244 THE ANTIQUITIES 



In the middle aile there is nothing remarkable : but I re- 

 member when it's 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 memorials of chastity. In the church of 

 Faringdon, which is the next parish, many garlands of this sort still 

 remain. 



The north aile is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, reach- 

 ing within eight or nine feet of the floor. It had originally 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 aile has no 

 door, for an obvious reason ; because the north-side of the church- 

 yard, 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 raiiddle aile 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 ob- 

 served 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 aile also has a row 

 of these benches ; but some are decayed through age, and the rest 

 much disguised by modern alterations. 



At the upper end of this aile, and running out to the north, 

 stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, 

 measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen feet 

 from east to west : this was intended, no doubt, as a private 

 chantry ; and was also, till of late, divided off by a gothic frame- 

 work of timber. In it's north wall, under a very blunt gothic arch, 

 lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the shape of 

 it's arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of the reign 

 of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years ago, but con- 

 tained nothing except the scull and thigh-bones of a large tall 

 man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a very irregular 

 manner, without any escutcheon or other token to ascertain the 

 names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very shallow, and 

 lined with stone at the bottom and on the sides, i 



1 [This tomb has since been removed.] 



