40 



English work tliere remained the wall below the east window, 

 and the north wall of the chancel, in which were found, walled 

 up, two windows of this style. All the other parts of the old 

 church were of fourteenth century work, with the exception of 

 a few alterations in the Debased style of architecture. 



At the restoration, which took place in 1842, only the tower 

 and the north and south transepts were retained, the old nave 

 and chancel were broken down, and in those portions of the 

 waUs which had been built in the foui-teenth century, were found 

 a number of Incised Stone Slabs, which had been employed 

 as huilding material in various parts of these walls. Some of 

 these slabs had been built into the foundations of the walls of 

 the south aisle, and one (No. 5) had been used as a kind of 

 sillstone to the east window of the chancel. By this means 

 they had been preserved for some 500 years, and handed down, 

 in this somewhat singular manner, in a remarkably fine state 

 of preservation, — the incisions on some of them being almost 

 as sharply defined as when they were first made. Nearly 

 twenty of these slabs, and a yet larger number of fragments, 

 were found. They are formed of the softer beds of the Great 

 Oolite Weather-stones of the district. With the exception of 

 No. 12, which is slightly coped, and its cross cut in relief, the 

 designs with which these slabs are enriched are merely incised 

 on the flat upper siu-faces of the stones. The crosses are of a 

 beautifully simple character, with the exception of the one 

 numbered 11, which has attached to its shaft several branching 

 ornaments or scrolls. Nine of the twelve slabs engraved — 

 namely, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12, possess various 

 forms of the " Calvary," on which the foot of the cross rests. 

 No slabs were met with bearing any symbol denoting the 

 occupation of the person for whom the memorial was placed . 

 and only one was found bearing any inscription, and that was 

 merely a fragment. 



These ancient G-rave-stones, as forming portions of the 

 materials of the old church, were appropriated by the contractors 

 engaged in the restoration, and were by them scattered here 

 and there throughout the neighbourhood. As adjuncts to 



