OF SKLBORN R. 521) 



The whole roof of the south aisle, and the south side 

 of the roof of the middle aisle, is covered with oaken 

 shingles instead of tiles, on account of their lightness, 

 which favours the ancient and crazy timber frame. 

 And indeed, the consideration of accidents by fire ex- 

 cepted, this sort of roofing is much more eligible than 

 tiles. For shingles well seasoned, and cleft from quar- 

 tered timber, never warp, nor let in drifting snow ; nor 

 do they shiver with frost; nor are they liable to be 

 blown off, like tiles ; but, when well nailed down, last 

 for a long period, as experience has shown us in this 

 place, where those that face to the north are known to 

 have endured, untouched, by undoubted tradition for 

 more than a century. 



Considering the size of the church, and the extent of 

 the parish, the churchyard is very scanty; and especially 

 as all wish to be buried on the south side, which is become 

 such a mass of mortality that no person can be there 

 interred without disturbing or displacing the bones of 

 his ancestors. There is reason to suppose that it once 

 was larger, and extended to what is now the vicarage 

 court and garden ; because many human bones have 

 been dug up in those parts several yards without the 

 present limits. At the east end are a few graves ; yet 

 none till very lately on the north side ; but, as two or 

 three families of best repute have begun to bury in that 

 quarter, prejudice may wear out by degrees, and their 

 example be followed by the rest of the neighbourhood 1 . 



In speaking of the church, I have all along talked of 

 the east and west end, as if the chancel stood exactly 

 true to those points of the compass ; but this is by no 

 means the case, for the fabric bears so much to the north 

 of the east that the four corners of the tower, and not 



1 To precept our excellent author added the weight of example. He 

 lies buried in the open ground on the northern side of the chancel ; a low 

 head stone and foot stone, bearing his initials and the date of his death, 

 mark the fifth grave from the church wall, in which were deposited his 

 perishable remains. E. T. B. 



M M 



