A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



blocks of gritstone with sandstone dressings. The 

 south wall is a fairly good piece of classic work with 

 semicircular-headed windows and doorways and 

 angle pilasters and entablature, above which, however, 

 the embattled parapet of the earlier wall has rather 

 unfortunately been set. The doorways have moulded 

 imposts and blocked keystones with a straight moulded 

 weathering on blocked corbels above, and the windows 

 have plain jambs and heads with blocked imposts 

 and keystones. At the east and west ends the walling 

 is of plainer character. 



The church seems to have been repaired and re- 

 roofed in 1639, that date being on one of the 

 principals of the north aisle, and was later filled with 

 square pews ; but there seems to have been no 

 adequate restoration in modern times till the year 

 1 900, when the interior was stripped of many coats 

 of whitewash which covered the walls and the 

 masonry laid bare, the old square pews removed and 

 new seating erected, the chancel re-arranged, new 

 quire stalls and other fittings being inserted, and the 

 vestry enlarged by being extended westward. In the 

 course of this latter work various fragments of an 

 earlier church were discovered, including two por- 

 tions of shafts with scalloped capitals, indicating the 

 existence of a building here in the 1 2th century, 

 tome bits of 1 4th-century tracery, and a red sandstone 

 slab with floreated cross. All these fragments are 

 now built into the vestry wall. 



The chancel and nave are without structural 

 division, the chancel, which is inclosed by modern oak 

 screens and is 27 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft., occupying the 

 first and halt the second bay from the east, a 6-ft. 

 length of plain wall forming the original 15th- 

 century sanctuary at the east end. The east window 

 is a modern pointed one of four lights with per- 

 pendicular tracery, and the roof, together with those 

 of the nave and south aisle, is also modern. The 

 north arcade consists of five pointed arches of two 

 chamfered orders on octagonal piers, 20 in. in 

 diameter, with moulded caps and bases, 6 ft. in 

 height to the top of the caps, the arches all being of 

 equal width. On the south side the arcade differs 

 somewhat in the setting out, though the number of 

 bays is the same and the detail somewhat similar. 

 The work, however, is rather more rough in cha- 

 racter and the piers are 6 in. more in height. There 

 is a 4-ft. length of straight wall at the west end, and 

 the two outer arches, east and west, are less, and the 

 second one from the east greater, in width than 

 those in the north and the remaining arches on the 

 south side. The north aisle is 16 ft. in width and 

 is lit at the east end by a three-light window with 

 low four-centred arched head and external hood 

 mould, and at the west by a new four-light square- 

 headed Gothic window inserted in the 1 8th-century 

 wall. The north side had originally three windows, 

 but the easternmost one was removed when the vestry 

 was enlarged, the reveal alone remaining as a recess. 

 Next to this, about the middle of the aisle, is a late 

 two-light square-headed opening, and further west 

 the interesting early ^th-century window already 

 mentioned, of two pointed trefoiled lights with 

 a rounded trefoil in the head and segmental rear 

 arch. The north door, which may be c. 1400, has 

 a pointed arch with plain sunk chamfered jambs and 

 head on which are carved symbolic paterae, including 

 three four -leafed flowers, a rose, fish, and the initial 



M (twice). The north wall has apparently been 

 raised about three courses, probably in the iyth 

 century, when the roof was renewed, and is built in 

 the lower part of blocks of red and yellow sandstone 

 3 ft. to 4 ft. long, but of less size above, and is 

 strengthened by two buttresses each of two stages. 

 The roof retains some of the ijth-century oak 

 principals, but is otherwise new, and has overhanging 

 eaves, and on the south slope is pierced by two dormer 

 windows of six lights each. 



The south aisle is 136. wide, with a two-light 

 segmental-headed window at each end and four 

 windows and two doors on the south side. The 

 west tower, or campanile, measures 6 ft. square 

 inside, and is set towards the north side of the 

 nave gable, to the height of which it is carried up 

 square, finishing with a moulded cornice, above 

 which is an octagon lantern with an open arch on 

 each face, surmounted by a small stone dome with 

 ball and fish weather-vane. The lower part of 

 the campanile, which is open to the church with 

 a modern arch filled in by a modern oak screen, has 

 a round-headed west window with keystone and 

 blocked jambs, and on the south side is an old 

 disused clock-face. 



The font now in use is a modern one (1901) of 

 red sandstone. An old round font, found some years 

 ago at the back of the church, fell into the hands of a 

 local mason, by whom it was re-cut, re-chiselled and 

 reduced to octagon form, all vestiges of its original 

 character being destroyed. It now stands outside, to 

 the north of the turret. 



Many of the old 1 8th-century oak pew ends, carved 

 with various initials and dates between 1716 and 

 1746, have been used as panelling round the walls, 

 and at the east end of the south aisle is the 17th- 

 century oak communion table with the initials ' WA ' 

 and the date 1635. 



There are two bells, one dated 1596 and the other 

 1837, but without other inscription or founders' 

 name. 



The plate is all modern and comprises a chalice, 

 paten and flagon of 1859, given by Mr. Charles 

 Birley of Bartle Hall ; a paten of 1896, 'The gift of 

 Gertrude Emily Birley, Easter 1896' ; and a small 

 flagon of 1 897, given by Richard Marsden in memory 

 of his son James Marsden. There are also two 

 chalices, two breadholders and two flagons of pewter, 

 all inscribed ' I. Woods and R. Parker Churchwardens 

 1822.' 



The register of burials begins in 1603 and those 

 of baptisms and marriages in 1604, from which 

 year they are complete with the exception of gaps 

 between 1625 and 1628 and between 1648 and 

 1653. The first two volumes (1614-59) have 

 been printed. 66 



The churchyard lies principally on the south and 

 west sides. There is an octagonal stone shaft sur- 

 mounted by a sundial, the plate of which is dated 

 1657, and on the south wall are traces of a large 

 painted sundial with the motto ' Sic transit gloria 

 mundi ' on the architrave. Near the entrance on the 

 south side are the remains of the stocks, on one pillar of 



.... AB 

 which is cut 



66 Lanes, Parhh Rtg. Sof. Publ, xxvii (1906). Transcribed by 

 Henry Brierley. 



2QO 



