DALE CHURCH : ITS STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES. 1 83 



modern brickwork) vertical posts ascend to these rafters, and, with 

 the collars, have a semi-octagonal disposition. The upper 

 chamber has, with little doubt, always been open to the chancel. 

 On each side of the large post k, are the remains of tenons of 

 former braces, such as may still be seen elsewhere in this 

 chamber. It is probable that the opening into the chancel was 

 finished above by an arched arrangement of braces, similar to 

 that below the tie-beam. But instead of the other bay being 

 similarly open to the end of the aisle, there are indications that 

 the space was filled in. On the opposite side of the chamber, a 

 doorway (x) may be traced : this communicated with the corres- 

 ponding story of the old Church House, which we will now 

 consider. 



I am indebted to Mr. Kerry, and to Mr. Keene's valuable series 

 of photographs, for nearly all the following particulars of the old 

 Church House. Stripped of its modern additions, it was oblong 

 in plan, extending 35 feet westward of the church, and in breadth, 

 18 feet 6 inches, e.xternal measurements. Its walls presented two 

 varieties of timber framing : that of the north, west, and — 

 Mr. Kerry thinks — south walls of the western room or parlour 

 (see plan) had its posts placed close together,* while that of the 

 north and south walls of the kitchen, the room next the 

 church, had them so disposed as to form broad panels. The 

 difference between them may be readily observed in Fig. i. 

 Mr. Kerry considers that the narrow panel work was co-eval 

 with the fifteenth-century work of the church, while the 

 rest of the framing (the large panels), including the double 

 chimney stack, bedroom floors,t and roof, were re-constructed in 

 1652, the date on the old parlour mantel-beam, now rather 

 senselessly placed outside on the west wall of the new house. 

 There was, however, one important difference in plan between 



* I am unable to introduce the disposition of posts on the west and south 

 sides of the parlour into the plan, as no photograph shows it. The west end 

 was mantled with ivy. 



t Note the posts, a, l>, c, d, in the parlour ; these supported the new floor. 

 Mr. Kerry slates that they rested on the stone plinth, which projected con- 

 siderably beyond the inner face of the post-and -panel walls above. 



