138 KNOWLTON CHURCH AND EARTHWORK. 



It was by no means uncommon to find the sites of Pagan 

 superstition converted into places of Christian worship in proof 

 of which truth Warne instances the cathedrals of Le Mans and 

 Chaitres in France, and our own St. Paul's, as being " built on 

 ground dedicated to the worship of some heathen deity." 



Knowlton Church, small as it is, is of two periods Early 

 Norman and Decorated, The first builders laid out a plan for a 

 nave, chancel, and narrow north aisle in the beginning of the 

 twelfth century ; the later builders about 230 years subsequently 

 added the tower, certainly, and probably the porch and the 

 chantry leading out of the chancel. But to decide the latter 

 points I would invite the building experts among you to carefully 

 examine the joints in the walling of both porch and chantry. I 

 ask, at the points of union with the south wall of nave or north- 

 east wall of chancel, are these joints straight joints or bonded into 

 the adjoining walls 1 Dr. lS T oyes and I looked carefully at them 

 the other day and came to the conclusion that they are straight 

 joints, and so were additions to the original edifice. But the 

 difficulty of ascertaining the latter, through the thick, almost 

 impenetrable, mass of ivy and bramble with which this interesting 

 building is enveloped, at that part in particular, is considerable. 



And here I must earnestly enquire why should coarse elder trees 

 be allowed to interfere with the view of the proportions of the 

 nave, and almost to stop the passage between nave and chancel, 

 and why should a perfect jungle of briars be permitted to gather 

 round the north-east end, both inside and out 1 A woodman, in 

 an hour or two, with an axe and billhook, would improve the 

 appearance of the place enormously, and enable those who are 

 interested in old buildings to satisfy themselves on some points 

 which are now veiled from their view. 



Whoever built the porch built it disproportionately long, and 

 the north aisle is so narrow as scarcely, one would think, to have 

 been worth building at all. However, if you stoop down and see 

 how its foundations are bonded into those of the north wall, you 

 will, I think, have no doubt that it is Norman work. The west 



