HUXLOE HUNDRED 



LOWICK 



the arclics arc of two clumfcred orders, the outer 

 order being considerably stilted. The clearstory 

 is of the same date as the work below. The masonry 

 of the aisle walls is very rough, and it is probable 

 that here and elsewhere in the body of the church 

 the materials of the earlier building were re-used. 

 The narrower south aisle, as already mentioned, was 

 probably left without much alteration, a new doorway 

 being made and, at a later date, new windows inserted. 

 The blocked doorway of the north aisle has excellent 

 mouldings of two orders divided by a casement ; 

 the four-centred four-light windows arc divided by 

 battleniented transoms but have tracery of a very late 

 Decorated character. There is a window with similar 

 tracery in the west wall of the south chapel. The 

 character of all this work points to the end of the third 

 quarter of the 14th century as its date. The south 

 chapel appears to have been finished last : its south 

 window is of six lights with two battlemented tran- 

 soms and fully developed Perpendicular tracery, and 

 below the sill is a string-course similar in character 

 to that of the north chapel of the chancel. 



The chancel and north chapel followed, the chapel 

 being the full length of the chancel and wider than 

 the north aisle, from which it is divided by an arch of 

 two chamfered orders on half-octagonal responds. The 

 wide single arch between the chancel and chapel may 

 be a later reconstruction of an arcade of two bays, but 

 the eastern part of the north wall was left unpierced, 

 and in this are the two sedilia of the chapel, with 

 ogee gabled heads, which seem to be rather earlier 

 than the rest of the work. The east windows of 

 both chancel and chapel are of five cinqucfoiled lights 

 with Perpendicular tracery and traceried transoms, 

 and the other windows north and south are of similar 

 type but of four lights. Those in the north wall 

 of the chapel, however, were altered to three lights 

 as the work proceeded, it being found advisable to 

 make a buttress in the middle of the wall, and the 

 lights next to the buttress were left out. There is a 

 very massive contemporary buttress covering the 

 south-east angle of the chancel, the walls of which 

 were weakened by the large window openings. The 

 double sedilia of the chancel are at two levels, with 

 ogee heads and crocketed canopies, and further west 

 below the window of the first bay is a moulded priest's 

 doorway. The chancel arch is of rather later character 

 than the rest of the arches in the church and was 

 evidently left for reconstruction to the last. The 

 rebuilding of the chancel seems to have been under- 

 taken as part ot the work due to Sir Henry Green, 

 but was probably not completed at the time of his 

 death in 1399. 



The clearstory windows are four-centred and of 

 three cinqucfoiled lights without tracery. The east 

 window of the south chapel diflters considerably from 

 . the other windows of the church, being of four lights 

 with transom and thick central mullion dividing it 

 into two pointed openings with quatrefoil tracery and 

 a large pointed trefoil in the spandrel. The two- 

 light west window of the south aisle is of the same 

 character as those of the clearstory, but that in the 

 south wall is a late insertion with Perpendicular tracery 

 and dropped labels. The porch has an outer con- 

 tinuous moulded doorway and trefoiled openings in 



the side walls. At the east end of the north aisle 

 is a cusped wall recess close to the ground, intended 

 for a tomb, but too small for a full-sized eftigy. 



'I'he beautiful west tower is built of dressed stone 

 and belongs to the early part of the 15th century. 

 It is of four stages, with a vice in the north-west 

 angle, and is surmounted by a lofty lantern.*^ Above 

 the moulded plinth is a band of quatrefoils, and 

 another at the top of the second stage, level with the 

 top of the clearstory, and a third of quatrefoiled 

 circles below tlie battlemented parapet. The moulded 

 west doorway is set in a rectangular frame with quatre- 

 foiled circles and blank shields in the spandrels, and 

 about it is a three-light traceried window. The two- 

 light bell-chamber windows have tracery of distinctly 

 14th-century character, but this must have been the 

 result of conservative feeling on the part of the builders. 

 The lantern rises from behind the parapet and is 

 supported by flying buttresses from the four great 

 angle pinnacles which are raised so as to be nearly as 

 liigh as those of the lantern. All twelve pinnacles 

 are finished off by weathercocks. The three lower 

 stages of the tower arc blank on the north and south, 

 except for a small square-headed two-light window 

 in the third stage facing south. The lofty arch to 

 the nave is of three chamfered orders, the innermost 

 on half-round responds with moulded capitals and 

 bases. 



Of the old woodwork of the church the chief 

 remains arc the roof of the north aisle, which is of 

 five bays with moulded beams and carved bosses, 

 and seven bench ends with poppy-heads in the south 

 aisle. The roofs of the cliancel, north chapel and 

 porch were renewed in 1887 ; the roof of the south 

 chapel is also modern and that of the south aisle 

 much restored. The south chapel is inclosed by a 

 modern stone screen. 



The font is of the 13th century and consists of a 

 plain octagonal bowl on a pedestal of clustered keel- 

 shaped shafts. 



An entry in the churchwardens' accounts records 

 the taking down of the rood-loft and the filling of 

 the holes in May 1644, and in the following July 

 payment was made for the ' glazing of the windows 

 when the crucifixion and scandalous pictures were 

 taken down.' 



The pulpit and other fittings are modern. 

 The church contains a considerable amount of 

 ancient stained glass. The upper halves of the four 

 windows of the north aisle are filled with 14th-century 

 figure glass of extreme beauty. The figures, with 

 one exception, originally formed part of a large Tree 

 of Jesse, which may have been in the east window 

 of the chancel, and each is surrounded by vine 

 branches. The figures in the westernmost window 

 are, in the centre lights, David and Solomon, and in 

 the side lights, Rehoboam and Asa. The remaining 

 eleven figures from west to cast are Jacob, Isaiah, 

 Elijah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezckiel, Jeremiah, Isaac, 

 Joseph, Zacharias, and Micah. The glass has been 

 rearranged and portions of a broken inscription in 

 Norman-French occur at intervals. This inscription 

 seems to have come from an earlier window, one figure 

 of which, with the word ' drayton ' below, is preserved 

 in the easternmost light of this series, and represents 



** It may have •uggcsted the lantern at i» the crown of the tower, while at Fothcr- the tower becomes the pedestal of thi» 

 Fotheringhay, but at Lowick the lantern inghay the proportions are altered and lantern. 



241 



