STONE HUNDRED 



William Serjeant held it of the bishop as of his manor 

 of Moreton by fealty and a yearly rent of 1 6i. at 



The church of ST. PETER and ST. 

 CHURCH PAUL consist* of a chancel 39 ft. by 1 7 ft. 

 8 in.;anave 56 ft. 9 in. by 23 ft. i J in.;a 

 south aisle 1 4 ft. 3 in. wide with south porch, and 

 a western tower 1 5 ft. 2 in. by 1 2 ft. 2 in. The 

 church seems to have been almost entirely rebuilt in the 

 i 3th century, but the walling above the south arcade 

 is probably older than the arcade, and at the east end 

 a shallow pilaster buttress shows in the east wall of the 

 south aisle, which looks like 12th-century work. The 

 south doorway is also of this date, and was doubtless 

 removed to its present position from the wall of an 

 aUlelcss nave. 



In the first half of the I3th century the nave was 

 brought to its present plan by the rebuilding of its 

 north wall, perhaps a little outside the line of the 

 former north wall, and the addition of the south aisle 

 and its arcade. The present chancel arch was built 

 about the same time, and the chancel was rebuilt as it 

 now appears, except in the matter of length. This 

 has been increased by some feet in modern times. 



In the north wall of the nave pilasters were set to 

 take the ends of the roof timbers, corresponding with 

 the spacing of the south arcade, but all the windows 

 of this date have been replaced by later work. At 

 some time in the i.fth century four buttresses were 

 built to support this wall, spaced symmetrically on the 

 outer elevation, without regard to the pilasters within, 

 and in the ith century three large square-headed 

 windows were inserted, also set with regard to the 

 outside elevation, as far as the internal pilasters allowed. 

 The tower is of the I 5th century, the 1 3th-century west 

 door of the nave being removed to serve in the west 

 wall of the tower, and the south porch is also of the 

 i jth century. The church is covered externally by an 

 almost complete coat of rough-cast, the only part not 

 so treated, the chancel, having been largely re-pointed 

 and re-faced in modern times. The church was 

 'restored' by Street in 1868. 



The east windows of the chancel, three lancets, are 

 entirely modern. There are three lancets also in the 

 north and south walls, which though re-tooled are in the 

 main old. The south doorway, between the first and 

 second lancets, is also in part old, and now blocked 

 with masonry. At the east end of the north wall is a 

 square locker rebated for a door, and in the same posi- 

 tion on the south a much-scraped and restored piscina 

 of 1 3 th-ccntury date with a trefoiled head and label. 

 At the west end of the south wall is the opening of a 

 squint which passes through the south respond of the 

 chancel arch, giving a view of the former position of 

 the high altar from the south aisle. 



The chancel arch appears to be of the same build 

 as the nave arcade, and is of three plain chamfered 

 orders set centrally with both nave and chancel. The 

 responds are semi-octagonal with moulded capitals and 

 bases, the abaci being continued as a string across the 

 west face of the wall, and ranging with those of the 

 south arcade. The pilasters in the north wall are semi- 

 octagonal and very slender in form, with small moulded 

 capitals, which are probably 15 th-ccntury additions to 

 take the feet of the wall brackets of the principals, a 

 purpose they continue to fulfil in the case of the modern 

 roof. The south arcade is of five bays with octagonal 



1 Chin. In ). f.m (Ser. a), cccxliii, no. 141. 



DINTON 



columns having moulded capitals and bases ; the arches 

 are of two chamfered orders struck from a point 

 well below the springing line. All the north windows 

 are square-headed, the first from the east being of two 

 trefoiled lights under a square head; it is of the same 

 section as the others in the wall, though its tracer}- has 

 a somewhat earlier character. The others are three 

 in number,with ogee cinqucfoiled lights under a square 

 head with small quatrefoils in the spandrels. Above the 

 crowns of the three eastern bays of the south arcade are 

 i;th-century clearstory openings with quatrefoil heads 

 in a square frame, the wall above the arcade being set 

 out on a chamfered string on account of the irregularity 

 of the old wall face below. 



The east window of the south aisle is of three 

 trefoiled lights, with tracery of I 5 th-ccntury detail, and 

 almost entirely modern. At the east end of the south 

 wall is a piscina with a hollow-chamfered two-centred 

 head and an old drain, and above it a much restored 

 three-light i 5th-century window with modern tracer)'. 

 The south door, nearly opposite the middle bay of the 

 south aisle, is of 12th-century date, c. 1 14050, a very 

 fine specimen, with a semicircular arch of two orders 

 with zigzag ornament, a continuous label with triple 

 billet ornament, spirally fluted shafts to the inner order, 

 and a carved tympanum and lintel. The capital of 

 the western shaft is scalloped, and that of the eastern 

 has a bird with outspread wings. 



On the tympanum is a conventional tree between 

 two monsters, and on the lintel below are St. Michael 

 and the Dragon, the underside of the lintel and the 

 upper border of the tympanum having bands of inter- 

 lacing ornament. On the lower part of the tympa- 

 num and the upper edge of the lintel is the inscription 



>J< PREMIA PRO MERITIS SI O.(u)lS DESP(ER) ET HABENDA 



AUDIAT HIC PREC(E)PTA SIBI QVE SI(N)T RETINENDA )J( 



The jambs of the inner order appear to have been 

 altered, and have stops of modern classical character 

 immediately below the lintel. 



West of the door is a three-light i 5 th-ccntury win- 

 dow of the same design as that on the east of the door, 

 and, like it, much restored. The west window, of 

 two lights with tracery of 15th-century design, is 

 almost completely modern, the sill and a few stones in 

 the jambs alone being old. The porch has a good 

 15th-century roof with moulded timbers resting on 

 four stone carved corbels ; the inner tie-beam being 

 cut away to show the details of the inner door- 

 way. 



The tower is of three stages, with an embattled 

 parapet and belfry windows of two trefoiled lights with 

 a quatrefoil in the head. The tower arch is two 

 centred, of three chamfered orders, dying out at the 

 springing. The west window of the ground stage is of 

 I 5th-century date, with three cinqucfoiled lights and 

 tracery over in a four-centred head. The west door 

 has a two-centred head of three deeply-moulded orders 

 and double-shafted jambs, the inner order being con- 

 tinuous. The label has mask drips, and the doorway 

 is a fine piece of 1 3th-century detail. 



The font has a large cup-shaped bowl on a wide 

 circular moulded base, and much resembles in outline 

 a type of late 12th-century font common in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The base appears to be of that date, but 

 the details of the bowl look like 14th-century work, 

 and it is possible that it is in reality a 1 2th-century 

 font rccut. It has a scroll moulding on the lip, and 



279 



