262 Notes on the Churches 
but I confess that I have never yet seen an instance of it where 
some more practical reason could not be given for this peculiarity. 
For instance, at Cherington, and here, the subsoil is green sand 
which, although an excellent foundation when a firm bed of it is 
reached (as at S. John’s, Devizes), is very treacherous near the 
surface (as at S. Mary’s, in the same town) ; hence we see that the 
buildings have settled—I shall speak further of this when we come 
to the tower. Then the later side walls here are built to batter on 
the inside face; they are some 6in. thicker at the base than at the 
root level: but surely this is only intended to give strength! 
Probably the fifteenth century builders were warned in this respect 
by the older walls having become so much settled that it was 
necessary to re-build them. 
But to return to this arch—it will be seen that it is composed of 
three orders of the chevron moulding—all the work being on the 
west face, so that the inner member is fair with the east face of the 
wall. There is no label, but this has probably been cut away for 
the rood loft—the doorway for access to which is seen high up in 
the north wall. The abacus of the cap is carried across the nave on 
each side as a string course. 
The nave was, as I remarked before, re-built in the fifteenth 
century, when the tower was erected. There are two of the nave 
windows of this period Jeft—one in the north and one in the south 
walls, both have had their tracery cut out. The roof of this period 
remains and is of a somewhat peculiar type, and the form of the 
spandrels suggest the idea that the pitch has been altered ; but this 
is not so. The corbels supporting the principals represent a bishop 
and a king alternately. 
The tower is of unusual beauty. It was probably erected at about 
the middle of the fifteenth century in the form to which it has 
recently been restored, and I would ask you to especially notice the 
proportions of the stair turret, and the pinnacle on each set-off of 
the buttresses, also the ogee arches of the windows. 
But the builders did not realise the real cause of the settlements 
in the Norman work—or, at any rate, the proper remedy. They 
doubtless found the sand was soft near the surface, and they sought 
