THE CHURCH OF NORBURY. 79 



The church of St. Barloke consists of chancel, nave, north 

 aisle, and tower between two chapels on the south side of the 

 nave, forming a most unusual ground plan.* 



A careful examination of the squared stones of the fabric, 

 made by me in 1887, brought to light the fact that at least 

 a score bore obvious traces of the characteristic " axeing " of 

 Norman masons, proving that the present structure is largely 

 composed of material that had been used in the Norman church 

 of the twelfth century, which was doubtless erected on the site 

 of the previous ruder church of Saxon origin. For, if Norman 

 stone dre.ssing could be detected on so many stones, there would 

 doubtless be very many more whence the axeing had worn off 

 in course of time, or in which the dressed surface had been 

 turned inwards or re-trimmed. 



Three moulded stones of Norman workmanship have also 

 recently been noted. One of these is ju.st above the south-east 

 chapel arch, and the two others were placed in the south-west 

 chapel, f 



The substantially built twelfth century Norman church, con- 

 sisting of nave and chancel, apparently sufficed for the worship 

 of this retired village until the fourteenth, when a new chancel 

 was erected on a large scale. At the west end of the nave are 

 some remains of the internal splays of a doorway, which may 

 have been part of some slight modification or alteration of 

 thirteenth century date. But there seems to be no doubt that 

 an aisleless Norman nave was extant when the chancel was 

 rebuilt on so grand a scale. The length of the nave was then, 

 as now, about 50 feet, and as the builders of the twelfth 

 century were generally fairly uniform in their dimensions, it 

 may be assumed that the length of the former chancel was 

 about 25 feet, or not much more than half that of its successor. 



When Mr. Henry Bowman wrote and illustrated his most useful 

 and timely quarto volume on Specimens of the Ecclesiastical 



* For the ground plan (page 78) we are much indebted to Messrs. 

 Naylor and Sale. 



t For this information I am indebted to the Rev. Douglas Adamson, 

 who became rector of Norburv in 18194, and in whom this much-misused 

 church has at last found a faithful and zealous custocli.in. 



