8 Alton Barnes Church. 



unsightly shed erected over the heating boiler. The south door 

 is a post-Keformation one, and of no special interest. The west 

 window was inserted in the Saxon wall in the 14th century, it has 

 since been mutilated, having lost its tracery and mullions, and had 

 its arch altered, apparently in the l7th century, when the existing 

 mullions were put. The only other windows are a wooden one in 

 the south wall, and a small one over the door. In the east gable 

 are two small openings in which bells were sometime hung, as 

 is shown by the marks of the gudgeons. The principals of the 

 roof are of the brace-and-collar type of the 15th century. 



The date at which the chancel was rebuilt is 

 shown by the following inscription^ on a stone in 

 the east gable : — 



N.P. 

 A.D. 



1748. 



There are two bells, which are inscribed, respectively, as follows : 

 " Anno Domini 1626." " Kobert Wells Aldbourne Fecit 1788." 

 These are both too large for the openings in the east gable, and, 

 until this year, they were hung in the space between the flat 

 ceiling and the roof of the nave, the only means for the escape of 

 sound was a small square opening in the west gable. As these 

 had to be removed in order to open up the roof, they have been 

 re-hung in two new openings formed in the west gable, after the 

 manner of the old ones at the east end. 



The space above the ceiling which contained the bells was enclosed 

 by oak boards, which had been painted white, and over this frag- 

 ments of an inscription in black-letter : some of the boards were 

 missing. The boards doubtless formerly occupied the position 

 between the Saxon chancel arch and the 15 th century roof, and are 

 of the latter period, for beneath the white paint can be traced, at one 

 point, an angel's wing painted in colours. Canon Wordsworth, 

 who has bestowed great care on the matter, considers the black- 

 letter inscription to have been painted between 1603 and 1615, or 

 not much later, as the royal arms, which appear in the centre of 

 the lower part, are as they appear on the coins of King James I. 

 On either side are extracts from the bible, which he has deciphered 



' The initials " N.P." are most probably those of Nicholas Preston (Rector 

 of Alton Barnes, 1737—78.) [Chr. W.] 



