A HISTORY OF SURREY 



winged demon is endeavouring to depress, while a 

 figure between the two scales, representing the soul 

 whose merits and offences are being weighed, turns 

 towards St. Michael for help. On the left stands an 

 angel who has driven out the condemned souls, 

 which are being carried off by a demon to the fires of 

 hell, seen below. The great interest of this series, 

 however, lies in its lower portion, which consists of 

 six round medallions. 189 These may be divided into 

 two sets, three to the right of the 'Majesty ' (the north) 

 and three to the left (the south). The three on the 

 right relate to the history of St. John the Evangelist, 

 in whose honour this chapel was probably dedicated. 1 ' 9 

 Reading from the centre outwards, the first of these 

 shows a man of hideous aspect with a pitchfork 

 holding the saint down in a large tub, evidently the 

 vessel of boiling oil into which he was cast by com- 

 mand of Domitian. Only the head and shoulders of 

 the saint are visible, and his joined hands pointing 

 towards a seated figure of Christ, who extends His 

 right hand in benediction.' On the knees of the 

 seated Christ, resting his head against His shoulders, is 

 the sleeping figure of St. John as ' the disciple who 

 leaned upon Jesus' breast ' at the Last Supper. 1 * 

 The second medallion of this series shows St. John at 

 Ephesus. In the centre the apostle is shown raising 

 to his lips the cup of poison, which he drank unharmed, 

 while in front of him are the bodies of two men who 

 died from the effects of the same poison and were 

 afterwards raised to life by the apostle's cloak being 

 cast upon them. On the left of the picture is a seated, 

 cross-legged figure holding a staff of office, either the 

 proconsul or the priest of Diana, both of whom were 

 concerned in the trial and converted as a result of the 

 miracle. On the right of the picture is a figure 

 seated on a chair before a lectern on which is a book 

 in which he is writing, holding in his left hand the 

 knife used by the scribes for erasing purposes ; this is 

 evidently St. John as evangelist. The third medallion, 

 again, contains two subjects. On the right the 

 apostle extends his hands in benediction over three 

 rods and a number of stones. Mr. Waller identified 

 this as part of the miracle of St. John and ' Crato the 

 philosopher.' In this legend certain young men 

 having been persuaded by St. John to sell their jewels 

 and other possessions and give the price to the poor, 

 repented having so done ; the apostle then took 

 certain rods and stones and converted them into gold 

 and gems of miraculous purity, bidding the young 

 men choose between these and heavenly riches. The 

 remaining portion of the medallion is taken up with 

 another miracle. The saint is shown standing beside 

 a square altar, upon which is a cup or chalice ; his 

 right hand is extended in benediction over a figure 

 lying in front of the altar with joined hands ; over the 

 saint is the Hand of God, in benediction, issuing from 

 clouds. This, Mr. Waller suggests, represents the 

 raising of Drusiana, a lady of Ephesus, who, ardently 

 desiring to see St. John, died just before his arrival in 

 the city and was by him restored to life. 



Of the second or left-hand series of medallions, 

 the middle one shows a king with crown and sceptre, 

 seated cross-legged upon a throne, pronouncing 

 sentence upon a bearded prisoner, who is led by a 



rope round his neck by a hideous gaoler ; on the 

 right a still more hideous executioner is shown striking 

 off" the same prisoner's head. This is no doubt, as 

 Mr. Waller suggests, St. John the Baptist and King 

 Herod. In the next medallion Christ is seen standing 

 with right hand stretched in benediction over a font, 

 from which issue the head, shoulders, and joined 

 hands of a man with a pronouncedly Jewish nose ; 

 on the right the same man is shown committing a 

 parchment with two seals to the flames (shown as 

 alternate wavy streaks of red and white). 131 This 

 shows, no doubt, the conversion of a usurer. In the 

 last medallion we again see Christ standing ; at His 

 feet kneels an adoring figure, over whose head are 

 two demons of unintentionally humorous aspect ; 

 behind these is a figure with its hands tied behind its 

 back, being pulled forward by two more demons by a 

 rope round its neck ; a man with a sword, evidently 

 in charge of the bound figure, appears to be accusing 

 his prisoner to Christ, whose left hand is raised in 

 admonition. The most probable explanation seems 

 to be that the prisoner is the 'woman taken in 

 adultery,' while the kneeling figure may possibly be 

 Mary Magdalene, ' out of whom He had cast seven 

 devils.' 



The explanation of the whole series seems to be 

 that, instead of the usual representation of the blessed 

 souls of the righteous on the right hand of the 

 ' Majesty ' and the tormented souls of the wicked on 

 the left hand, the artist portrayed on the right three 

 scenes from the life of St. John, the patron of the 

 chapel, as typical of good works, and on the left three 

 scenes relating to the vices of Anger, Usury or 

 Greed, and Lust. 



The church contains no ancient monuments, but 

 standing in the nave is a stone slab on which are the 

 small brass figures of a man and woman in early 

 16th-century dress ; this is said to have been dug up 

 in the roadway east of the church, and no doubt had 

 been previously removed therefrom. The man has 

 long hair and wears a long cloak with fur collar and 

 loose sleeves, and from his belt is suspended a purse ; 

 the lady has a tight bodice, loose skirt, long belt, and 

 long head-dress. The only other stone of note is a 

 slab lying in the south chapel, near the organ, to 

 one Zelotes Parson, son of Nicholas Parson, who 

 died in 1673 aged ninety-four years and two months. 



There are six bells, all cast by Lester and Pack in 



'754- 



The communion plate comprises a silver flagon 

 and a large paten, both of 1829, a small chalice and 

 stand paten of 1 88 1, and a small thin circular concave 

 plate without a date-letter, but stamped with the head 

 of George III. There are also four pewter plates. 



The registers begin in 1 540 ; the second book 

 contains baptisms, marriages, and burials arranged in 

 columns from 1653 to 1699. On loose sheets at the 

 end is a list of those not baptized ; the third contains 

 baptisms, marriages, and burials from 1689 to 1753, 

 and the baptisms and burials to 1812 ; the fourth 

 has marriages from 1754 to 1812. 



The churchyard falls from east to west and sur- 

 rounds the building, but lies chiefly to the north and 

 south, at the east and west being mere passage-ways. 



Drawn and described by Mr. J. G. 

 Waller, F.S. A., Archaeologiajdix, 199-212. 



129 A chapel of St. John occurs in a will 

 of 1547 ; Manning and Bray, Hist. ofSurr. 



" Mr. Waller's suggestion that ' the 

 reclining figure must symbolize St. John 

 at Patmos ' is unsatisfactory. 



566 



181 Mr. Waller takes the red and white 

 as symbolic of blood and water, and bases 

 thereon his interpretation. 



