REIGATE HUNDRED 



BETCHWORTH 



From the fact that a church is mentioned in 

 Domesday and that a capital or base of a pre-Conquest 

 shaft is to be seen built into a modern window, 108 it 

 is practically certain that there was a Saxon church, 

 and that of stone. It probably had a fairly large 

 nave and a short, narrow chancel, which, as 

 in the case of Godalming, was, after the Conquest, 

 transformed into a low tower, with a new chancel 

 built out to the eastward. One of the arches of this 

 tower, with two square orders and cushion capitals 

 having chamfered abaci, was rebuilt when the tower 

 was shifted, and now opens from the tower into the 

 south aisle of the nave. Its character suggests the date 

 of c. 1080. Early in the 1 3th century the church was 

 greatly enlarged. The nave received first a south aisle 

 of c. I zoo, and perhaps slightly later one on the north 

 side. A clearstory was added on both sides, with ir- 

 regular circular windows, 109 the chancel was rebuilt 

 or extended eastwards, an aisle or Lady chapel being 

 added on the south, all within the first quarter of the 

 1 3th century, to which date the three lancet windows 

 in the north wall of the chancel and the arches open- 

 ing to the south chapel belong. They are pointed, of 

 two orders, the outer square-edged, and the inner 

 chamfered, on octagonal and circular capitals and 

 heavy round columns with shallow octagonal re- 

 sponds. The present chancel arch is of this 

 date, but would appear to have been rebuilt higher 

 and wider at the restoration of 1850; the arches 

 immediately adjoining it in the nave were made 

 at this latter date, to give access to the transept 

 and the rebuilt tower. Piers and arches are of three 

 recessed chamfered orders, the moulded imposts, of a 

 characteristic section, which take the place of capitals, 

 being returned round the chamfers, as at Wotton and 

 elsewhere. The chancel has a slight inclination in the 

 axis of its plan towards the north, and its walls diverge 

 as they go eastward to the extent of I ft. The present 

 east window of geometrical tracery is modern, and re- 

 places one of 15th-century date shown in Cracklow's 

 view ; and similarly the east window of the Lady 

 chapel, also of 15th-century date, was in 1850 ex- 

 changed for one with net tracery. This change, 

 though ill-judged, may have been in the nature of a 

 restoration, as one at least of the three windows in 

 the south wall of the chapel retains ancient tracery 

 of this character (c. 1320). Its companions, right 

 and left, do not appear in Cracklow's view, but 

 may have been blocked up at that date, 1824. 



The nave arcades are of about 1200, with circular 

 and octagonal piers and responds, having moulded 

 capitals and bases of varying sections, supporting 

 pointed arches of two orders with narrow chamfers. 

 The aisles are narrow in proportion to the wide 

 nave, and were perhaps even narrower originally, 

 as all the windows in their walls are of later date. 

 Probably they were at first mere passages, 6 ft. or so 

 in width, and were widened to the extent of about 

 2 ft. (as a break in the west wall of the south aisle 

 seems to indicate) early in the 1 4th century, when 

 the Lady chapel windows were inserted. The 

 newer windows, which no doubt replaced early lancets, 

 were not all made at the same time : those in the 

 south wall of the south aisle are two-light tre- 



foil-headed openings, with a cusped vesica-shaped 

 quatrefoil over, under a plain hood-moulding (c. 

 1320) ; while the single-light windows in the west 

 wall of both aisles, and two similar openings in the 

 north wall of the north aisle, having cusped ogee heads, 

 are slightly later, c. 1330, and a remarkably beautiful 

 two-light window in the eastern part of the same 

 wall, having net tracery and a scroll section hood 

 moulding, is of the same date. Another two-light 

 opening to the westward between the two single-light 

 windows, also an admirable example of its period, 

 dates from about 1 390. It has cinquefoiled heads 

 under a pointed segmental arch, and the terminals of 

 the hood-moulding are carved into heads, which ap- 

 pear to represent cowled canons perhaps in refer- 

 ence to the connexion of the church with the priory 

 of St. Mary Overy, Southwark. 



The western porch is modern, and contains nothing 

 worthy of remark : that on the south side is also modern, 

 replacing one of brick. Most of the features of the 

 tower, externally and internally, date only from its 

 rebuilding, in a new position, in 1850; but, owing to 

 the poor quality of the stone used, the tower has 

 already assumed a deceptive appearance of antiquity. 

 Its belfry lights in Cracklow's view are apparently of 

 1 5th-century date, while the present are of early 1 3th- 

 century design. 



The roofs appear to be modern throughout, but 

 the timber ceiling over the tower, with heavily- 

 moulded beams, is of 15th-century date, and appears 

 to have been shifted with the tower. In the chancel 

 are the remains of a piscina : there must have been 

 three or four more in pre-Reformation times. A 

 holy-water stoup of 14th-century character is to 

 be seen near the south doorway. The pulpit of 

 marbles and glass mosaic, needless to say, is new, 

 so also are the font, the chancel stalls, the lectern 

 and stone reredos sculptured with the Last Supper. 

 Into the modern seating of the nave are worked 

 some panels carved with the linen-fold pattern, 

 of early 16th-century date. In the vestry is pre- 

 served a remarkable chest, hewn out of an oak 

 trunk of great size, roughly squared, and bound 

 round with seven massive iron straps. It bears a 

 general resemblance to the similarly fashioned chests at 

 Newdigate and Burstow in this part of Surrey ; and 

 while there is no reason why they should not be of 

 very early date, yet they may equally be quite late. 



There are no old wall-paintings or glass, but nearly 

 all the windows are filled with modern stained glass 

 of varying merit. The chancel has recently been 

 panelled in oak. 



On the north wall of the chancel has been placed 

 the brass, originally in the floor, to Thomas Wardys- 

 worth, vicar, dated 1533. In style it closely resem- 

 bles the palimpsest fragment of a priest's brass at 

 Cobham, Surrey. 110 The figure is in Mass vest- 

 ments, and holds a chalice, in which is the Host, 

 inscribed in Roman letters IHC. The inscription, 

 which is in black letter, reads 



HIC 1ACET DffS WILtMUS WARDYSWORTH QUONDAM 

 VICARIUS HUl' ECCUB QUI OBIIT V DIE JANUARH ANNO 

 DSl MCCCCCXXXIH. CUIUS ANIME p'pICIETUR DEUS. AMEN 



" Illustrated in V.C.H. Surr. ii. It 

 consists of a series of square-edged bands 

 or fillets, one above another. 



H* Resembling the early ijth-century 



clearstory lights in the neighbouring 

 churches of Merstham and Chipstead. 

 Cf. also Rustington, Lancing, and Ineld, 

 Sussex. 



171 



110 Dated c. 1510 by Mr. Mill Stephen- 

 son, Surr. Arch. Coll, XT, 34, but perhapt 

 twenty years later. 



