WYMERSLEY HUNDRED 



north aisle in 1887-8, and other modem work in- 

 cludes the restoration of the chancel (1884-5) and 

 clerestory, and the erection of new roofs. The walls 

 throughout are of limestone rubble, but in the parts 

 rebuilt ironstone is used for windows and dressings. 

 The chancel has a slated eaved roof, but the other roofs 

 are leaded and of low pitch, that of the nave behind 

 straight parapets. The aisle parapets are battlemcnted. 

 With the exception of the tower all the walls are plas- 

 tered internally. 



The tower is of late-l2th-centur)' date, but every- 

 thing east of it has been rebuilt, the nave arcades dating 

 from c. 1280-1300, and the chancel from c. 1340. 

 The rebuilding appears to have been begun by the 

 erection of an aisled nave, the width of which was deter- 

 mined by the great size of the tower, followed at an 

 interval by the erection of a new chancel and the 

 widening of the aisles, the architectural features of 

 which before their modern rebuilding were in the 

 main similar to those of the chancel.' The clerestory 

 appears to have been a i 5th-century addition. 



The chancel has diagonal angle buttresses of two 

 stages, chamfered plinth, and a string at sill level along 

 the east wall. The 14th-century pointed east window 

 is of four trefoiled lights with reticulated tracery, and 

 the gable has a plain coping and modern apex cross. 

 The north wall is blank. In the south wall are three 

 square-headed windows of two tretoiled lights, with 

 hood-moulds and double sunk-chamfered jambs, the 

 westernmost of which is lengthened so as to form a 

 low-side window.^ Opposite to this, in the north wall, 

 are the remains of a second low-side window, entirely 

 blocked outside, but with its western light only dropped, 

 as at Grendon, the sill being stepped inside.^ The 

 piscina is wholly restored, and the triple scdilia very 

 extensively. The former has a cusped ogee arch in a 

 square head, and the latter are at one level, under 

 cinquefoiled ogee arches on shafts and jambs with 

 moulded capitals and bases.* There is a plain pointed 

 priest's doorway between the two westernmost win- 

 dows. The wide pointed chancel arch is of two cham- 

 fered orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal 

 responds with moulded capitals and bases.' 



The Iate-I3th<entury nave arcades consist of four 

 pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from 

 octagonal pillars with moulded capitals and bases, and 

 from moulded corbels at each end. The arches have 

 hood-moulds on the nave side, but there are differ- 

 ences both in dimension and detail* which point to the 



' Both aisles were rebuilt as far as pos- 

 sible in their original form. Among Sir 

 Henry Dryden's papers at the Northamp- 

 ton Public Library is a draft of the Report 

 prepared by him and the Rev. R. Baker in 

 June 1883 on the rebuilding of the south 

 aisle. The east end was much dislocated 

 by the thrust of the chancel arch and 

 the angle buttress was cracked. The west 

 end was 'pushed outward at little above 

 the ground as is supposed by the pressure 

 of the tower*. The window immediately 

 east of the doorway was 'one of the very 

 few in the church which may be taken as 

 in its original state'. The nave roof was 

 framed with tie-beams, king-post, and 

 struts and covered with slates. 'Tracery* 

 had apparently been inserted in the spaces 

 over the tie beams, but this had disappeared 

 and a ceiling had been formed beneath. 

 The roof was 'exLremel/ decayed and in a 

 dangerous state'. The effect of the decay 

 had been to push out the clerestory walls 



YARDLEY 

 HASTINGS 



south arcade having been built first. Several ancient 

 features have been retained in the modern aisles. In 

 the usual position at the east end of the south aisle 

 (which was restored to use as a chapel' in 1905) is a 

 trefoil-headed piscina with fluted bowl, and on each 

 side of the east window a carved bracket. There is no 

 piscina in the corresponding part of the north aisle 

 (now used as an organ-chamber and vestry), but in the 

 north wall is a rectangular aumbry' fitted with a 

 modem door. 



The clerestory was wholly restored when the new 

 roof was put on the nave in 1889. It has five modern 

 square-headed two-light windows on the south side, 

 and four on the north, all of the same character as the 

 other windows in the church, but placed without refer- 

 ence to the arches below. 



The massive late-i 2th-century tower is of three 

 stages, marked by strings, and terminates with a later 

 battlemented parapet. Diagonal buttresses at the 

 western angles are also later additions,' but there are 

 original buttresses at the east, facing north and south, 

 and in the middle of the west wall. The lower stage is 

 blank on all three sides, except for a doorway'" knocked 

 through the north wall, and the middle stage is also 

 blank on the north, but on the south and west sides is 

 pierced by tall loops." The bell-chamber windows con- 

 sist of Vv,'o rounded lights with solid spandrel, under a 

 semicircular containing arch on jamb-shatts with 

 moulded capitals and bases. On the south side there is 

 also a small round-headed opening'^ east of the main 

 window, and on the east face of the tower is the line 

 of the original high-pitched nave roof Immediately 

 over the bell-chamber windows, on all four sides, is the 

 corbel table, mostly of carved heads, which carried 

 the original parapet. The tower is walled off from the 

 church, but a plain 13th-century doorway, which re- 

 tains traces of colour decoration, gives access from the 

 nave. There is no vice. 



At the south-west comer of the nave a square- 

 headed recess marks the position of a doorway to a 

 former west gallery. The west end of the south aisle 

 is screened off with good 18th-century panelling. The 

 south doorway retains an original oak door, relined. 

 The door, which may be of 1 5th-century date, con- 

 tains a wicket, and has a trefoiled head, embattled top 

 rail, plain iron hinges, and good ring handles. 



The font has a plain octagonal bowl, and good 

 17th-century flat panelled cover with knob. The oak 

 pulpit is modern. There is no ancient glass. '^ The 



and arcades. In the south aisle the inclina- 

 tion of the principals and rafters had pushed 

 out the waits and rendered them insecure. 

 See also Aisoc. Arch. Soc. Ref>. «vii 

 (1883), p. xxii. 



' Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xx\x,^^%. The 

 two lights below the transom are now 

 blocked, and the whole of the lower part 

 of the window inside is covered by a slop- 

 ing plastered 'sill'. 



' Ibid. 459. The western hght is z ft. 

 3 in. longer than the other. The window 

 now shows merely as a slightly arched 

 recess. 



* Only one of the capitals and the jamb 

 and base on the west side are original. 



5 The arch is much restored, the 

 capitals and bases being new. 



* The pillars of the south arcade are of 

 24 in. diameter, and those of the north 

 arcade 22 in. On the south side the hood- 

 moulds have small head-stops, but on the 

 north there is only a single head-stop, and 



that of later type. The mouldings, too, 

 differ. 



' Known as the Compton Chapel. It 

 is inclosed on the north side by a modem 

 oak screen, and has a rercdos in memory of 

 the Rev. A. C. Ranger, rector 1894-1912. 



• The aumbry appears to have been 

 originally in the south aisle; see Sir Henry 

 Dryden's Report (1883). 



• Probablyin the 14th century. On the 

 south-west buttress is a panel with the 

 names of the churchwardens and the date 

 1787, no doubt recording repair in that 

 year. '* It has a wooden frame. 



" That on the west is perfectly plain, 

 with square jambs and head; the other is 

 pointed with moulded jambs and head, and 

 a hood-mould. 



■' It has a wide chamfer all round. 



" Sir Henry Dryden's Report of 1883 

 mentions 'scraps of coloured glass* in the 

 south aisle windows, which it was recom- 

 mended should be *eithcr replaced in their 



299 



