A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



is too high and too wide to have been the arch of an 

 earlier doorway, and nothing indicates that the door- 

 way is an insertion. The great width of the aisles 

 would suggest their having been rebuilt during the 

 14th-century reconstruction, when perhaps they were 

 extended eastward to provide chapels, the old masonry 

 being re-used and the west windows retained. The 

 changes in the building during the 14th century in- 

 cluded the rebuilding of the south arcade, the heighten- 

 ing of the north arcade, the erection of the present 

 chancel, and of the upper part of the tower. The oc- 

 tagonal lantern, which is so conspicuous a feature of the 

 church, was probably a 15th-century addition. 



erected. The teredos and oak panelling date from 

 1930. 



The south chapel (St. Katharine's) is lighted from 

 the east by a large and beautiful 14th-century traceried 

 wheel window set within a plain deeply recessed open- 

 ing"* high in the wall. 5 A copy of this window, which is 

 the outstanding architectural feature of the church, 

 was inserted in the north chapel in 1856, in the place 

 of a then existing window of two lights, but the authority 

 for such 'restoration' is doubtful.* There are piscinas 

 in both chapels; that in the north chapel has a plain 

 trefoiled chamfered head and circular bowl, but the 

 larger one in St. Katharine's chapel has a pointed arch 



□ 121 Century late 

 EEDISffl Century 



□ 141 Century 

 E3 Modern 



Scale of Feet 



Plan of Milton Malzor Church 



The chancel has diagonal angle buttresses and a 

 chamfered plinth along the east wall. The pointed 

 east window is of five trefoiled lights' with reticulated 

 tracery and hood-mould, and there is a modern three- 

 light window of the same character at the east end of 

 the south wall.^ The piscina has a round-headed tre- 

 foiled arch and plain circular projecting bowl, but it is 

 much restored. In the north wall is a pointed aumbry, 

 with wide chamfer, fitted with a modern door. There 

 are no sedilia. At its west end the chancel opens on 

 each side to the chapels, by pointed arches of two cham- 

 fered orders, the inner order on half-round responds 

 with moulded capitals and chamfered bases; the arch 

 to the nave is similar. These arches are without hood- 

 moulds and the capitals are half-octagonal. There are 

 no screens. The floor of the chancel was raised a step 

 in 1874,3 and three small quatrefoil clerestory windows 

 were introduced on each side when the new roof was 



with cinquefoO cusping, hollow-chamfered jambs and 

 fluted bowl.' At the north end of the east wall of the 

 south chapel is a narrow priest's doorway, now blocked, 

 and the chapel is lighted on the south by a pointed win- 

 dow of three tall cinquefoiled lights. The correspond- 

 ing window in the north chapel is of three trefoiled 

 lights with good 14th-century quatrefoil tracery. The 

 floors of the chapels are two steps above the aisles, but 

 there are no dividing arches' and the roofs are con- 

 tinuous. 



The south arcade of the nave consists of four pointed 

 arches of two chamfered orders springing from circular 

 pillars and half-round responds, with moulded capitals 

 like those of the chancel arch. The bases of the responds 

 also correspond with those in the chancel, but the bases 

 of the pillars are moulded and on square plinths.' The 

 arches are without hood-moulds. In the north arcade 

 the older piUars, as already stated, were heightened in 



' The jambs are double chamfered. 



^ The chancel projects only 11 ft. 6 in. 

 beyond the chapels. 



^ The Jacobean altar rails were dis- 

 carded at this time. 



■* The head is new; there is no hood- 

 mould. 



5 The sill is 7 ft. above the plinth. 



* The vestry minute book, 13 Apr. 

 1857, records thanks to the donor 'for 



the manner in which he has restored the 

 wheel window at the east end of the north 

 aisle', but the term 'restoration* is subject 

 to a wide interpretation. A picture of 

 the church made about 1850 shows a two- 

 light window in this position : Evans, 

 op. cit. 107. 



' The opening is z ft. 6 in. high by 

 16 in. wide; that in the north chapel is 



I ft. II in. by 16 in. In neither case is 

 there a hood-mould. 



8 There are modern pitch-pine screens. 

 The north chapel is now used as a vestry. 



'* The top member of the base mould- 

 ings is circular, below which the base 

 becomes octagonal. The plinths are the 

 same size as those opposite and probably 

 belong to the pillars of an earlier arcade. 



274 



