A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



details in both are however the same, and they seem 

 to be of one build, c. 1250. East of them and 

 separated from them by a rectangular pier is a small 

 and narrow pointed arch, with a half-round respond 

 at the west, and a moulded corbel at the east ; the 

 reasons for its existence have been suggested above. 

 In the south arcade is a similar arch opposite to it, 

 but continuous with the other two bays of the arcade, 

 which have round arches of two chamfered orders 

 c. 1220, and circular shafts with moulded capitals and 

 bases. The arches are of equal span, and are set 

 further east in the nave wall than those of the north 

 arcade,' and this may be the reason for the different 

 treatment of the narrow eastern arches on the two 

 sides. That on the south was designed as a con- 

 tinuation of the south arcade of two bays, the east 

 respond being replaced by a circular shaft, and the 

 details of the arcade copied, while the arch on the 

 north was made to balance that on the south, corre- 

 sponding to it both in size and detail, instead of being 

 treated as a continuation of the north arcade. The 

 nave clearstor}- has three windows a side, those on 

 the north of two lights, cinquefoiled in the middle 

 window and trefoiled in the other two, with a qua- 

 trefoil in the four-centred head of each window, 

 while the south windows have square heads enclosing 

 a four-centred tracery arch over two cinquefoiled 

 lights, the spandrels over the arch being pierced. 

 Both sets of windows belong to the 15th century. 



The north aisle has no east window, the vestry 

 having abutted against its east wall. In the north 

 wall are three square-headed windows with geo- 

 metrical tracery, one of three lights, and the others 

 oftwo, of the date of the rebuilding of the aisle. The 

 tracery has soiRt cusps, and is mostly ancient, some of 

 the original grisaille glass remaining in the spandrels. 

 The west window is an insertion of c. 1480 of three 

 cinquefoiled lights. The north door is blocked, and 

 has a plain chamfered arch with label and mask 

 dripstones. In the south-east angle of the aisle is 

 a squint to the chancel, and in the north wall a 

 square locker rebated for a door. On the east wall 

 of the aisle are the royal arms of James I in a wooden 

 ^ame. 



The south aisle has on the south three square- 

 headed two-light windows like those in the north 

 aisle, but with modern tracery. The east window is 

 a beautiful example, f. 1320, oftwo cinquefoiled lights 

 Tvith flowing tracery under a segmental head, with 

 shafts in the jambs and moulded rear-arch. Below it 

 is a string with ball flowers, which is continued round 

 an im.ige-bracket south of the window. On the north 

 is a second bracket, but quite plain and roughly 

 worked, and in the south wall near by is a plain 

 arched piscina with a label and masks. The west 

 window of the aisle is like that in the north aisle, and 

 the south doorw-ay has a pointed arch oftwo moulded 

 orders with nook-shafts and capitals with transitional 

 foliage. It opens to a south porch of the middle of 

 the 13 th century, rebuilt with the old materials in 

 1 90 1. It has an outer arch oftwo chamfered orders 

 with clustered responds, and stone seats on the east 

 and west ; the north end of the east seat being part 

 of a moulded plinth, perhaps the pedestal for a holy 

 water stone.' 



The tower is of four stages, about 1 1 ft. square 

 inside, with north and south w.iUs 3 ft. 8 in. thick, 

 and east wall 3 ft. 10 in., and a vice in the south- 

 west angle. It opens to the nave with a pointed arch 

 of two chamfered orders, probably dating from the 

 rebuilding of the upper part of the tower, c.\ 330, and 

 replacing an early 12th-century arch whose responds 

 with three half-round shafts and early volute capit.ils 

 still remain. In the north and south walls of this 

 stage are round arches dating from the rebuilding of 

 the tower in 1865, and the west window is of the 

 15th century, with three cinquefoiled lights and 

 tracery over. Above it are built into the inner face 

 of the wall some early 1 2th-century voussoirs with 

 lozenge and stud ornament. The outer face of the 

 west wall of this stage has two pilaster strips like those 

 at Maxey or Northborough, cut off by the sill of the 

 15th-century west window, an embattled moulding 

 being worked on their tops when the window was 

 inserted. The second stage of the tower and all above 

 it belongs to the 14th-century rebuilding. It has a 

 square opening enclosing a quatrefoil in each face, and 

 its angles are cut back from half height, the plan of 

 the tower changing from a square to an octagon at the 

 top of the stage. 



The third stage is blank, and the fourth has two- 

 light windows in the cardinal faces, with trefoiled 

 lights and a quatrefoil over. The tower is finished 

 with a plain low parapet having a cornice of ball 

 flowers below it and projecting gargoyles at all the 

 angles of the octagon. From it rises a short stone 

 spire with gabled two-light spirelights in the alternate 

 faces. 



The clearstory has embattled parapets of the 1 5th 

 century, while those of the aisles have small stepped 

 battlements probably of 17th-century date ; they are 

 shown on a drawing made in 1 72 1. A moulded 

 string runs round the aisles and chancel below the 

 windows, and belongs to the date of the rebuilding of 

 the chancel. The buttresses of the south aisle are 

 like those of the chancel, but those of the north aisle 

 though contemporary are stepped. On the south-west 

 and south-east buttresses of the south aisle are incised 

 dials. 



There is no ancient woodwork in the church, and 

 all the roofs are plain. The south door of the nave 

 is inscribed in a panel 'W.G. fecit 1 708.' 



In the chancel floor are some pieces of a pavement 

 of glazed tiles, shaped to form geometrical patterns. 

 They have a red body with impressed patterns filled 

 in with a white slip, and over it a yellow or green 

 glaze, and may be coeval with the chancel, though not 

 in situ. 



There are several gravestones in the nave, the finest 

 being in the north aisle, with a French inscription of 

 ^.1320 to Roger de Hegham,' now partly hidden by 

 pews. In the middle aisle is a casement for a brass 

 showing a single figure with an inscription round it, 

 and in the south aisle a large incised slab with a much 

 worn inscription ; the name of the person commemo- 

 rated seems to be Chinscote. 



In 1865 a number of coffin slabs and headstones 

 were found built into the tower, many of 13th- 

 century date, but some of the i ith century or earlier. 

 Two fragments of these early stones, with interlacing 



1 This fact, and the irregularities in 

 the western bays of the north arcade, may 

 be due to the former existence of 12th- 



century arcades, the piers of which the 

 later columns and responds would be set 

 out to avoid. 



498 



^ See Bainton for a similar feature. 

 ^ So spelt on the stone. Elsewhere in 

 this account the form Higham is used. 



