412 ANTIQUITIES 



these niches are in a different style of arch, and were pro- 

 bably not formed at the same time.] 



In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable; but 

 I remember when its beams were hung with garlands in 

 honour of young women of the parish, reputed to have died 

 virgins/ and recollect to have seen the clerk's wife cutting, 

 in white paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to 

 be twisted into knots and roses, to decorate these memo- 

 rials of chastity. In the church of Faringdon, which is the 

 next parish, many garlands of this sort still remain. [The 

 pulpit is placed at the eastern end of the middle aisle. At 

 the western end is an organ loft and organ : the latter being 

 a gift of the Rev. William Cobbold, a former vicar, to his 

 parishioners.] 



The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, 

 reaching within nine or ten feet of the floor. It had origi- 

 nally a flat roof covered with lead, till, within a century past, 

 a churchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to 

 have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the 

 money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason ; 

 because the north side of the churchyard, being surrounded 

 by the vicarage garden, affords no path to that side of the 

 church. Nothing can be more irregular than the pews of 

 this church, which are of all dimensions and heights, being 

 patched up according to the fancy of the owners; but 

 whoever nicely examines them will find that the middle 

 aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of solid 

 oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we 

 should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present 

 church ; and especially as it is to be observed that, at their 

 ends, they are ornamented with carved blunt Gothic niches, 

 exactly correspondent to the arches of the church, and to a 

 niche in the south wall. The south aisle also has a row of 



1 Virgin garlands were originally formed of real flowers, and garlands 

 so made are often alluded to by our old dramatists. We believe that 

 the custom referred to still prevails amongst the peasantry in some parts 

 of Yorkshire and Westmoreland. ED. 



