STOCKTON WARD 



NORTON 



all the windows with the exception of a window on 

 the north side being probably of this date, or restora- 

 tions of worlc then done. The upper stage of the 

 tower is also a rebuilding or addition of the 15th 

 century. In 1579 the chancel was again reported 

 to be in decay.''* 



In 1823 'the side walls of the west part of the 

 church were entirely taken down and rebuilt so as 

 to enclose a larger area,' "'' which seems to imply a 

 widening of the aisles at that time, two new galleries 

 were erected, the end of the south transept rebuilt, 

 a new west window inserted, and the old east window 

 renewed." The galleries occupied the aisles, the 

 roofs of which were raised,'''* and in 1829 the building 

 was described as ' well pewed and in excellent order.'" 

 Sir Stephen Glynne, who visited the church in 184.3, 

 describes it as ' much altered and modernised especially 

 within,' the exterior being stuccoed. 'The side 

 aisles of the nave,' he proceeds, ' have been widened 

 and the windows in the modern walls have pseudo- 

 perpendicular tracery.™ The clearstory has been 

 closed. . . . There are ugly galleries erected along 

 every side of the nave, which is encumbered also with 

 high though regular pues.' '' 



The building was completely restored in 1876, 

 when the aisles and the end of the south transept 

 were again rebuilt, a new west window inserted, the 

 galleries removed, the nave reseated, and the organ 

 ch.imber and vestry added on the north side of the 

 chancel. There were further, but slighter, restora- 

 tions in 1879 and 1889. The roof of the north 

 aisle was renewed in 191 1. 



The chancel is constructed of rubble masonry, and 

 the roof is a leaded one of very flat pitch behind an 

 embattled ashlar parapet, which is continued along 

 the east wall. The side walls were raised when the 

 new roof was erected at the end of the 15th century. 

 At the eastern angles are original flat double buttresses 

 of two stages, and on each side of the east window 

 just above the sill level are portions of a 13th-century 

 chamfered string-course. The original east window 

 appears to have consisted of four lancets, the angle 

 shafts of which, with moulded capitals, bands, and 

 bases, still remain inside below the spring of the two 

 outer lights. Externally a portion of the hood mould 

 remains at each end, and is carried along the wall as 

 a string above the buttresses. The east window is 

 of three cinquefoiled lights with perpendicular tracery 

 and four-centred head with hollow-chamfered jambs 

 and hood mould. The restoration seems to have 

 been confined to the muUions and tracerv, the jambs 

 and head being apparently old, and there are two 

 four-centred windows, each of three cinquefoiled lights 

 without tracery, on the south side, one at each end 

 of the wall. Both are to some extent restorations, 

 the mullions in all cases being new, and the detail is 

 similar to that of the east window. The priest's 

 doorway has a four-centred head without hood mould, 

 and is midway between the windows. The north 



side of the chancel is now hidden externally by the 

 vestry and organ chamber, the lancet window, which 

 is near the east end, now opening into the former. 

 The west end of the north wall is open to the organ 

 chamber by a modern arch, but the doorway to the 

 vestry is apparently of 15th-century date and has a 

 four-centred head. In the south wall, in the usual 

 position, is the westernmost and part of the second 

 seat of the 13th-century sedilia, the easternmost seat 

 having been destroyed in the 15th century, when 

 the new windows were inserted. The remaining 

 arch of the sedilia arcade is moulded and has the 

 dog-tooth ornament, and springs from angle shafts 

 with moulded capitals and bases, the whole design 

 before mutilation having been one of much beauty. 

 The piscina is below the e.isternraost window, but is 

 either new or a restoration, consisting of a projecting 

 bowl under a pointed recess, in the arch of which 

 the nail-head ornament occurs. The fluted bowl of 

 a large piscina, dug up when the present vestry was 

 built, is preserved in the chancel. The fittings are 

 all modern, and the roof is of four bays and boarded. 

 The width of the former chancel is distinctly 

 shown on the east side of the chancel arch, where 

 the ancient masonry has been cut away. The 

 chancel arch, like that between the tower and 

 the nave, is semicircular in form and of two orders, 

 each with a pointed bowtel moulding on the angles 

 springing from chamfered imposts and with a hood 

 mould on each side. The inner order has a half- 

 round member on the soffit, and springs from keel- 

 shaped responds, which have been cut away on either 

 side immediately below the capitals. The latter have 

 plain necks and square abaci. 



The tower, to which the chancel arch really belongs, 

 is the most interesting part of the church, and is 

 built of rubble masonry with angle quoins. The total 

 height of the pre-Conquest portion now standing 

 is level with the ridge of the ancient roofs, the 

 lines of which are preserved on each face. The 

 original transept arches, as already stated, have been 

 tampered with and the inner order of voussoirs 

 removed, the result being a clumsy semicircular 

 arch of a single square order springing directly from 

 square jambs slightly chamfered on the angles. The 

 tjwer walls are 3 ft. thick, and the width of 

 the two arches differs slightly, that on the north 

 being 10 ft. 3 in. and the other 10 ft. 6 in. 

 across the existing opening. Above the irches of 

 the crossing are four triangular-headed openings in 

 the walls communicating originally with the roof 

 spaces. The openings are 7 ft. high by 2 ft. in 

 width, and the headstones rest on chamfered impost 

 stones which go through the walls, being flush 

 externally, but having a projection inside, below which 

 the jambs are splayed. Over these windows, which 

 are now above the later flat-leaded roofs, was a floor, 

 and a little above this again are two smaller openings 

 on each face of the tower, one on each side of the 



^''' Surtces, op. cit. iii, 124. 



^' Fordj'ce, op, cit. ii, 208. 



*' Ibid. Two new windows arc also 

 stated to have been inserted on the north 

 side of the chancel like those on the 

 south. The vestry and organ chamber 

 now extend the hill length of the chancel 

 on the north side. Surtees describes the 

 church as just having undergone 'much 



mutilation and alteration.' ' The south 

 limb of the transept," he states, 'has been 

 abridged' (op. cit. iii, 154). Longstarfc 

 states that in 1825 the ' aisles were ex- 

 tended to a line flush with the ends of the 

 transepts ' {.irch. Ael. [ NewSer. ],xv, 1 1). 

 I"' Brewster, op. cit. (ed. 2, 1829), 291. 

 A south-west view of the church shows 

 two sijuare-headed sash windows to the 



3" 



south aisle. The window at the end of 

 the aisle is round-headed, and there is a 

 plain south porch with round-headed 

 doorw.iy. The south aisle had an em- 

 battled parapet. «» Ibid. 



'" This is not shown in the view in 

 Brewster. 



" Proc. Soc. Aniij. Newcjsde (Ser. 3), 

 iii, 186. 



