Il4 Some Early Features of Stocldon C/iurcJt, Wilts. 



is a very small Church, admitted to be as old as the third century. 

 It is said to he the oldest Church in France, and a tradition o£ the 

 Greek rite. It has a semi-circular apse, and the remains of a hook 

 are shown at each side of the apse, about 10ft. high, which is said 

 to have been used for a curtain which could be drawn or undrawn 

 or lowered as required. The winch and pulley for such a curtain, 

 in the Presbytery of Salisbury Cathedral, remain to this day. 



By comparing these two Churches of St. Theodore, at Athens, 

 and San Clemente, at Rome, with the ordinary type of the simplest 

 and smallest village Churches of England, in early times, we shall 

 see how this latter type was developed by blending the architecture 

 of Greek and Latin Churches, and how natural it was that some of 

 our Anglosaxon clergy, who were conversant with the East, and 

 were accomplished Greek scholars as well as Church builders, should 

 make the east wall of the nave, before the introduction of high and 

 wide chancel arches, subserve the purpose of the Greek Ka^/ceXa, so 

 far as was consistent with the Latin rite. 



In St. Theodore the choir is screened off from the bema or sanctu- 

 ary and blended with the naos or nave. 



In San Clemente the choir is fenced off from the nave and blended 

 with the sanctuary. 



In course of time it was found convenient in the West to improve 

 further upon the plan of San Clemente by a further blending of the 

 two types, and, instead of screening off a part of the nave for a 

 chorus cantorum, to make room for the choir on the other side of 

 the Ka7/ceXa, by forming what we call a chancel. For this ar- 

 rangement it was necessary to make the screen more open than in 

 Greek Churches. In present English, choir and chancel are used 

 as almost synonymous. The usual distinction in the last generation 

 was to use choir when speaking of a Cathedral with regular choristers 

 and trained singers, and chancel when speaking of a smaller Church 

 where the singing was of a different character, often in a west 

 gallery ; but it will be clear, upon reflection, that a chancel, except 

 those that are very small, contains two divisions, viz., the sanctuary 

 — on which stands the holy table, usually fenced off by altar rails, 

 and west of these the space properly called a choir, for clergy and 



