142 The Pre- Reformation Churches of Berwickshire. 



soil. The width, of the arch, measured between the extremities 

 of the jambs, is fully 15 feet ; the height, from the bottom of the 

 plinths on which the shafts rest to the top of the imposts, is 

 nearly 8 feet ; and from the imposts to the crown of the arch, 5 

 feet. 



The chancel, now used as a burial-aisle, is 20 feet 1 inches long 

 by 22 feet wide. It is roofless, and the walls have been reduced 

 in height, but a quite unexpected amount of original detail is 

 left. It has apparently been vaulted in stone, as massive shafts, 

 10^ inches in diameter, which look as if they had been intended 

 to support the groin ribs, occupy the internal angles. These 

 shafts rise from round bases with a double, hollow-chamfered 

 slope, the plinths beneath being similar to those already de- 

 scribed. A blocked window, narrow and round-headed, with a 

 wide internal splay and a graduated sill, is observable near the 

 middle of the N. wall ; and there is a similar one in the east 

 elevation, which, however, has been partly built up on the 

 inside, and is concealed on the exterior by a memorial tablet 

 inserted in the wall. A small recess, 17 inches high, 15 inches 

 wide, and 1 1 inches deep, the purpose of which is problematical, 

 is seen in the N. wall, a little to the west of the window, and below 

 the level of its sill. There are a number of early masons' marks 

 on the pillars and voussoirs of the chancel-arch ; and the walls 

 have been frescoed in red on a white grouu'l with a kind of 

 star-shaped ornament enclosed within a circle. The traces of this 

 ornamentation, which 1 have little doubt is of Norman date, are 

 very faint, but they are sufficiently distinct to show its true 

 character. 



This ancient chancel, with its arch, is one of the most in- 

 teresting examples of early Christian architectural art in the 

 county ; and it is not very creditable to the taste and public 

 spirit of the heritors of the parish that they should have 

 allowed it to remain so long in its present neglected condition. 

 Its restoration, if judiciously carried out, would not be a matter 

 of great cost, and would provide the parish with a place of 

 worship both intrinsically beautiful and possessed of genuine 

 historical and archaeological interest. 



There is nothing calling for special remark on the outside of 

 the building. Such of the old masonry as has not been inter- 

 fered with exhibits the usual characteristics of the fully 

 developed Norman style. A base-course, of small projection, 



