BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS 



war of 1914-18, wliile the Cliapcl of the Kingdom, in 

 the south aisle, is set apart for intercession for work 

 overseas." In the latter is a trcfoil-lieaded piscina 

 with beautiful foliated cusping and label terminations 

 and fluted bowl. Below the eastern portion of the 

 aisle is a small ijth-century crypt, or bonc^hole, 

 10 ft. 10 in. square, originally vaulted in four compart- 

 ments, but now covered with a modern brick barrel 

 roof, access to wiiich is by a doorway and stair in 

 the south wall."- 



The west window of the main north aisle is of 

 five cinquefoiled lights, with plain intersecting tracery 

 and pointed trefoils above the cusping. 



The Lady chapel has a tall ogee-headed east 

 window of five trcfoiled lights, with reticulated 

 tracery and canopied niche over, similar in type to 

 the east window of tlie chancel, but less elaborate 

 in character."'' Tiie two contemporary north windows 

 are respectively of tiiree and five lights, the larger one, 

 towards the east, being similar to tiiat at the west end 

 of the inner north aisle, and the other like those in 

 the south aisle. The east wall of the chapel is flush 

 with that of the chancel, with a buttress of two stages 

 between the windows, the eastern end of the church 

 thus consisting of two equal low-pitched gables. The 

 chapel retains at its east end the original sacristry, 

 formed by screening off a portion, 8 ft. wide, with a 

 solid wall against which the chapel altar w.is placed. 

 A trefoil-headed ogee piscina, with plain bowl, 

 remains in the usual position immediately west of the 

 screen wall. The organ loft is over the west portion 

 of the chapel. 



The tower is of three main stages, with moulded 

 plinth, pierced parapet and angle pinnacles. The 

 whole of the south side, the south-west and south- 

 east buttresses and the upper stage were rebuilt in 

 I63I-32,''' and though much of the old masonry was 

 re-used and the chief architectural features retained, 

 the work shows unmistakable signs of its late origin. 

 The south buttresses, which were rebuilt on a larger 

 scale and carried up four stages to the spring of the 

 arches of the bell-chamber windows, are asthetically 

 detrimental to the otherwise graceful lines of the 

 tower, the appearance of which, as left by the 13th- 

 century builders, must have been of exceptional 

 beauty. The original work, however, survives 

 uninjured in the lower stages on the west and north 

 sides. 



The double west doorway is covered by a shallow 

 recessed porch (1 1 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in.), with pointed 

 outer arch of two richly moulded orders on shafts 

 with foliated capitals. The heads of the two inner 

 doorways are low segmental arches, the moulding of 

 which is continued down the jambs, and round each 

 opening are carved the foliage and half-figures of a 

 Tree of Jesse, the main stem of which, rising between 

 them, blossoms into a rich foliated capital, supporting 

 an ornamental bracket and housing for a lost image of 

 Our Lady and Child. The sides of the porch, which 



is recessed in the thickness of the wall, have arcades 

 of two trefoilcd arches on shafts with moulded 

 capitals and bases, above which a chamfered mid-arch 

 springs from moulded corbels supported by heads. 

 The surface of the pointed barrel vault on either side 

 of the mid-arch is completely covered with a rich 

 diaper, except at the bottom of tiie outer compart- 

 ment on tlic north side, where there is a sculptured 

 figure of a man in the stocks playing a musical 

 instrument. Above the heads of tiie inner doorways 

 is a moulded stringcourse, which, breaking round the 

 bracket, forms the base of a pointed tympanum, the 

 middle part of which was occupied by tiie Virgin's 

 statue. The space behind the statue is plain for about 

 two-thirds of its height, above which the surface is 

 diapered, the trefoilcd head inclosing a sun and moon. 

 Tiie remainder of the tympanum on either side of the 

 central figure is carved in low relief, with a scries of 

 roundels, or medallions, five on each side, in which 

 the following subjects are represented : North side 

 (rt) the Visitation, (A) the Annunciation, (c) the 

 Adoration of the Three Kings, {d) our Lord among the 

 Doctors, (c) our Lord's baptism ; South side {a) the 

 Adoration of the Shepherds, (h) the Crucifixion, 

 (f) the Vision of Zacharias, (d) the three Marys at 

 the Tomb, {e) the harrowing of Hell."^ 



The 13th-century window above the porch is of 

 two trefoilcd lights within an arch of two chamfered 

 orders on shafted jambs ; in the spandrel is a seated 

 figure of our Lord in glory. The window may have 

 been originally higher in the wall, and the porch 

 probably had a gable over it. 



Between the porch and the north-west buttress 

 are two trefoilcd wall arches on banded shafts, one 

 over the other, but the corresponding treatment on 

 the south side was destroyed in the 17th century, 

 though an image bracket, together with one on the 

 north side, remains. The original coupled north- 

 west buttresses are of two stages with gabled heads 

 terminating in grotesque figures. In the lower stage 

 of the tower on the north side is a 13th-century 

 trefoilcd wall arcade and a window of two plain 

 lancet lights within a containing arch, the spandrel 

 carved with the figure of a man playing on a pipe and 

 tabor. The shafts of the arcade and window are 

 banded and have moulded capitals and bases. Re- 

 mains of a similar arcading survive in the reconstructed 

 lower stage on the south side. In the middle stage 

 facing north is a 13th-century window of two plain 

 lancets within a trefoilcd chamfered arch on shafts 

 with foliated capitals, but on the south side the wall 

 is blank. 



The bell-chamber windows are the old ones re- 

 used : they consist of two lancet lights with transoms, 

 set within a pointed arch of two moulded orders on 

 shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. The 

 lancets have shafted jambs and a triple mid-shaft, and 

 from the hoodmould a string runs round the tower. 

 The 14th-century parapet rests on an older corbel 



•' Fry, op. cit. 12. 



•■ The crypt is lighted by a window on 

 the cast side : the short vaulting shafts 

 remain. 



*' The mullions and tracery arc un- 

 moulded. E. A. Freeman, writing in 

 1849, says ' the lower part, apparently 

 at a later date, has been cut off by a 



transom/ Churches oj Archd. Northampt. 

 8. The transom has been removed. 



"* Two panels, formerly on the west 

 face of the tower, are now inside the 

 church. The first records that the 

 ' steeple was begun to be builded ' 20 

 April 1631 : it was one of two panels 

 flanking the clock. The inscription in- 

 tended for a second panel was forgotten, 



275 



but later was engraved on a stone, for 

 some time lodged in one of the niche* 

 lower down ; it records the completion 

 of the tower in November 1632 : Fry, 



op. cit. 5. 



*^ The last is shown in the usual con- 

 ventional way by the open jaws of a 

 monster, and in the angle is a very tmall 

 figure holding a hatchet. 



