127 



Notes on ;:ff^tmx^ IScntlct? ef^uxcfi,' 



By Albert Hartshorne, F.S.A. 



N consequence of the thorough restoration which 

 Bentley Church has undergone, it will be at once 

 understood that there is very little to say about 

 ancient architecture inside the building. It consists, at the 

 present day, of a nave of three bays, with an arcade opening into 

 a north aisle, and a chancel of two more bays, opening into a 

 chapel, now screened off and used as an organ chamber and 

 vestry, and a short sacrarium. There is no chancel arch, and the 

 whole length of the church is roofed straight through from end to 

 end. In the darkness it might be taken at first glance to be an 

 old roof, but from the style it is apparently all modern. Tiie 

 arcades and north aisle and tower are new entirely, and there 

 appears to be no evidence remaining to show whether they follow 

 ancient lines, though it may perhaps be taken for granted that at 

 least the chancel arcade occupies ancient foundations. 



The chief object inside the church is undoubtedly the rood screen, 

 which has fortunately retained its loft with the carved wooden 

 groinings supporting it. The original front, which would have 

 been a panelled railing about three feet high, is now represented 

 by a cresting. The date of this piece of carpentry is about 1460. 

 Whether the screen has originally been painted and decorated, 

 after ihe fashion of the examples in East Anglia, is an open 

 question; at any rate, it has been unfortunately varnished in 



Read at Fenny Bentley Church, July 21, ij 



