247 



■windows in the arclie.s. Tlie tower still contains one of the 

 Mediseval bells, bearing the inscription, " Sancta Maria ora pro 

 nobis." There is a " cross " stop between every two letters ; the 

 S of nobis is on its side, and there is a fonnder's stam)) on the 

 riin, very difficult to make out ; the height of the ])ell to the crown 

 is 1 ft. 8 ins., and the diameter at the mouth 1 ft. 11 1 ins. By 

 his will of 7th July, 1528, "William Swanne, of SM-anneby, in 

 "Whorlton parish," desires " to be beried in the kirke of the Holie 

 Roode in AVhorleton," to which he gives 10 li. " to by a bell, the 

 which xli. is in Master William Grene hand, and this liell to be 

 hallowed, and carried, and hongyn of my ])ropre costes." [Test. 

 Ebor. v. 249.] This may refer to the Ijell we still have in the 

 toAver, as the lettering is of the same period, or to one of the lost 

 ones. The Church and Castle are rich in mason's marks, and the 

 Church has many markings on its walls said to be made by 

 sharpening spears and arrow-heads when men went about armed 

 with spear and cross-bow : these markings are found all over the 

 country more or less, and are common in Wales, ilany of them 

 have the appearance of having been made by sliarpening weaver's 

 shuttles. They are numerous in the old weaving districts ; many 

 of these markings, moreover, exist where an arrow shaft could not 

 be wielded. The Parish Registers commence in 1689. 



The connection of the old Norman Church Avith tlie Castle is 

 interesting, but perplexing. On the West side of the Churcliyard 

 there is an earthwork, and traces of another one on the East near 

 the lane — there can be little doubt that the Church was M-ithin the 

 eartliAvorks, and there are known instances Avhere a Jforman Church 

 and Castle are Avithin the same inclosure. Dr. Atkinson says, in 

 one of his letters, he does not think the Church was ever the 

 Chapel of the Castle, and that the distinction between the Parish 

 Church and the Castle Chapel was a marked one, as the Castle 

 Chapel was essentially a private Chapel. He remarks further : — 

 " That Wliorlton Church may have l)een, as well as have been 

 called, a Capella or Chapel, I do not in the least doubt, for I think 

 there is reason to infer, if not to conclude, that that Avas precisely 

 its status at one period of its historj'^ — that that history or rather 

 the history of the entire Parish of Whorlton is very obscure . . 

 . . . ]My impressicjn is that in 1529 Whorlton Church was, as to 

 absolute status, a ' Caiiella ' meiely, quite possiblj^ a ' Capella 

 Parochialis,' but still, such in contradistinction to an ' Ecclesia 

 Parochialis.' I am not at all certain as to the jjrecise intention of 

 your first extract from Torr. I do not think it likely that ' the 

 Free Chapell Avithin the Castle of Whorlton ' means the assumed 

 (and I think necessarily assumed) Castle Chapel, or that it Avas 



