PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



MARHOLM 



bases, and an arch of two chamfered orders with 

 labels. The greater part of the masonr)' is modern, but 

 what remains of the old work belongs to the same 

 date as the nave arcades, c. 1 240. 



The nave has arcades of three bays, with details 

 like those of the chancel arch, a good part of the work 

 being ancient. Over both arcades are three 15th- 

 century clearstory windows of three cinquefoiled lights 

 under four-centred heads ; those on the south are 

 larger than those on the north, their sills being only a 

 short distance above the crowns of the arches, while 

 those of the north windows are at a considerably 

 higher level. 



The aisle walls are modern, but at the east of the 

 south aisle is a small window of two uncusped lights 

 with a quatrefoil in the head, which was formerly 

 inserted in the blocking of the east arch of the south 

 arcade, and probably belonged to the original 13th- 

 century aisle. From it the other windows in the 

 aisles have been copied. 



The south porch and doorway are modern, but the 

 mask dripstones to the label of the doorway are 

 ancient. The tower is low, of two stages, with 

 b.ittlements and plain angle pinnacles, which do not 

 appear to be ancient, and it is probable that it was 

 •designed to have a third stage. At the b.ise of the 

 parapet is a string course which seems to be original, 

 having a roll under a square fillet, and in the second 

 stage are narrow loops with pointed heads on the 

 north, south, and west. On the ground stage are 

 small round-headed windows on west and south, 

 widely spl.iyed within. The western angles of the 

 tower have shallow clasping buttresses, and string 

 courses run round below the sills of both upper and 

 lower windows. The tower arch is of two square 

 orders, the masonr)' of the arch being modern, but 

 the half-round responds are ancient, and have capitals 

 with volute foliage, and an effective leaf-pattern on 

 the abacus of the north respond.' 



Above the tower arch is a stone figure with raised 

 right hand, and holding a book in the left. It is of 

 late date and poor detail, and may have been a roof- 

 corbel. The pitch of a former roof, before the 

 addition of the clearstory, is to be seen in the east wall 

 of the tower. 



The chancel roof is modern, with open tracery over 

 the tiebeams, and the nave roof is flat with moulded 

 rafters and purlins, mainly new. The wood fittings 

 of the church are all modern, and no traces of 

 mediaeval arrangements remain ; but a trefoilcd 

 piscina of the 13th century has been built into the 

 east wall of the modern north aisle. Parts of a 17th- 

 century pulpit of foreign origin are now in the 

 rectory, as is also a chained Bible of 1611. 



The font is octagonal, on a short central column 

 and four smaller shafts with roughly cut capitals and 

 bases. On the lower part of each side of the octagonal 

 bowl is a rosette with a leaf below, of poor design, the 

 relief being obtained by sinking the face. The font 

 may be of the 14th century, and the ornament of 

 the 17th. 



In the east window of the chancel is a good 

 de.il of heraldic glass, with Fitzwilliam alliances. 



and fragments of borders, etc., mostly of the 1 6th 

 century. 



The church is rich in monuments. In the chancel, 

 at the north-east, is a canopied marble altar-tomb, of 

 a type common in the latter part of the 15th century 

 and the first half ol the 1 6th. All the examples 

 show such a similarity of detail that it is probable that 

 they were made in large numbers at some centre, 

 most likely in London, and were thence sent to all 

 parts of the country. This tomb has been damaged, 

 doubtless in the civil wars, and bears a brass plate 

 recording its repair in 1674. ^' '^ '" memory of Sir 

 William Fitzwilliam, and has at the back, below the 

 canopy, the kneeling brass figures of Sir William and 

 his wife. He wears a tabard of arms, and his wife a 

 mantle with heraldry, and on scrolls proceeding from 

 the mouths of both figures is the inscription 'prohibcrc 

 nephas.' Between the figures is a brass plate recording 

 a repair of the monument in 1674. The inscription 

 on the tomb is : — 



' Syr Wylliam Fitzwyllyams Knyght deccssyd the 

 ix daye of August in the xxvi yere of o' Soverayn 

 lorde Kyng Henry the VIII in Anno Dni M 

 cccccxxxiiii and lyeth beuried under thys tombc.' 



Between the two windows on the north of the 

 chancel, and partly overlapping them, is the large 

 white marble monument of William, Earl Fitzwilliam, 

 1 7 19, and his wife Anna. Two life-sized figures of 

 white marble stand under a cornice with a broken 

 pediment, carried by grey marble columns with 

 Corinthian capitals. At the end of the long Latin 

 inscription is the name of the sculptor, James Fisher, 

 of Camberwell. 



In the south-east angle of the chancel is a panelled 

 altar-tomb with the recumbent stone effigies of Sir 

 William Fitzwilliam, 1577, and his wife, daughter of 

 Sir William Sidney. Sir William is represented in 

 armour, and holds his wife's hand ; both effigies have 

 been painted red. 



To the west of this tomb is the white marble tomb 

 of Edward Hunter d;7<7/ Perry, 1646, with a portrait 

 bust and cherubs carrying a shield of arms. The 

 tomb is surmounted by a black marble obelisk, and 

 bears on a black marble panel this inscription : — 



Grassante bello civili. 

 To the courteous souldier. 

 Noe Crucifixe you see, noe Frightful Brand 

 Of sujjtition's here. Pray let mee stand. 



Over the south door of the chancel are two helms, 

 a sword, gauntlet and spur. 



In the east bay of the south aisle of the nave is a 

 panelled stone altar tomb, for the most part modern, 

 on which is an effig)-, described and illustrated in 

 vol. i, 409, of this history, and said to be that of 

 John Wittelbury.' 



In the churchyard, north of the tower, are three 

 grave slabs, one with an inscription to Sir Roger de la 

 Hide, and the other two uninscribed, but with 

 floriated crosses having the scrolls on either side of the 

 stem which arc common in the county. All three 

 slabs belong to the 14th century. 



* In consequence of the former destruc- 

 tion of the south aisle the south side of 

 the tower has gone over, and a flying 

 buttress, built to support its south-cast 

 angle, is now encased in the rebuilt west 

 •wall of the aisle. 



^ This effigy, before the rebuilding of 

 the aisles, stood in a recess in the wall 

 blocking the eastern arch of the south 

 arcade. A drawing, dated 1721, in the 

 British Museum (Add. MS. 32467, fol. 

 156) shows it in that position, with above 



501 



it a coat of arms of I7th-centiiry st^i'lc, 

 surmounted by a coronet. It is there 

 called the tomb of the earl of South- 

 ampton, and rests on a mass of unplastered 

 rubble with no signs of an altar-tomb as 

 at present. 



