148 CANFORD CHURCH. 



in Xorraan architecture, certainly. Hence I argue that the 

 chancel is earlier than the nave. But structurally it has undergone 

 more change. The arches to which I have alluded, at the extreme 

 east end, are similar. They must have communicated with im- 

 portant side chapels, of which the one on the north has entirely 

 disappeared, and the southern one has been replaced (as I conjecture) 

 by a later addition ; which, however, I am bound to say, on the 

 testimony of the venerable clerk, tradition points to as the oldest 

 part of the church, but in which I fail to see any Xorman work at 

 all. It is built of a whiter coloured stone for the most part, a stone 

 which must have come from a different quarry. It was long used 

 for a curious purpose as the Consistory Court of the Royal 

 Peculiar of Canford. The arch connecting it with the chancel aisle 

 proper seems to be of the Decorated period. And now as to these 

 chancel aisles, I judge that the north one existed from the first by 

 the presence of three corbels on the exterior of the centre chancel 

 wall. These are fixed 2 on a lower level, alxmt 7' from the floor, 

 and 1 about 2' above. If the latter did not serve to support the 

 strut of a roof, it and those below it were intended for some inside 

 and not outside ornament. As to the south chancel aisle being 

 part of the original structure, I would call attention to the 

 existence of one jamb, and half the top of a round arch in the 

 external face of the dividing wall between it and the centre chancel. 

 Assuming that this must have been the aperture of a window, it 

 points to this aisle being a later additior. On the other hand, 

 there is no evidence of any such addition in the face of the exterior 

 south wall. One feature in the interior north chancel main wall 

 perplexes me. It is a portion of a recess, which has the appearance 

 of the side and segment of a larger arch than any of the arches 

 below it. It is not in the position of a relieving arch. 



Passing from the chancel to the nave, the first point of notice is 

 the opening in the arcade between the middle and south aisle of the 

 latter. This is the very commonly found door to the rood-loft, or 

 the narrow platform on the top of the screen which enclosed the 

 chancel, on which stood, in wood carving, the Crucifixion scene, 



