forty years between the work of the tower and that of the aisle 
walls, which I put at about 1475 to 1480. 
I will now describe the various parts more in detail. The tower 
is a fine one, divided, externally, by string-courses into five stages 
in height, and resting on a moulded plinth. The lower stage has 
a good four-light west window with a doorway under; the label 
mould of the latter has the keystone and terminals carved to 
represent angels holding shields. The middle stage is lighted by 
small windows on north and south, and has a niche, from which 
the figure is missing, over the west window. The belfry stage has 
a two-light pointed window in each face; the cornice is ornamented 
by carved paterzee and heads, and surmounted by an embattled — 
parapet. The tower has diagonal buttresses carried up at the 
angles for the full height with four set-offs and terminating in 
pinnacles consisting of beasts in a sitting attitude holding shields. 
The west front of the tower being faced with ashlar, whilst the — 
other sides are of rubble, is a trick worthy of the nineteenth 
century. Inside, the lower stage has a stone-vaulted ceiling, the - 
ribs of which are richly moulded, and the central eye surrounded — 
by carved patere. The angle ribs of the groining are carried on — 
angle shafts rising from the base of the arch opening into the nave. 
This arch is of two orders of hollows with the abacus of the angle — 
shafts continued round at the springing. 
On the west face of the tower there is an impression made by a 
cannon-ball, said by local tradition to have been “ fired from 
Blunsdon Hill in Cromwell’s time”!; in this connection it is — 
\- 
172 Notes on Churches visited in 1898. 
considerable time, so that there is a difference of some thirty to — 
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1 When the Society visited Highworth in 1898 it was mentioned that the 
cannon-ball which caused this indentation had been preserved within the memory 
of many in Highworth, and that it was known where it was. The opinion was — 
expressed that if possible it should be restored to the Church. The Vicar has now 
effected this restoration, and it will be preserved in the Church for the future. 
It seems that it was originally suspended in the Church, but that during “ the’ 
restoration,” about thirty years ago, it was got rid of as old iron. It came into — 
the possession of Mr. Charles Higgs, who gave it to the late Mr. William Morris, 
of the Swindon Advertiser. It has been at the Advertiser office ever since, 
and has now been restored to the Church by the proprietors. It weighs 15tb. 14oz. — 
Swindon Advertiser, reprinted in Devizes Gazette, December 15th, 1898. 
