of cross 
inacircle. There are two other stones—one plain, the other with a cross 
