4 ARCHITECTL'RAL HISTORY OF S. MARY AT CERNE. 



The north aisle at Cerne retains its original west front, level 

 with that of the tower* and some 40 feet of old work at its 

 eastern end, the intervening work being perhaps mainly of the 

 1 7th centur}-. It is flanked on the north side by a doorway of a 

 somewhat earlier type than the doorway in the same position on 

 the south, which has traceried panel-work in jambs and soffit. 

 The south aisle has also its original front and much of the old 

 masonr)', together with a porch, which seems to have been rebuilt 

 with ancient materials in 1626, according to an inscribed tablet 

 over the doorway. These aisles have no buttresses beyond the 

 polygonal ones at their western ends, which are decorated Avith 

 grotesque gargoyles — heads whose mouths are being held open 

 by small figures perched upon their shoulders. 



The tower may have been begun at the same time as the aisles, 

 but on the whole its aspect suggests a somewhat later date. Its 

 octagonal turret-buttresses and broad band of quatrefoil orna- 

 ment recall the Magdalen Tower, built between 1492 and 1505. 

 It has an effectively-designed doorway opening upon the street, 

 with semi-circular steps, and a fine niche at the first storey 

 containing a statue of the Virgin and Sacred Child. Curious 

 pinnacles are bracketed out in front of the belfr}- windows. 



The arches supporting the tower on the inside are decorated 

 with panelling, the tracery in which difters from that of the 

 neighbouring church of Pydeltrenthide in having the "ogee" 

 character. 



The Nave.—\l is not without some trepidation that I venture 

 to express my firm conviction that in the nave of Cerne Church 

 we ha\e a most interesting example of 17th century Gothic. AH 

 the guide-books quote it as typical " Perpendicular " building ; 

 even such an authority as Bloxam takes it so without question. 



And yet a careful examination of the worL shows (i) an 

 unskilfulness in design and execution that separates it by a wide 

 gulf from all genuine work of the Perpendicular period in the 



* This ground plan (with a flat front) is unique in the district, and here it was, 

 no doubt, prompted by the exigencies of the site. 



