143 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



C|urc^ of §ibk.$ton ^t ^icljola^, Milfe. 



By E. W. Godwin, Esq., Architect. 



P^^^HE village of Biddeston although, comprising the rectory 

 ^0| of St. Peter with the vicarage of St. Nicholas, possesses 

 only one Church, the older foundation, (that of St. Peter,) having 

 been destroyed some years since, so completely, that now not 

 one stone stands upon another, and indeed, not one relic of it I 

 believe exists except the turret, which, slightly altered, stands in 

 the garden attached to Mr. Scrope's house at Castle Combe. 



The Church of St. Nicholas consists of a Nave, Chancel, and 

 South Porch, with a bell turret over the Chancel Arch. A second 

 Chancel was added some years since, which has at first sight an 

 ancient appearance, from being built of old materials. It is evident 

 that a Church was erected here in the 12th century. All that 

 now remains of it is the inner doorway of the Porch, the Font, 

 and the lower part of the bell Turret. It is this latter feature 

 which attaches such peculiar interest to the little Church at 

 Biddeston. For being of that picturesque form which, to use 

 the words of the Rev. J. L. Petit, " has at first sight the appear- 

 ance of steeples, whose suhstructuro affects the ground plan of the 

 building," of which examples are to be seen at Leigh Delamere, 

 Corston, Acton Turville, and West Littleton ; and, being also of 

 a date far anterior to any existing specimen, it cannot fail to be of 

 more than ordinary value. The method of its construction proves 

 on examiTiation to be remarkably simple. The wall is first crossed 

 by a block of masonry projecting, in the form of a corbel, east and 

 west ; upon these two corbels and upon the tabling of the wall 

 rest (oblong planned) piers, with a kind of nook shafts or moulded 

 angles, wliich piers give support to the cardinal sides of an octa- 

 gonal spire or conical roof, the diagonal faces being supported by 



