By Rev. Chr. Wordsworth, M.A. 195 



first in the Italian, and subsequently in the Gothic style of archi- 

 tecture, and who was known (as the Dictionary of National 

 Biography records) as " the Destroyer" of Salisbury and Lichfield 

 cathedral churches. James Wyatt died from the effects of a 

 carriage accident near Marlborough, on his way from Bath, and 

 was buried at Westminster Abbey, where he held the appointment 

 of surveyor. In 1862-3, when T. H. Wyatt tried his hand on St. 

 Peter's, Marlborough, he did in fact make sundry alterations. He 

 put in, I regret to say, that three-light east window in the place 

 of a lower and flatter-headed one with five lights, something like 

 that at the west end behind you. He abolished a barrel-roof of 

 oak for what you see above your heads. It is commonly believed 

 that nothing but scarcity of funds prevented his abolishing the 

 stone vaulting of the chancel (erected about 1470). thrice 

 blessed penury of the Victorian age ! He added the priest's vestry 

 at the north-east. (The side chapel to the east of the south aisle 

 was fitted as a choir vestry in the Eev. H. R Whytehead's in- 

 cumbency, about 1888). The western galleries were removed 

 about 1862, and the present organ replaced an older one which 

 had been built in 1776. The royal arms were painted in 1778. 

 The date of the clock hanging within the church is 1746. 



When some repairs were executed in 1843 Latin inscriptions 

 were discovered upon the stone pillars, but I believe there is no 

 particular record of them. 1 suppose it was at that time, and to 

 cover the faded inscriptions, that the pillars were painted to 

 represent marble, as may be noticed in the photograph taken before 

 the alterations about 1862. 



Until 1843 pigeons occupied the chamber between the stone 

 vaulting of the chancel and the higher roof. The stone cross above 

 the eastern gable of the chancel was given, in 1844, by the Eev. 

 J. Ward, Vicar of Great Bedwyn. 



In 1862-3, Wyatt introduced the insignificantly ornamented 

 band of stone under the battlement, and raised the pitch of the 

 east end (exterior). A window and door on the south side of the 

 chancel were blocked up, and are now in part covered by mural 

 tablets. 



