142 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2od s. VI. 138., Aug. 21. '58. 



says, the third division was the " Sanctuary," 

 separated from the nave by " lattices " called 

 cuncelli, from whence our word " chancel." Tlie 

 not unfrequent custom of glazing these lattices 

 has by no means passed away, but one reference 

 will be suflicient. In the chapel to the Convent 

 of the Barnardines at Bornham on the Scheldt 

 the organ is placed on the rood-loft, and the lat- 

 tice-work beneath is glazed for the convenience 

 of the ordinary worshippers, who are not per- 

 mitted to enter the chancel, or what is now more 

 generally called the choir. Thus in effect they 

 see and hear alike indistinctly, but the primary 

 object is apparently attained. 



The construction of the rood-loft, to which the 

 present screen formed the frontage, was probably 

 a portion of the duties imposed upon the inmates 

 of the monasteries ; and, it may be readily conjec- 

 tured, were first erected in the chapels of their 

 own convents, and were afterwards admitted in 

 the cathedral, collegiate and parish churches. 

 The monks were conversant with the arts in 

 Inlanders, which may in some measure account for 

 the superior style of the decorations lavished upon 

 this comparatively modern addition to our English 

 churches. To elevate their own sacred observ- 

 ances by mysterious seclusion, and to raise to the 

 utmost all devotional veneration, these barriers 

 were constructed all gorgeous without, to prompt 

 the feelings of the people to hallow the holy rites 

 within. 



Fosbroke, in his Antiquities, treats on the later 

 ages of the rood-loft, and brings forward the more 

 ]n-actical purposes to which it was applied in re- 

 ierence to the formule. The position of the rood 

 was the most prominent, and as the people in 

 general could not see the high altar, it was on 

 that object they directed their eyes in adoration 

 at the moment the sanctus bell announced the 

 elevation of the Host. The fact is establisheJ, 

 that the figures upon the loft varied as much as 

 the figures painted on the panels beneath ; per- 

 haps more scriptural, but less illustrative of 

 miracles and martyrology. 



" EooJ-lofts, or galleries, were built across the nave, at 

 the entrance of the chaucel or choir, for the images of the 

 Crucitixion, Marv and Jolm, and sometimes rows of 

 Saints on either side, and where the musicians played. 

 There is a reniarliable similarity in the style of rood-lofts. 

 The gallery is commonlj' supported by a crossbeam 

 richly carved with foliage, sometimes superbly gilt, and 

 underneath runs a screen of beautiful open tabernacle 

 work. One at Honitou, in Devonshire, precisely re- 

 sembles that engraved by Sir R. C. Hoare. Mary and 

 Jolm were not always the images which accompanied the 

 crucifix, (or we find the four Evangelists substituted in- 

 stead. At Gilden Morden, in Cambridgeshire, the I'ood- 

 loft is very long and complete ; having a double screen, 

 forming two pews, about six feet square, on each side of 

 the passage to tlie chancel ; the upper parts of light open 

 Gothic woik of the 15th century; the lower part is 

 painted with llowcrs and figures of Edmond and Erken- 



wold, with their names and inscriptions added." — Ency- 

 clopcedia of Antiq. i. 97., ed. 1825. 



The following quotation from the Antiquities of 

 Durham throws additional light on the purposes 

 to which the rood-loft was applied : — 



" Also, on the back side of the said rood, before the 

 ' quire' door, there was a loft, and the clock stood in the 

 south end thereof. Underneath the loft, contiguous to 

 the wall, -was a long form, reaching from one rood door 

 to the other, whereon men rested themselves to say their 

 praj-ers and hear divine service." 



As the last days of these venerated barriers 

 draw near, so are the notices of the latest writers 

 made available. Martin, who lived at the time of 

 the Reformation, describes in a narrative form 

 the exact state of the parish church of Long Mel- 

 ford, in Suffolk, with all its furniture, decorations, 

 books, vestments, plate, and ceremonies as he re- 

 membered them ; and among other items, we read 

 as follows : — 



" There was a fair Eood-Loft, with the Rood, Mary 

 and John on every side, with a fair pair of organs stand- 

 ing thereby, which loft extended the breadth of the 

 Church ; and on Good Friday a Priest, then standing by 

 the Rood, sang the Passion : the side whereof, towards 

 the body of the Church, in twelve partitions in board, 

 was fairly painted with images of the twelve Apostles." 



The same author, in reference to the utensils 

 and furniture belonging to Melford church, among 

 other things, while on the subject of the copes and 

 vestments, names : "A cope of red silk for Good 

 Friday, with vestments of the same." 



Chambers, in his Norfolk Tour, (vol. i. p. 236.) 

 in speaking of the vestments and utensils which 

 belonged to Wytchingham Church, enumerates 

 " twenty-four candlesticks of laten for the rood- 

 loft." 



Many opinions founded on scriplory gatherings, 

 or the more questionable authority of tradition, 

 may be with advantage recorded as illustrative of 

 the written positions already quoted. 



The loft is believed by some to have formed a 

 beat, walk, or tramp, and was occupied by the 

 sacrist, who gave intimation to the people of what 

 was passing within tho cbancel, and guided their 

 adorations. 



Another opinion prevails, that the loft was oc- 

 cupied by the serving man, whose duty it was to 

 ring the sanctus bell, when the priest pronounced 

 the " Ter Sanctus," to draw attention to that 

 more solemn office, the canon of the mass, which 

 he was now about to commence. The bell sus- 

 pended for this purpose is retained in few churches, 

 but it is to be found at Long Compton, Which- | 

 ford, and Brailes, in Warwickshire, where this | 

 bell is still preserved, hung in an arch at the 

 apex of the nave, with the rope hanging down 

 between the chancel and the nave. | 



The loft w.as too small to admit the representa- 

 tion of a mystery, but it is very probable the 



