INGRAM CHURCH 283 



they had stone arched roofs. The tower had a steeple upon 

 it, but this was taken down in 1804 under the impression 

 that removing its weight would relieve the bulging walls 

 beneath. Some have thought that it was of wood only, but 

 the order of the Archdeacon that it, the steeple, as well as 

 the tower should be pointed afresh, and the entry in the 

 Wardens' account that Mr Ion, the rector-, might remove the 

 stone, when taken down, for the use of the Rectory, dispel 

 that notion. I may say in passing that the Rectory had 

 in 1775'^ been completely destroyed by fire, for it had been 

 a thatched house, and he may have been making some 

 restoration. Near the top of the tower a bearing segmental 

 arch of well-dressed hewn stone has been placed spanning 

 each corner, so as to afford eight equal sides upon which 

 to erect the steeple, which was evidently octagonal. The top 

 of the walls was covered with flags, which were grooved to 

 run the water into the gargoyles that were placed in the 

 centre of each side. The parapet was probably reduced in 

 1804, but at our recent restoration we heightened it about 

 two feet, and substituted a flat leaden roof for the hipped 

 one of slates that had been put upon it in place of the 

 steeple ; and Mr Lancelot Allgood had a weather-cock set 

 upon it, esteeming it a most appropriate emblem of Christian 

 watchfulness. 



The present vestry is without doubt part of what Archdeacon 

 Sharp called the North porch, and regarding which he directed, 

 " That one of the three windows in the East side of the North 

 porch be opened out and glazed, and that in the same or in one 

 of the other two windows a casement be made, and that the 

 two windows in the North end of that porch be opened out and 

 glazed, and that the wall in the West side of the said porch 

 be repaired and underput where necessary." This renders it 

 very clear that this North transept then extended much 

 further North than it does now ; and the vestiges of a piscina 

 under the one East window still remaining indicate that 

 there had been an altar there. I have little hesitation in 



■* ' 7 Jane 1775. The parsonage beinji; thatch'd was entirely consumed 

 by lire.' Randal, State of the Churches, p. 11. — Ed. 



