THE SAXON WINDOW IN MUGGINTON CHURCH. 22; 



pointed lights. Alcove this window is a rornire of distinctiv 

 Norman rhararter. The arrh into the nave is of verv 

 similar rhararter to the belfry window, hut if it is part 

 of the f)ri!j;inal design of the tower, it is difficult to under- 

 stand why the old wall was retained at all, as it is nearly all 

 cut away ; possibly it was cut through after the tower was built, 

 unless it is one of those singular feats of under-building in 

 which the mediaeval masons, though having little reverence for 

 the work of their predecessors, seemed to take such a strange 

 delight. The towers in this particular comer of Derbyshire are 

 worth noting a.s an instance of the prevalence of local feeling 

 among mediaeval builders : Mugginton, Hognaston, Kirk Ireton, 

 Bradbourne, Brassington, Tissington, and Thorpe, all adjacent 

 parishes, possess churches with low square-looking towers, very 

 similar in general appearance, and all apparently built in the 

 twelfth or very early in the thirteenth centuries; whether this 

 is a case of mere copying, or due to the employment of the 

 same architect or master mason, is an interesting problem. 

 Similar instances of local characteristics in different periods 

 may be noted in several cases, even within so small an area as 

 the single county of Derby. 



By the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. 



II. 



Having had the advantage of seeing Mr. Currey's drawing 

 of the interesting early window uncovered at Mugginton church 

 in 1897, and having read his careful paper, I have little or 

 no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that it is of the 

 pre-Norman period. It is probably of tenth or early eleventh 

 century date. One reason, in addition to those advanced by 

 Mr. Currey, for this conclusion is that it would be highly 

 improbable that substantial work of a post-Conquest date would 

 be upset at so early a date as about 1200, which I take to be 

 the approximate year of the transition tower arch. I have 

 more than once noted pre-Norman work in a like position, that 

 is, in the east wall of the tower, which had originally served 



