ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 329 



side of the church-yard, being surrounded by the vicarage-gar- 

 den, affords no path to that side of the church. Nothing can 

 be more irregular than the pews of this church, which are of all 

 dimensions and heights, being patched up according to the fancy 

 of the owners : but whoever nicely examines them will find that 

 the middle aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of 

 solid oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we 

 should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present church : 

 and especially as it is to be observed that, at their ends, they 

 are ornamented with carved blunt gothic niches, exactly corre- 

 spondent to the arches of the church, and to a niche in the south 

 wall. The south aisle also has a row of these benches ; but some 

 are decayed through age, and the rest much disguised by modern 

 alterations. 



At the upper end of this aisle, and running out to the north, 

 stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, 

 measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen 

 feet from east to west : this was intended, no doubt, as a private 

 chantry ; and was also, till of late, divided off by a gothic frame- 

 work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt gothic 

 arch, lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the 

 shape of its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of 

 the reign of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years 

 ago, but contained nothing except the scull and thigh-bones of 

 a large tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a 

 very irregular manner, without any escutcheon or other token to 

 ascertain the names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very 

 shallow, and lined with stone at the bottom and on the sides. 



From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I con- 

 clude supported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilaster, 

 jutting out between this transept and the chancel, there is a very 

 sharp gothic niche, of older date than the present chantry or 

 church. But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow stone 

 coffin-lids, which compose part of the floor, and lie from west to 

 east, with the very narrow ends eastward : these belong to re- 

 mote times ; and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, must 

 have been part of the pavement of an older transept. At present 

 there are no coffins under them, whence I conclude they have 

 been removed to this place from some part of a former church. 

 One of these lids is so eaten by time, that no sculpture can be 

 discovered upon it ; or, perhaps, it may be the wrong side upper- 



