32 
and hammers, the recess still existing, shewing the whole to have 
been out of a single stone, in which probably stood an image of 
the Virgin. Fragments of a small Altar and a Piscina, which 
seem to have belonged to this Chapel, were found buried in the 
floor at the west end of the Church ; and near to them, forming 
part of the flooring, so that the face was very much worn, was 
another and very large slab with mouldings similar to the other 
fragments, which is believed to have been the original stone altar 
of the old Church; this has been repaired and reworked, and 
being placed on a strong wooden frame is now the altar of the 
present Church. There was also found in the floor a stone with 
a circular water drain, and round it a groove in which, probably, 
a much earlier font than the present one had stood. On the side 
of the window in the north wall of the Church, now the window 
of the north Chapel, were the broken pieces of a magnificent niche, 
which must have been, judging from the fragments, at least six 
feet high, elaborately carved and beautifully illuminated ; this 
had been knocked to pieces, and with the aid of slate, stones 
and plaster, made to form the eastern splay of the window. The 
whole of the fragments could not be found, or it would have been 
replaced. The remains of it now lie under the east wall of the 
Churchyard. The walls seem to have had upon them three dates 
of painting ; the first was a coarse fresco, of which little could be 
seen further than that there were many figures in which angels 
seemed to be part of the Dramatis Persone, but nothing like a 
subject could be made out. The colours seemed to be chiefly 
flaming red and yellow, and the figures, ete., colossal. This 
appeared to have been covered with a coat of plaster and painted 
again, but nothing definite of this period could be traced. This 
had again been followed by a thin coat of plaster, of which 
little but portions of inscriptions in Roman letter could be made 
out. Among them, however, it was remarkable that along the 
north wall, facing the entrance by the south porch, there were 
parts of all three Creeds and of the Lord’s Prayer. All of which 
