By C. H. Talbot, Esq. 243 
present one; but there is no evidence to show whether it was of the 
thirteenth century or earlier.! 
The finest feature of the church is, undoubtedly, the chancel, 
which is Decorated work of excellent character, and it is greatly to 
be regretted that it did not come down to us without mutilation. 
It has a low-pitched roof, and may be compared with Edington and 
Bishopston, being I think the earliest of the three. There are 
three windows, of two lights each, in the side walls, and an east 
_. window of five lights. It is probable that, as at Edington, and 
Bishopston, the side windows were all the same design; but it 
happens that the heads and tracery of the central windows only on 
each side remained; and, even in these, the ends of the cusps are 
restorations. The other side windows are, as I conceive, correctly 
restored externally * with the same design. In the case of the east 
window, I suppose, the only data for a restoration were the mullions, 
which implied a design with some kind of centre piece: an exact 
restoration therefore was probably impossible; but I cannot think 
1 The arch is not quite central in respect to the present chancel. 
' 21s it not possible that the influence of William of Edington, Bishop of 
Winchester, may have affected the architecture of all three churches, as the 
bishops were lords of Downton and Bishopston ? It is well known that he built 
the church of Edington. Some Decorated clerestory windows in the church of 
St. Cross, Winchester, of which hospital it seems he was master, in 1334, are 
attributed tu him. The first stone of Edington Church was laid in 1352, ard. 
the eastern part of that church, being apparently the earliest portion, has some 
Perpendicular elements with the retention of a good deal of Decorated feeling. 
Between these two dates the Decorated work of Downton and Bishopston may 
well lie. The tracery of the side windows of Downton chancel may be con- 
_ sidered a mean between ‘‘ Geometrical” and ‘“ Flowing,” —the work at Bishop- 
ston, ‘ Flowing,” with a tendency to extravagance, which just misses that of 
the Flamboyant,—and at Edington the Perpendicular element first appears. 
_ In,Bishop Edington’s work in Winchester Cathedral there is, I believe, no 
Decorated element. A somewhat similar suggestion to this was made by the’ 
late Mr. Matcham, when the Society visited Bishopston, in 1865, (Wilts Mag., 
vol. x., p. 26), viz: that the Decorated portion of that church might have been 
erected by William of Wykeham, to which it was objected that the style was 
_ too early. I think it is clear that a building erected by Wykeham, after he 
_ became bishop, would not be likely to show any Decorated features. 
 %Internally, their effect is soos by the introduction of keystone corbels to 
be noticed later. 
A 
