288 ANTIQUITIES 



LETTER IV. 



WE have now taken leave of the inside of the church, and 

 shall pass by a door at the west end of the middle aisle into 

 the belfry. This room is part of a handsome square em- 

 battled tower of forty-five feet in height, and of much more 

 modern date than the church ; but old enough to have needed 

 a thorough repair in 1781, when it was neatly stuccoed at a 

 considerable expense, by a set of workmen who were employed 

 on it for the greatest part of the summer. The old bells, 

 three in number, loud and out of tune, were taken down in 

 1735, and cast into four ; to which Sir Simeon Stuart, the 

 grandfather of the present baronet, added a fifth at his own 



long since disappeared, yet its boundary is very clearly indicated by a 

 stone step which raises it a few inches above the level of the aisle. The 

 string-course, extending along the east, south, and west walls of the south 

 aisle, is simple and very perfect. The mouldings of the south doorway 

 are very beautiful and nearly perfect. The door itself is solid, and the 

 hinges of a good but not elaborate pattern. The north transept, described 

 in the text, is evidently more recent than the body of the church. Of the 

 four brackets mentioned, three are similar in form, the centre one being 

 placed higher than the others. These certainly supported figures. The 

 fourth bracket has no relation to the others, is placed nearer to the 

 chancel, and is of ruder form. In the wall between the transept and the 

 chancel there is the appearance of a small door having formerly existed, 

 which from its position must have formed the entrance to the rood-loft ; 

 and I think it possible that the fourth bracket may have supported the 

 stairs which led to it. There is a good piscina belonging to this transept- 

 chantry, of later character than that in the south wall. In the north wall 

 of the transept are the remains of a large window of three lights, the 

 mullions of which show it to be of a later date than the church, probably 

 towards the latter part of the century. This fine window has been cur- 

 tailed of its fair proportions by the bottom of it being blocked up, and 

 the whole upper part being cut off by a heavy beam carried quite across 

 the wall, above which is a hideous circular window. The chancel of the 

 church itself retains very little of its original features, and has no remains 

 of a piscina or any other adjuncts of an altar ; but there is. in the north 

 wall a small lancet window, and another in the vestry. T. B.] 



