PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PASTON 



The east and south walls of the south aisle have 

 been rebuilt, and the windows are modern, copied 

 from the north window of the north chapel, but the 

 •original south doorway remains, with a round arch 

 of two orders, the inner being plain and the outer 

 having a line of horizontal zigzag with a chamfered 

 label and nook-shafts with scalloped capitals. The 

 west wall of the aisle retains its original widely-splayed 

 round-headed light. 



The outer arch of the south porch has two cham- 

 fered orders with half-octagonal capitals and shafts, 

 <-. 1340. 



The north arcade of the nave has heavy round 

 shafts and plain capitals, with round arches of two 

 chamfered orders. In spite of the shape of its arches 

 it is probably later than the south arcade, and all 

 tooling on it is vertical. Its western respond, with 

 most of the western arch, has been rebuilt in modern 

 times. The north and west walls of the aisle have 

 been rebuilt and contain no ancient features, the 

 west window of the aisle being a copy of the 1 2th- 

 centur)' light in the south aisle. The west window 

 of the nave is also modern, having three lancet lights 

 under a containing arch. 



The bell-cot on the east gable of the nave has 

 two round-arched openings for bells, with angle-rolls, 

 and in the gable, which with its cross has been re- 

 built, a small opening with a pointed head. On the 

 west jamb of the outer arch of the south porch is a 

 sundial, and there may be a second on the west capital 

 of the 1 2th-century south doorway. 



There is a trefolled piscina in the south aisle ; it 

 looks earlier than the windows (perhaps c. I 280-1 300) 

 and may be re-used. 



The font has an octagonal bowl carried on a central 

 shaft and eight smaller shafts, all of which seem to 

 have been renewed. They have moulded capitals and 

 bases of 13th-century style, and stand on an ancient 

 octagonal base. 



The south door of the nave is the only piece of 

 old woodwork in the church, and there are no 

 remains of old glass or wall paintings. 



The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten 

 of 1758 ; a bread holder of 1723, inscribed ' Paston 

 Church Plate, 1723 ' ; a plated flagon with a spout ; 

 a pewter flagon, inscribed ' ex dono Edmundi Pennye 

 et francisicae (sic) uxoris eius ad usum Capellie dc 

 Werrington, 1609'; a pewter plate, and a brass 

 alms dish. 



There are two bells, both blank, which from their 

 shape seem to be mediaeval. 



The registers begin in 1877 ; before that date they 

 are included with those at Paston. 



The advowson of the church of All 

 JDFOWSON Saints' at Paston belonged to the 

 abbey of Peterborough, and was 

 granted in I 54.1, after the dissolution of the monas- 

 tery, to the bishop of Peterborough,' who is now the 

 patron. 



This church is called a chapel in the charter of 

 Richard I,' and is often similarly termed in the 

 12th-century documents.* 



Paston church stands to the west of the 



CHURCH village, the only house near it being 



the rector)-. It occupies the north-east 



part of the churchyard, which is bounded by 



roads on the north, south and west, and has lately 

 been enlarged on the east. No features of the 

 building as it now stands are older than the 13th 

 century, but several pieces of early 1 2th-century 

 detail, and one which probably belongs to the middle 

 of the iith century, have been built into various 

 parts of the church. The building comprises chancel 

 with north vestry and chapel, nave with aisles and 

 south porch and west tower with spire. 



The difference of centre line in the chancel, nave 

 and tower give some clue to the process of develop- 

 ment, which seems to have been somewhat as follows. 

 About 1220 a chapel was built on the north side of 

 the chancel, its south wall being outside the line of 

 the north wall of the chancel. The north wall was 

 then pulled down, and the centre line of the chancel was 

 thus moved northwards, and out of centre with the 

 nave. In the latter part of the 13 th century the 

 chancel was lengthened eastwards, its east window 

 being set approximately on the former centre line, 

 in order to avoid a lopsided effect from the nave. 

 The west tower was added to the nave early in the 

 14th century and the north and south aisles were 

 built or rebuilt about the same time, the width of 

 the north aisle being regulated by that of the north 

 chapel. In the i;th century the nave was re- 

 modelled, the plan becoming more symmetrical, and 

 bringing the centre line of the nave nearer to 

 that of the chancel. The north wall of the north 

 aisle being retained, the main span was set out 

 with a width of 19 ft. 2 in. with aisles lift, wide 

 on either side, and the present arrangement was 

 reached, the tower being thrown out of centre with 

 the nave. 



The chancel is 40 ft. long, 16 ft. wide at the east 

 and 17 ft. 5 in. wide at the west.' It has a north 

 chapel 24 ft. by 14 ft. opening to the chancel by an 

 arcade of two bays with an octagonal central pillar 

 and capital, half-round responds, and arches of a 

 single chamfered order. They are set in a wall only 

 I ft. 8 in. thick. The chapel and arcade date from 

 1220-30, and in the north wall of the chapel is the 

 west jamb of an original window, having to the east 

 of it a 15th-century window of three cinquefoiled 

 lights. East of the chapel is a modern brick vestry, 

 on the site of a 14th-century building, into which a 

 blocked arch, east of the 13th-century arcade, formerly 

 opened. 



The chancel seems to have been lengthened some 

 18 ft. eastward late in the 13th century, its former 

 e.ist wall having been a little east of the arcade 

 opening to the north chapel. This extension is very 

 irregularly set out, the east wall not being at right 

 angles to the north wall, and the extension of the 

 south wall not in line with its western part. The 

 jambs of the east window are original, though the 

 tracery is modern, and the window is set to the south 

 of the centre line of the wall. The three sedilia 

 belong to the same date, and have moulded arches, 

 springing from circular shafts with moulded capitals 

 and bases, all of very rough workmanship, and 

 much like those at UfFord. To the east is a cinque- 

 foiled piscina of the 14th centur}' with a modem 

 shelf, and a locker, of which the sill only is ancient, 

 and to the south of the east window is part of a 

 moulded image-bracket. In the south wall are three 



' Will of John Rawlyns (1514), Bk. A, 

 fol. 365. See also Bk. D, fol. 17S. 



' Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 

 * Cart. Antiq. DD. 17. 



iii, m. 13. * Chart. R. 1 John, pt. ii, nj 



Swapham, fol. x 1 1 . 



' All measurements are internal. 



