WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



COURTEENHALL 



slightly ogee head, hood-mould, and continuous vi-ave 

 moulding. Internally there is a string at sill level on 

 the south side only, but it formerly was carried along 

 the east wall. The 14th-century piscina and triple 

 sedilia are below the south windows. The piscina has 

 a trefoiled ogee head with blind tracery and crocketed 

 hood-mould; the bowl slightly projects and has four 

 orifices grouped round a four-leaved flower. The sedilia 

 are on one level, under cinquefoiled ogee crocketed 

 arches terminating in finials; the jambs and dividing 

 shafts are covered with diaper ornament and there are 

 blank shields in the spandrels. In the north wall is a 

 double aumbry with plain pointed openings, the heads 

 cut in one stone, and farther west a 13th-century 

 pointed arch of two chamfered orders, the inner order 

 on moulded corbels, which opens to the chapel at the 

 east end of the north aisle. In the south-west corner 

 of the chancel is a squint from the south aisle, with small 

 rectangular opening, directed to the altar in the north 

 chapel.' The pointed chancel arch is of two chamfered 

 orders, the outer continuous, the inner springing from 

 half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and 

 bases: the hood-mould has been mostly cut away. 



The nave is of three bays, with pointed arches. On 

 the north side the arches vary little in width,- but on the 

 south their variation is considerable, the span increasing 

 from west to east,' the pillars thus being not opposite 

 to one another. On the south side the arches are of a 

 single square order slightly chamfered on the edges, 

 springing from octagonal pillars with moulded capitals 

 and bases, and at the ends from moulded imposts. The 

 bases stand on square plinths, but both capitals and 

 bases differ in their details. 



The arches of the north arcade are of two chamfered 

 orders, with hood-moulds, and spring at each end 

 from I3th<entury moulded corbels. The western- 

 most pillar, which is of the same period, is octagonal, 

 with moulded capital and base,* but the other is a late- 

 I2th-century cylindrical pillar, with circular moulded 

 base on a square chamfered plinth and carved capital 

 with square abacus: the carving represents early foliage. 

 The sill alone of the rood-loft doorway remains at the 

 east end of the nave north of the chancel arch. 



The 17th-century windows of the aisles are all square- 

 headed, with rounded' lights and moulded jambs and 

 mullions; those west of the porch are of two lights, the 

 others of three, and in both aisles the west wall is blank. 

 There are no ancient ritual arrangements in either aisle, 

 but near the east end of the north aisle wall, in the 

 former chapel, is a small square-headed low-side win- 

 dow, the sill of which is 4 ft. above the ground. There 

 are buttresses only on the north. The south doorway 

 has a round-arched head cut from a single stone, but 

 is much restored, the plain outer order of the 'arch' 

 being lined to represent voussoirs: it has a chamfered 

 hood-mould and jambs. The plain narrow pointed 

 north doorway has a single continuous chamfer. 



The 14th-century south porch is plastered internally 

 and has square-headed windows of two trefoiled lights 

 and outer pointed arch of two wave-moulded orders 



and hood-mould with head-stops: the inner order rests 

 on half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals. 

 There is no clerestory, but the nave wall above the 

 arcades rises well above the aisle roof. 



The tower is of three stages* marked by strings, and 

 has a moulded plinth and diagonal angle buttresses on 

 the west side. The vice in the south-west corner has 

 been filled in with concrete and access to the bell- 

 chamber is now only by a ladder. The pointed west 

 doorway is of two continuous moulded orders, and 

 above it is a tall pointed window of two cinquefoiled 

 lights; immediately over this again is a small single tre- 

 foiled opening. On the north and south sides the 

 lower stage is blank, but there is a trefoiled opening 

 higher up. The pointed bell-chamber windows are of 

 two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, and 

 the tower terminates with a battlemented parapet. The 

 lofty pointed arch to the nave is the full width of 

 the tower and of three chamfered orders dying into the 

 wall. The floor of the tower is flagged. 



The plain circular bucket-shaped font is apparently 

 of 12th-century date; it is lead-lined and stands on a 

 square masonry base. 



The oak pulpit is modern. On the upper part of the 

 westernmost pillar of the south arcade, immediately 

 below the capital, are remains of three paintings, now 

 protected by glass.' 



It remains to notice the monuments in the former 

 chapel on the north side of the chancel. The earliest 

 of these is the table-tomb of Richard Ouseley (d. I 599) 

 and his two wives, the first of whom was Jane Arden, 

 widow of Sir Miles Partrige, who died without issue 

 by him, and the second Magdalen, daughter of John 

 Wake of Hartwell, by whom he had twelve children, 

 and who died in 1607. The tomb is of freestone with 

 paneUed sides and ends containing blank shields, and a 

 flat top; upon this, supporting a black marble slab, is a 

 stone band <)i in. high, round which, in two lines of 

 Gothic lettering, runs the inscription recorded below. 

 The marble slab bears the indents of brasses; they in- 

 cluded a man in civil dress, two groups of children, a 

 scroll, and a small figure at the top, which apparently 

 was a representation of the Holy Trinity. The inscrip- 

 tion begins on the north side of the tomb, finishing on 

 the east, each of the two lines running round all four 

 sides, but it forms twelve rhyming lines,' as follows: 



A Sallops Oscley I 



A ruen Partrige woone 

 No birds I had her by 



Such worck with her was doone 

 She dead I turtle sought 



A Wake in Salsie bred 

 Twice six birds she me brought 



She lives but I am dead. 

 But when ninth year was come 



I slcapt that was a Wake 

 So yeildi(n)g to Death's doome 



Did here my lodgi(n)g take. 



The monument to Sir Samuel Jones (d. 1672) is 

 against the east wall and is of black and white marble, 



10 in., ind its bright is about 5 ft. The 

 transom has been cut away and the whole 

 opening glazed : see also Sir Henry Dr)'den'8 

 MS. notes in Northampton Public Library. 

 ' On the chancel side the opening is 

 6 in. wide by 7 in. high, with cusped head, 

 and towards the aisle 1 ft. 4 in. wide by 

 z ft. 5 in. high. The squint is figured and 

 diicussed by Sir Henry Uryden in jliitx. 



Arch, So<. Rep. xxiii, 357. 



' 9 ft. 9 in., 8 ft. 8 in., 9 ft. 4 in. from 

 west to east. 



' T it. 10 in., 8 ft. 7 in., 1 1 ft. 1 J in., 

 from west to cast. 



* There is no square plinth to the base, 

 which is 21 in. high. 



' Except in the windows of the north 

 chapel, where the lights are square-headed. 



* On the west side the lower stage is 

 again divided by a string. 



' One represents a queen (or the Virgin 

 crowned), and others female heads — one 

 nimbed, the other with long hair. Each 

 measures q| in. by 8 in. 



' In lines 1-8 the husband speaks, in 

 lines q-ii the second wife speaks. The 

 tenth line is a pun. 



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