A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



have taken place. In this century a tower was added 

 at the west end of the nave, and the north and south 

 walls of the nave were moved about six feet north- 

 wards, thus throwing the tower out of centre. The 

 story of this alteration has been obscured by the re- 

 building of the north side of the church, but from 

 accounts previous to this rebuilding, which took place 

 about 1855, it appears that the north arcade of the 

 nave was of earlier detail than the still existing south 

 arcade. The tower as it stands at present has no 

 work which seems to point to a date before 1 340, but 

 as there remains on its east face the weathering of a 

 roof which belonged to the old nave before its axis 

 was moved northwards, it is evident that this part of 

 it at least must be older than either of the arcades. 

 In the north-west angle of the nave is a two-light 

 window of mid-fourteenth-century date, which is set 

 in the northward extension of the west wall, outside 

 the lines of the old nave, and may be coeval with 

 the alterations. This points to a date of c. 1350 for 

 the original north arcade. The nave roof, destroyed 

 c. 1855, seems to have been a good specimen of four- 

 teenth-century work, little if at all later than 1350, 

 and unless we are to suppose that it was transferred 

 from the old nave to the new (as indeed it might 

 have been, the widths of the two being approximately 

 the same), it gives another reason for assuming that 

 there was very little difference in date between the 

 two arcades, and that the whole rebuilding may be 

 set down to the middle of the century. 1 The chan- 

 cel must of necessity have been rebuilt about the same 

 time unless some previous alterations to it had 

 changed its axis and suggested a like alteration in the 

 nave 2 and the existing work probably follows the 



seems older than the end of the fifteenth century. 



The aisles are probably on the same lines as those 

 which must have been built with the fourteenth- 

 century arcades ; the north aisle is completely modern 

 but the south retains one window which may be 

 original. The eastward extension of this aisle, partly 

 overlapping the chancel, seems to be of the same date 

 as the late work in the chancel. 



The south transept is the last development in the 

 plan, having been built by Bishop Smith of Lincoln, 

 c. 1500, to accommodate the inhabitants of Cuerdley. 

 The chancel arch may have been inserted at the same 

 time to give abutment to the western arch of the south 

 chapel. 



The chancel has an east window of five lights with 

 tracery, and a south window of three lights, the stone- 

 work being for the most part modern. In the north 

 wall is a three-light window, cinquefoiled, with quatre- 

 foiled tracery in the head, of late fifteenth-century 

 type. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders 

 with half-octagonal responds, and of later date than 

 the walls of the chancel ; its probable origin has been 

 noted above. The roof of the chancel is flat, divided 

 into square panels with heavy moulded beams having 

 bosses at the intersections and diagonal ribs across 

 the panels ; a fine piece of late fifteenth-century 

 work. 



The vestry on the north is modern. The south 

 chapel has an east window of three lights, like that on 



the north of the chancel, and two three-light windows 

 on the south, with uncusped tracery. There is a 

 small four-centred doorway in its east wall, and 

 another near the west end of the south wall. Its root 

 is modern, and the chapel is now used as an organ- 

 chamber. 



The south transept has a four-light east window, 

 containing a few squares of old glass, with the let- 

 ters SG, and a five-light south window with modern 

 uncusped tracery. The west window is of some- 

 what earlier type, square-headed with three trefoiled 

 lights, but is probably not older than the wall in 

 which it is set. Beneath it is a blocked doorway, 

 and in the south-west angle of the transept is a 

 vice. The roof is old, cleaned and repaired at a 

 late restoration, 1894-5, up to which time the base 

 of a screen with linen pattern panels remained in 

 this transept. It was then removed, and the panels 

 re-used in the altar table now in the chancel. 



The nave is of five bays ; the north arcade is 

 modern (c. 1855), the two eastern bays, which form 

 the south enclosure of the Bold chapel, being more 

 elaborately treated than the others, in late thirteenth- 

 century style, while the south arcade, though much 

 patched and repaired, belongs to the fourteenth 

 century, and is of plain detail. 3 The nave roof is 

 of deal, and replaces a fine fourteenth-century root 

 with principal and intermediate collar beam trusses, 

 the former having arched braces under the collars. 

 It was destroyed in 1855, under the mistaken im- 

 pression that it was thrusting out the north arcade. 



The north aisle was rebuilt in 1855 and no ancient 

 features were preserved ; it formerly had a good 

 panelled roof and moulded cornice with paterae. 

 The Bold chapel was enclosed on south and west with 

 oak screens, and had a flat panelled oak roof with 

 diagonal ribs on the panels, after the fashion of that 

 still existing in the chancel. 



The south aisle has been more fortunate, and 

 retains a fifteenth-century south doorway, fitted with 

 an old door, a square-headed window west of the 

 doorway, with three trefoiled lights and perhaps 

 coeval with the aisle, and a second window east of the 

 doorway of two trefoiled lights under a square head, 

 of the beginning of the sixteenth century. The roof 

 also is old, with an embattled cornice, and was re- 

 paired in 1 894-5. . 



The tower arch is plain, and was formerly built up ; 

 it is now filled with a seventeenth-century screen with 

 turned oak balusters in the upper part. The west 

 window is of three cinquefoiled lights with quatre- 

 foil tracery, and the belfry windows are square-headed 

 of two lights. There is a vice in the south-west 

 angle. The lower courses of the old west wall of 

 the nave, before the building of the tower, remain 

 under the floor, and part can still be seen, with a 

 plain chamfered plinth. Until 1894 the church was 

 filled with galleries and pews of the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries, many of which had the names 

 of their owners and the dates cut on them, and 

 some of these inscriptions have been preserved and set 

 up as panelling against the walls. A good many 

 pieces of fifteenth and sixteenth-century bench ends, 

 &c., were found when these pews were removed, but 



1 Difference in details between two 

 nearly or quite contemporary nave ar- 



a The development is of a somewhat 

 uncommon type, and one rather more 



a factor always to be taken into account 

 in questions of mediaeval church enlarge- 

 mentsthan any of the more usual 

 processes. Bad foundations might ac- 



39 



count for it, but there it no evidence for 

 such. 



8 The galleries formerly here were re- 

 sponsible for much damage to the capitals 

 and arches. 



