PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



BARNACK 



and east. The lower st.ige on the south has four 

 strips, the doorway being between the middle pair. 

 The rubble masonry was meant to be plastered, and 

 the angle quoins, which do not project as far as the 

 pilaster strips, are worked with rebates to stop the 

 plaster.' The quoins of the western angles of the 

 tower for the greater part of the lower stage are of a 

 different character, large and irregular, and with beds 

 which are not always horizontal.* 



On each face of the tower, in the lower part of the 

 second stage, is a tall stone slab carved with foliage, 

 above which is a bird, in one case a cock. In addition to 

 this there is a circular sundial on the south side, high 

 up on the lower stage, the top half carved with 

 foliage, and, at a similar level in the west wall, a large 

 head projecting from the wall above the triangular- 

 headed window.' 



The belfry stage is an octagon finished by a short 

 and plain octagonal stone spire, with windows in the 

 cardinal faces of two pointed lights under a semi- 

 circular moulded head, with detached shafts and a 

 line of dogtooth in the jambs. Against the alternate 

 faces of the oct.igon rise plain octagonal pinnacles 

 ending in flat tops. 



The church has little ancient woodwork. The 

 base of a i jth-century rood-screen remains at the 

 chancel arch, and at the west end of the south chapel 

 is a screen into which is worked some 15th-century 

 tracery. The communion table is Jacobean, e. 16 10. 

 There is a little old glass in the east window of the 

 vestry and of the nave clearstory, and in the he.ad 

 of the east window of the chancel are some pieces 

 of contemporary glazing consisting of geometrical 

 designs in red and gold, placed there in 1853.* 



The corbels of the vault in the south porch show 

 remains of decorative painting, some of it meant to 

 represent coloured marbles. 



In addition to the piscina in the chancel already 

 mentioned, there is one of the 14th century inserted 

 in the south wall of the north chapel. It is cinque- 

 foiled, and has a label with masks ; and in the south 

 chapel is another piscina, cinquefoiled under a square 

 head. There are brackets at the north-east angle of 

 the north aisle of the nave ; on the east respond of the 

 north arcade, showing the bonding of an image above 

 it ; and in the west side of the second pier of the 

 south arcade. The door to the rood-loft exists in the 

 I south-east angle of the nave, and at the east end of 

 the south aisle is a square locker. In the south chapel 

 is a squint through the east respond of the arch 

 towards the chancel ; and in the east wall, on either 

 side of the east window, two very fine and well- 

 preserved canopied niches, that to the north being the 

 finer, and retaining a group of sculpture of the 

 Annunciation, with an inscription which may be 

 ' lesus Maria in contemplaclone sua.' The southern 

 niche is empty, but on the corbel below is an eagle. 



The fine 13th-century font has an octagonal base 



of open trefoiled arches round a central shaft, the 

 angles of the octagon being rounded off above the 

 arches, so that the bowl becomes circular, with lunettes 

 of foliage at the base where the plan changes. Half 

 way up the bowl are rosettes or dogtooth in relief, 

 and at the top is a band of foliage. 



There is a canopied and panelled altar tomb of 

 bluish marble near the east end of the south aisle of 

 the nave of the type common in the London district 

 from the later 15th century till half-way through the 

 1 6th. In the chancel are indents of two fine brasses, 

 and on the north wall a large but poorly-worked 

 alabaster monument to Francis Whitstones, which is 

 interesting for having on it the maker's name, Thomas 

 Greenway, of Derby, 161 2. 



On the west face of the south buttress of the south 

 chapel are scratched two sundials. 



There are five bells, the treble by Henry Penn, 

 1715 ; the second, 1608 ; the third is of 1609, 

 with a hexameter inaccurately borrowed from a 

 mediaeval bell, ' In multis eaternes resonet campana 

 Johanes,' the fourth by Taylor, I 897, and the tenor 

 is of the early i6th century inscribed 'see iohes 

 evageliste.' 



The church plate consists of a communion cup 

 and cover paten of 1569, the paten being inscribed 

 1570 ; an alms-dish of 1683, presented in 1826 ; 

 and a silver-gilt cup, paten, and bread-holder of 

 1707. 



The first book of the registers now in existence 

 begins in 1696, containing baptisms and burials from 

 that year to 1809, and marriages to 1 75 3. The 

 second contains marriages from 1754 to 1812, and 

 the third, baptisms and burials from 18 10 to 18 12. 



In 1662 ' Benefactions given by 

 CHARITIES divers of the family Brownes of 

 Walcot ' amounted to j^l40, and 

 with this sum there was purchased of Lord Poulett 

 and Ann his wife and Elizabeth Browne her sister two 

 houses and some land for the benefit of the poor of 

 Barnack. 



About 1693 Edward Curtis left [fio for a yearly 

 dole of barley to be distributed every New Year's 

 Day. 



In 1723 Elizabeth, countess dowager of Exeter, 

 left j^20 for the benefit of the poor. 



These two benefactions were also invested in land, 

 and on the enclosure of Barnack in i S06 an allotment 

 was made in lieu of the property of the three charities. 

 An allotment was also made on the enclosure of the 

 Borough Fen in 1822. The Poor's Estate now 

 consists of land and tenements in Barnack containing 

 48a. ir. 3lp. in Barnack, 2a. in Borough Fen, and 

 4a. ir. 2 2p. in Newborough taken in exchange for 

 la. ir. I9p. in Barnack by award of Board of 

 Agriculture, dated 25 May, 1893. The rents 

 amounted in 1904 to ^^92, of which ^^lo was given 

 to the National School. 



' In the upper stage these quoins are of 

 the orJinary long and short type, but when 

 the plaster was intact the bonding ends of 

 the sllort stones would be hidden, and the 

 quoins would appear like pilaster strips run- 

 ning up the angles, jointed, like the strips, 

 in stones alternately deep and shallow, 



^ Their size suggests that they are of 

 early date, and the adjoining faces of the 



tower are clearly designed to be external ; 

 otherwise the fact that foundations have 

 been found to the west of the tower 

 would suggest that they are evidence of 

 the repair of the angles after the destruc- 

 tion of some building which formerly 

 adjoined the tower on the west. But the 

 date of these foundations is uncertain, and 

 some of the quoins in the lower parts of 



angles have been cut away after a fashion 

 which implies the existence of some 

 building after they were in position, and 

 to this building the foundations may of 

 course belong. 



• A parallel to this occurs at Deer- 

 hurst, Gloucestershire. 



* MS. description by the late R. P. 

 Brereton. 



471 



