S06 



ACONBURY CHURCH. 



This Church, which formed part of the priory buildings, is dedicated to 

 St. Catherine. It is thought to have been built by the foundress of the priory, 

 Margery de Lacy, in the very early years of the 13th century. It is reniai'kable 

 for its excellent proportions and its simplicity, with other points of interest about 

 to be noticed. It consists of a nave and chancel of equal width and height, and is 

 without a chancel arch. The walls are very thick, and the internal measurements 

 are 56 feet 5 inches long, by 27 feet wide. The lower part of the nave is Norman, 

 with later additions. At the west end is an early English doorway, with a fine 

 triple-lighted window above it, under a pointed arch, with graceful tracery on the 

 stone work at the sides. Above are two heads, supposed to represent the foundress 

 and her husband. The head of an effigy from Aconbury, possibly of the Prioress, 

 is placed in the wall of the north-east transept of Hereford Cathedral. 



Mr. Hill (3ISS. 1715 to 1727 ) observed at the western end an image, somewhat 

 decayed, of the Blessed Virgin, with The Holy Infant in her arms, of excellent 

 workmanship, but this seems to have disappeared (MS. at St. Michael's Priory.) 



At the western door is an ancient wooden j)erpendicular porch of considerable 

 interest. A wooden figure on each side of the centre pillar, holds an escutcheon. 

 Mr. Flavell Edmunds states that these figures formed part of a cupboard in a 

 cottage on Aconbury Hill up to the year 1843, and were then removed, and, he 

 suggests, they formed part of the priory itself. 



At the east end is the usual simple tracery window common to the county. 

 In the north wall are two double lancet windows, and a single lancet window for 

 the chancel. 



On the south side where the conventual buildings joined the church are still 

 to be seen, on the outer walls, some springs of the stone arches and corbels inserted 

 in the walls to carry the different floors or cloisters. Placed high in the wall 

 near the western end is an archway, having a square squint looking into the 

 church, which tradition states to have been from the Mother Prioress's room. It 

 is more probable that this hagioscope was intended for invalids unable to attend 

 the service, and communicated with the infirmary of the priory. On looking into 

 it from the church, by means of a long ladder, a stone seat fronting the east is 

 seen in the thickness of the wall, and was probably extended into a room beyond. 



Two early doorw^ays, now walled up, gave access to the church from this side, 

 one to the nave and the other to the extreme end of the chancel. On this side two 

 lancet windows light the chancel. 



In the interior of the church there is a trefoil-headed piscina of early date in 

 the south wall of the church. In the north wall of the nave is an Early English 

 tomb, arched and recessed, which may have contained the mutilated eflBgy seen 

 in the last century and stated by tradition to have represented "one of the 

 Mortimers ; " the Mortimers, whose tombs are never to be found where they are 

 most naturally looked for, and are oniy very occasionally met with elsewhere. 



There are six early incised and carved coffin lids within the church. The one 

 in front of the recessed tomb on the north side of the nave has a rich floriated 

 cross with two shields, one cheeky, a fesse for Clifford, and the other a lion 



