SALFORD HUNDRED 



MIDDLETON 



the original one brought from its old position on the 

 south side of the chancel. There is what appears to 

 be the remains of a piscina at the east end of the 

 south wall of the Assheton Chapel under the window, 

 about 3 ft. 3 in. from the floor. The vestry is lighted 

 by a two-light window on its east and south sides, 

 and a recess in the north wall shows the position of 

 .the original doorway. 



The nave is 24 ft. 6 in. by 70 ft. in length, and 

 has an arcade of five bays with octagonal piers and 

 pointed arches of two plain chamfered orders. The 

 capitals and bases are coarsely moulded, and the eastern 

 arch on the north side has a line of 12th-century 

 billet ornament in its outer order, a piece of detail 

 from the former church. There is nothing to show 

 why this particular arch should have been thus dis- 

 tinguished. The arcade is continued one bay 

 eastward into the chancel, and the eastern pier on 

 each side, between the chancel and the nave, has a 

 cable-moulded necking which slightly distinguishes it 

 from the others. The clearstory runs the whole 

 length of nave and chancel, and has twelve uncusped 

 three-light square-headed windows on each side. The 

 roof to nave and chancel is of flat pitch with brackets 

 carried down the wall resting on corbels between the 

 clearstory windows, and is a modern restoration of the 

 original oak roof of the 16th-century church. The 

 weathering of a former roof remains in the east wall 

 of the west tower, showing the centre line of Langley's 

 nave. Above, on the south side, is a door which 

 formerly led from the upper stage of the tower to the 

 roof. The tower arch is pointed, but is constructed, 

 as before stated, of 12th-century masonry, probably 

 dating from about 1140. It is now of two orders, 

 sitting rather awkwardly on the three shafts below, 

 the inner order being plain, but the outer one made 

 up of stones carved with cheverons with an outer ring 

 of variously ornamented stones. The arch rests 

 on three 12th-century shafts at either side with 

 moulded capitals and bases, raised some height above 

 the floor in the rebuilding. Of the six capitals five 

 are of the scalloped type with cable-moulding under ; 

 the sixth is an ornamented variety of the cushion 

 capital. The abaci are of different patterns, but the 

 square billet ornament is much used. 



The north aisle is 146. wide, and has a narrow 

 pointed door with moulded jambs and head and ex- 

 ternal label opposite the second bay from the west, 

 with a three-light window to each of the other bays, 

 and one at the west end which is entirely new, with 

 three cinquefoiled lights under a pointed head. At 

 the east end of the north wall, between the third and 

 fourth windows from the west, is a recess in the wall 

 2 ft. 2 in. deep and 6 ft. 6 in. wide under a four- 

 centred arched head 4 ft. high, and raised above the 

 floor 1 3 in., containing a coffin slab with a foliated 

 incised cross. Above the recess is the indent of a 

 small brass of a hooded female with inscription under. 

 There is nothing to indicate whom the brass comme- 

 morated or whether it has any connexion with the 

 recess underneath, but the latter is popularly styled 

 the ' founder's tomb,' and there is a tradition that the 

 original north aisle was built by Maud Middleton 

 early in the I4th century, and that she was buried 

 under the north wall. It is possible that the incised slab 

 marked her burial-place, and that in the rebuilding of 

 1524 the recess was made to contain it, and a brass 



placed above to commemorate the lady whose remains 

 it formerly covered. 11 There is also a plain corbel 

 above the recess about 7 ft. from the floor. 



The south aisle is 2 1 ft. 6 in. wide, but narrows to 

 1 5 ft. 6 in., the width of the Assheton Chapel, near its 

 east end. It has three three-light windows in the 

 south wall, in two of which the mullions have been 

 renewed, and one at the west end. The east end of 

 the wider part is occupied by the Hopwood Chapel or 

 pew, which has a two-light window in the east wall, 

 and is inclosed by a Jacobean oak screen with twisted 

 balusters along the top. The pew is I o ft. 6 in. by 

 12 ft. 6 in. and has four linen pattern panels inserted 

 at its north-east corner. The walls on the east and 

 south are likewise panelled, hiding a piscina at the 

 south-east. There is a moulded bracket on the east 

 wall 8 ft. from the floor. At the east end of the south 

 aisle is the ' Langley door,' which has a square- 

 shouldered lintel and a two-light window over. The 

 door itself is ancient and nail-studded, and the 

 masonry, as before stated, is older than that on either 

 side of it, though the evidence of the head and jambs 

 suggests that it has been moved. The east wall of 

 the south aisle, however, does not bond with that con- 

 taining the doorway, and it is just possible that the 

 latter is part of the 15th-century church in its original 

 position . It is to be noted that the south wall of the 

 Assheton Chapel sets back 3 in. on the inside at a 

 height of 6 ft. above the floor. 



The south porch projects 1 1 ft. 6 in. in front of 

 the aisle wall opposite the second bay from the west, 

 and has a low pointed outer arch with ogee crocketed 

 label over, flanked by canopied niches. Like the rest of 

 the building it has an embattled parapet, and the whole 

 of its south face has been elaborately panelled, though 

 the detail is now much worn away and its beauty 



lost. Over the entrance are the initials A seeming 



R Ay 



to imply that it is the work of Richard and Ann 

 Assheton. There are also two shields, one of which 

 shows the Assheton molet, but the other is defaced. 

 The porch is an open one with seats on each side, and 

 the inner doorway has a four-centred moulded arch 

 and retains its old nail-studded door with wicket and 

 wooden draw-bar. 



The tower is loft. 6 in. square inside, and is of 

 three stages with diagonal buttresses and a vice in the 

 south-west corner. The west window of the ground 

 story is of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery over, 

 and above this is a window of two trefoiled lights 

 with a quatrefoil in the head. The jambs of both 

 are old, but the mullions and tracery have been 

 renewed. The upper stage of the tower contains a 

 clock with faces on the north, south, and west sides, 

 above which is a string-course crowned with an em- 

 battled parapet. The north and south sides of the 

 tower are plain, but there are slits to light the vice 

 in the south-west corner on both faces. In 1709 a 

 further story was added in the shape of a wooden 

 belfry stage with a roof gabled on all four sides, giving 

 a curious and not very attractive finish to the tower. 

 The original outside oak boarding, having decayed, 

 has been replaced by pitch pine. 



The rood screen, though damaged in the i8th 

 century and probably also by repairs in the early part 

 of the I gth century (c. 1835-44), ' 1S a gd example 

 of 15th-century work. The whole was repaired in 



11 Lana. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xv, 173. 

 155 



