Mr Tate on Longhoughton, <&c, 77 



the wall is % feet 5 inclies. and the arch is formed of dressed 

 stones at the angles, but of common rubble masonry in the 

 other parts ; it rests upon no cushioned capital as in other 

 Norman arches, but upon a simple angular impost moulding, 

 chamfered below, and projecting from the supporting wall ; 

 and this moulding is continued along the abutment walls as 

 a tablet or string course. 



The arch between the nave and tower is more ornate, 

 being formed of plain rounded mouldings such as occur in 

 Norman work ; but this also rests on an impost moulding 

 of the same character as that in the chancel arch ; and 

 is supported by double recessed square piers projecting from 

 the side walls. Some have supposed that the chancel arch 

 might be Saxon ; and we find that Rickman considers a 

 similar impost moulding in Brigstock Church to be Saxon ; 

 but as it is associated in Longhoughton with other mouldings 

 of a Norman character, we are warranted in referring these 

 remains to an early Norman period; and probably they are the 

 earliest Norman work in the northern part of Northumberland, 

 belonging to a time very little later than the Conquest. The 

 peculiar character of these remains will be more distinctly 

 seen in the illustrative drawing by Mr. Storey. {Plate III.) 



This church, like most others in the district, had originally 

 only a nave with probably an apse ; but in the early part of the 

 fourteenth century it had been enlarged by the addition of an 

 aisle on the south side. An original window in the decor- 

 ated style of this period still remains in the east wall of the 

 aisle ; it has two lights, each with a pointed cusp heading. 

 The octagonal piers and pointed arches between the nave 

 and the aisle also appear to belong to this period. 



The strong squat tower of Early English age, with walls five 

 feet in thickness, erected in the earlier part of the thirteenth 

 century, tells the same story of the insecurity of this period, 

 as has been made known by the records already quoted. 

 This church tower, like others in the border land, was erected 

 for defence as well as for religious purposes ; and there was 

 need for such a place of refuge for the inhabitants against 

 Scottish marauders, because there was no strong pele tower 

 within the Vill of Longhoughton. In the Taxatio Ecclesi- 

 astia circa, 1291, Lesbury Church with the Chapels of 

 Houghton, Alnwick, and Alnmouth, were valued at £70 

 annually ; but in 1317, the ecclesiastical benefices in the 

 deanery of Alnwick were returned waste and entirely 

 destroyed. Even so late as 1567, Longhoughton Church 



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