84 DATE OF MF.LBOURNE PARISH CHURCH. 



must have been inclosed under a high roof, which, however, did 

 not admit of the addition of the third or uppermost tier of 

 arcading, which is seen on the four inner sides of the central 

 tower. 



That the nave was originally vaulted with masonry appears 

 to be indicated — 



(a) by the nave walls having a thickness of four feet at the 



height at which such a vault would spring : 

 {/)) by the shafts over each pier, which now terminate at the 

 level of the triforium floor, but which must reasonably be 

 supposed to have risen higher, and to have supported the 

 springing of ribs, carried north and south across the nave 

 — {see Lvhke, page 44), the absence of the upper portions 

 of these shafts seems to be due to the substitution, as at 

 present, of timber uprights on corbels, carrying a low 

 timber roof: 

 (c) by there still being under the western gallery, and over 

 the northern triforium, and over the four galleries of the 

 central tower, and by there having formerly been over the 

 lower chancel grouted rubble vaulting. 

 That there was originally a Romanesque chancel, consisting 

 of an upper and a lower storey, separated by a vaulting of stone 

 seems to be proved — 



(1) by the bosses of a corbel table remaining at the two points 



where the eastern walls of the transepts meet the central 

 tower, indicating that a corbel table ran round the chancel 

 at that height : 



(2) by the single blind arch remaining on each side of the 



chancel, and adjoining the central tower, showing that a 

 blind arcade ran round the chancel at that height, so as to 

 be an external ornament between the upper and lower 

 chancels, of a well-known Romanesque character — {see 

 Liibke, pages 25 and 40) : 



(3) by the marks of a groined stone vault still to be seen on 



the inside of the chancel walls, which would carry a floor 

 at the same level as the floors of the galleries of the western 



i 



