By C. E. Ponting, F.S.J. 19 



A curious feature exists at the south east angle of this chapel — a 

 detached buttress with a flying arch carried across to the angle of 

 the building, and bearing the date 1569. This seems to indicate a 

 laudable desire on the part of Sir John Hungerford to support the 

 chapel erected by his ancestors : if so, however good his intention, 

 it has not had the effect he desired, for the buttress was recently 

 falling away from the wall and the arch had to be wedged up to 

 prevent its falling. 



The nave appears to have been re-roofed in the fifteenth century, 

 for, although the roof has given way to a modern one, the corbels 

 remain. The nave has no clerestory. The font is an octagonal one 

 of the fifteenth century with panelled sides to both bowl and shaft. 



The porch might have been erected when the tower was built^ 

 the abacus and label of the arch indicate a similar mixture of styles, 

 and the niche (or stoup) in the west wall exhibits the same coarseness 

 of detail. There is a quatrefoil light in the east wall with a niche 

 over which looks like late fifteenth century work. 



The tower is a marvellous specimen of post-Reformation Gothic 

 work : the Vicar has kindly undertaken to describe it and to point 

 out how the heraldry fixes its date at between October, 1551, and 

 August, 1553. I need, therefore, only say a few words on its 

 architectural features. The proportions of the tower are magnificent, 

 and the precedents set by those of Mere and S. Peter's, Marlborough, 

 have been followed in the bold octagonal buttresses surmounted by 

 pinnacles ; the pinnacles and the wall space between them are 

 panelled and the latter ornamented by a deep pierced parapet; the 

 belfry windows are singularly small and are evidently intended to 

 appear more as part of the system of panelling than as distinct 

 features. Inside there are arches on the four sides with a lantern 

 stage above, having a three-light window in each of the north, 

 south, and west faces, and a two-light with niche between in the 

 east face, open to the interior; the ceiling over this is groined, and 

 there are various devices on the bosses which will be dealt with by 

 Mr. Morton. Catholic symbols are largely displayed in the details j 

 the west side towards the nave has been treated as a reredos of three 

 niches on each side of the central arch — these niches are shallow 



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