BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



hoodmould, moulded imposts** and slightly chamfered 

 jambs. The 12th century chancel appears to have 

 been little shorter than at present, as traces of a 

 blocked doorway of that period occur in situ in the 

 south wall some 12 ft. from the east end." There 

 is also a small rouiul-lieaded doorway, also blocked, 

 at the eastern extremity of the wall, which if of 12th 

 century date must have been originally elsewhere. 



In the 13th century rebuilding of the chancel 

 the north wall was advanced 4 ft. and built as a 

 continuation of the north face of the staircase turret,** 

 but the line of the south wall was retained. The 

 new chancel appears to have consisted of three bays 

 divided by buttresses, with a lancet window in each, 

 and probably three lancets in the east wall. Of these 

 windows two remain entire : one in the south wall 

 (till lights the chancel, but the other immediately 

 opposite is now covered by the north chapel. West 

 of this, also in the north wall, is the upper part of a 

 third lancet, the lower portion of which was cut away 

 when the arch between the chancel and chapel 

 was pierced. These windows have rather broad 

 external chamfers, and hoodmoulds which are con- 

 tinued along the walls and round the buttresses as 

 strings ; there is also a string at sill level. Internally 

 the openings are widely splayed and moulded all 

 round. 



The addition of aisles to the nave towards the close 

 of the 13th century was begun on the south side, the 

 first arch being cut through the wall and it? eastern 

 respond built about 2 ft. 6 in. west of the tower. 

 The intention evidently was to proceed westward 

 with an arcade of pointed arches of two chamfered 

 orders on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and 

 bases. Only one arch, with the pier west of it, was, 

 however, completed, probably on account of fears 

 for the safety of the tower, the tall round-headed 

 openings of which were therefore filled with masonry. 

 The existing filling on the north and south sides is 

 pierced by narrow acutely pointed arches of three 

 chamfered orders, the outer chamfer in each case 

 being continued down the jambs and the middle order 

 dying out. On the north side the inner order also 

 dies out, but on the south it springs from moulded 

 corbels supported by sculptured human heads,** 

 the south arch has also a fourth order towards the 

 aisle where the wall is thickened,** and strengthened 

 at its east end by a massive buttress of uncertain 

 date," which blocks the north jamb of the arch 

 between the aisle and the south chancel chapel. 



The 14th century repair of the chancel included 

 the rebuilding of the east wall in its present form with 



diagonal angle buttresses of two stages and two dwarf 

 buttresses below the window, and of about 3 ft. 

 of the east ends of the north and south walls.** The 

 cast window is of five trefoiled lights with reticulated 

 quatrefoil tracery, double chamfered jambs, and 

 hoodmould ending in head-stops. A new string- 

 course was taken round the whole chancel below the 

 sills of the side windows and continued round the 

 13th century buttresses, which were perhaps rebuilt,** 

 though a keel-shaped string forming a continuation 

 of the hoodmoulds of the lancets and taken round the 

 upper part of the old buttresses was retained as 

 far as the old material would go, and re-used on the 

 east wall, until broken by the hoodmould of the 

 window. During these alterations the gable and 

 roof of the chancel were reduced to their present 

 pitch and the parapet erected. With the refashioning 

 of the chancel went the building of the north and 

 south chapels, though the latter seems only to have 

 been begun. The north chapel (28 ft. hy 14 ft.) 

 opens from the chancel by a wide arch of three con- 

 tinuous chamfered orders with hoodmould, which has 

 the appearance of having been rebuilt or completely 

 finished at a later period,* and from the transept 

 by a lesser arch of two continuous chamfered order* 

 the inner of which is stopped near the ground by 

 mouldings, while the outer, dying into the wall on 

 the north side, is stopped on the south by a small 

 broach.* The windows of the chapel are later 

 insertions :' that at the east end is four-centred, of 

 four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery, and 

 in the north wall arc three closely-placed windows, 

 one of two lights and the others of three hghts each, 

 the sill of the two-light easternmost window being 

 raised considerably in order to clear a 14th century 

 triangular headed aumbry, opposite to which, in 

 the usual position in the south wall, is a restored 

 trefoiled piscina, with modern canopy. The north 

 chapel appears to have been the Lady Chapel, and 

 was planned simply as a north aisle to the chancel,* 

 but the plan of a corresponding chapel, which was 

 begun on the south side, seems to have been modified, 

 and the work of completing the arcades and aisles 

 of the nave proceeded with. The south arcade was 

 first continued two bays westward, after which the 

 north arcade was begun from the east end, starting 

 about 4 ft. 6 in. from the west face of the tower. 

 The eastern respond is thus some 2 ft. further west 

 than that on the south side, with the consequence 

 that the positions of the piers of the two arcades 

 do not exactly correspond. Both western responds 

 were removed when the nave was lengthened, but 



" The louth impost and hood hive been 

 restored, and the north impost and spring 

 of the arch cut away in the 14th century 

 when the adjoining arch to the chapel was 

 made. 



•'These traces consist of the four eastern 

 voussoirs of a round-headed arch below 

 the lancet window. There has been much 

 disturbance in the masonry which blocks 

 the doorway towards the west, but the 

 spring of the arch is in its original 

 position; it is figured in Serjeantson, 

 op. cit. 114. 



** The turret wai thus brought wholly 

 within the church, and in order to admit 

 light to the stair windows, which other- 

 wise would have been blocked by the new 

 north wall the inner comer of this wall, 



at its west end, was chamfered off at the 

 level of each opening : ibid. 112. 



•^ The carving is rather rough, but the 

 date is obviously about 1300 : Serjeant- 

 son, op. cit. 117. Drawings made in the 

 middle of the 19th century indicate that 

 the inserted east and west openings were 

 like that on the north. 



•* The thickness of the south wall is 

 5 ft. 3 in., of the other 4 ft. i in. 



" It ' may have been added as a pre- 

 caution by the 14th century builders, or 

 it may represent a 17th century addition ': 

 Serjeantson, op. cit. 127. 

 " The junction of the old and new work 

 is very noticeable, a rough and irregular 

 joint being formed on both sides : ibid 

 119. 



53 



•"Ibid. 120. 



'Ibid. 118: 'At the base, however, 

 of the east jamb there remains a project- 

 ing moulding of early 14th century charac- 

 ter, and a similar moulding has been 

 restored on the west side.' The arch ii 

 now completely filled with a traceried 

 stone screen erected in 1896. 



•This arch, as already stated, cuts into 

 the hoodmould of the 12th century stair 

 doorway, the north impost of which 

 seems then to have been renewed. 



•An allusion to ' the new work in our 

 Lady Chapel ' fixes the date of the inser- 

 tion of these windows at 1512 : Serjeant- 

 son, op. cit. 128. 



♦ Ibid. 121. It is now used as a Morn- 

 ing Chapel. 



