A HISTORY OF SURREY 



a very good example of the hamlet-chapel of the late 

 1 2th or early I3th century.* 7 Even now, in spite of 

 a new aisle, vestries, and organ-chamber on the north 

 side, and other modern alterations, its ancient propor- 

 tions and character can be made out without much 

 difficulty. It consisted originally of a nave, 42 ft. 3 in. 

 long by 22ft. gin. broad, with a western porch, and 

 a chancel 25ft. long by 156. gin. in width, with 

 roofs of comparatively low pitch on account of the 

 exceptional breadth of the nave, and a timber-framed 

 bell-turret at the west end, terminating in a short oak- 

 shingled spire. The roofs were covered with Horsham 

 slabs, and the walls were built of local hard sandstone 

 rubble, plastered, with dressings of hard chalk and 

 fire-stone from the neighbouring hills. Cracklow's 

 view of 1824 shows the church in this state, with the 

 three lancet windows in the south wall of the chancel 

 and the curious diagonal buttresses at the angles of 

 the nave. The chancel had a wooden-framed east 

 window under a circular head ; there was no porch 

 to the south door (which was the same as the pre- 

 sent), the spire of the bell-turret was not so tapering 

 as now, and a curious late vestry is shown attached to 

 the south side of the west porch. As to the nave 

 windows, what appears to be the base of an original 

 lancet is shown to the west of the old south door, 

 and above it a wooden three-light opening, evidently 

 made to light the western gallery, while to the east of 

 the doorway is another three-light window, with a 

 square hood moulding, which looks like a 16th-century 

 insertion. 



With regard to the north and west sides of the 

 building, not shown in Cracklow's view, it is not 

 difficult to reconstruct the plan on paper with the aid 

 of the features still remaining in the actual church. 

 The massive west wall, no less than 4 ft. thick, 

 remains much as it was erected about 1190. The 

 other walls of the nave are 3 ft. in thickness, and 

 those of the chancel 2 ft. 9 in., both dimensions being 

 exceptional for a comparatively small aisleless building. 

 Originally the church had no buttresses, and it seems 

 probable that it was lighted by three lancet windows 

 on the north side of the nave and two on its southern 

 side, of which now no trace remains, the present 

 windows being all modern. The west and south 

 doorways are original features, and most interesting. 

 We cannot now say if there was the usual north door- 

 way in the nave, as the aisle of 1865 has made a 

 clean sweep of any such ancient features, but it seems 

 improbable that there would be three doors in such a 

 comparatively small building. The two that remain 

 are interesting, the western being slightly the 

 narrower 3 ft. 6 in. wide, while the southern 

 measures 3 ft. 10$ in. The height of the internal 

 opening of the western, which has a semicircular 

 head, is altogether exceptional, nearly 1 2 ft. The 

 external arch is set much lower, leaving that peculiar 

 tympanum between the two heads so often met with, 

 and the reason for which is one of the minor problems 

 of ecclesiology. Sometimes, as at Trotton Church, 

 Sussex, a consecration cross has been found painted 

 in this blank space. These doorways also have the 

 additional peculiarity that the two apex stones of the 



external arches are left as projecting blocks on the 

 inside, as though meant to be carved. This is found 

 also in the south doorway of Wanborough Chapel, 

 in the west of the county. 18 Both the west and south 

 doorways are in hard clunch, or fire-stone, somewhat 

 sharply pointed, and of one order. They have hood- 

 mouldings, without stops or return ends at the 

 springings, of three sides of an octagon in section, the 

 inner side being embellished with a continuous border 

 of dog-tooth ornament. The original tooling, where 

 left, shows somewhat coarse vertical and diagonal 

 lines, done with the broad chisel and axe. The 

 effect of these severely simple but well-proportioned 

 doorways is enhanced by their retaining their original 

 wrought-iron strap-hinges, both lower and upper 

 hinges having two small ornamental straps with curled 

 ends on either side of them. The hinge-straps them- 

 selves terminate in similar scrolls. The latch and 

 drop-ring handle of the western door appears to be 

 old also, and are perhaps original. Although the 

 boarding on which this ironwork is mounted is modern, 

 the plain ledges across the backs appear to be old. 

 There are three steps down into the church at the 

 west end and two at the south door ; the latter is set 

 to the east of the centre of the nave, instead of to the 

 west. 



The original chancel arch has disappeared, and its 

 place has been taken by a wider one of early 14th- 

 century design in fire-stone, which appears to be 

 modern. We may surmise that the ancient arch had 

 square jambs, and resembled in design the two door- 

 ways. The present tracery window in the east wall 

 is also entirely modern, and replaces the wood-framed 

 opening of the churchwarden era, shown in Cracklow's 

 view, which latter, in all probability, displaced two 

 lancet openings of the same character as those in the 

 side walls. There were probably three of these in 

 either wall, but those on the north side have been 

 destroyed in making the organ chamber and vestries. 

 The three lancets in the south wall of the chancel are 

 the only original windows left in the church. They 

 are very interesting examples of their period (c. 1 1 90), 

 and have happily passed unscathed through the ordeal 

 of restoration. Like the rest of the original ashlaring, 

 their dressings are worked in clunch and firestone. 

 They have sharply-pointed heads to the external 

 openings, the curves being so slight as almost to 

 present the appearance of straight lines, 19 and are 

 rebated both inside and out, which implies that the 

 glazing was originally placed against the outer rebate 

 (instead of, as now, in a groove), and that the inner 

 rebate was occupied by a shutter. It is not often 

 that this double rebate is found. The internal heads 

 are splayed equally with the jambs and are almost 

 semicircular in outline, the point of the arch being so 

 slight as to be unnoticeable. 



Beneath the easternmost lancet is a pretty little 

 piscina of the same period. It has a segmental head 

 beneath a blind trefoil arch of horse-shoe outline, 

 The drain has a small circular dishing. The aumbry, 

 of similar form, in the opposite wall is modern. In 

 about 1 300 diagonal buttresses with gabled capping- 

 stones were added to the angles of the nave. To the 



^ The chapel mentioned in the con- 

 firmation of Henry of Blois (see advow- 

 lon) must have been a timber building, 

 erected perhaps earlier in the I2th cen- 

 tury, and probably it would be much 



smaller than the stone chapel that suc- 

 ceeded it. 



98 Possibly the projecting stones were 

 left to prevent the door being lifted bodily 

 off its hinges. 



" In this they recall the lancets of 

 the chancel at Chipstead, where the in- 

 ternal heads are gabled or triangular in 

 form. 



