LEYLAND HUNDRED 



STANDISH 



aisle is separated from the chancel and from the nave 

 at its west end by a modern screen, ' and is 25 ft. 

 long, the floor being level with that of the chancel, 

 which is three steps above the nave. The chapel, 

 like the north chancel aisle, is lit at the east end by 

 a four-light window and by two similar windows on 

 the south side, and is seated with benches, six of the 

 old bench ends being carved with the Standish crest 

 (the owl and rat) and the initials R. S. A brass 

 plate records that the chapel was built by Edward 

 Standish in 1589, and was restored in 1878, but 

 whether this means that the outside walls date from 

 that year, some five years after the supposed comple- 

 tion of the main building, is not quite clear. On 

 the south wall below the easternmost window is a 

 small piscina 1 1 in. wide, with an ogee head, but 

 the bowl has been cut away. West of the second 

 ■window, but on the nave side of the screen inclosing 

 the chapel, is a priest's doorway with four-centred 

 labelled head and modern panel on the outside 

 carved with the Standish crest. On the south wall 

 is a lead head with the initials and date L. F. 1669. 



The nave is of five bays, with north and south 

 arcades having circular piers 2 ft. in diameter on 

 square pedestals 3 ft. high, and pointed arches 1 1 ft. 

 wide of two round chamfered orders with label 

 mouldings terminating in blank shields. The piers, 

 which are of Renaissance design, have moulded caps 

 and bases and a square abacus with curious turned 

 pendant ornaments at the four corners. The pedestals 

 have a plain chamfered plinth and moulded surbase, 

 the height over all from the floor to the top of the 

 abacus being 1 3 ft. 6 in.^ There are five clearstory 

 windows on each side, and the aisles have each three 

 windows of four lights to the north and south, and 

 a four-light window at the west end. In the north 

 aisle the wall is faced on the inside with ashlar, while 

 the south aisle wall is of rough masonry. 



' An old drawing of the church previous to the 

 restoration of 1859 shows a screen across the north 

 aisle from the second pillar of the nave arcade west of 

 the chancel pier, and the fiUed-up sockets in the pillar 

 and wall can still be detected.' ^ This has suggested 

 the location here of the ' Langtree chapel ' which is 

 mentioned in the time of Queen Elizabeth.* 



The roof, which is of the same design to both nave 

 and chancel, is the original one erected in the late 

 16th-century rebuilding and is an exceedingly hand- 

 some piete of work. It is of very flat pitch, richly 

 wrought In oak, with moulded principals, each bay 

 being subdivided by two moulded intermediate cross- 

 beams, ridge and purlins, forming eighteen square 

 boarded panels crossed by moulded diagonal ribs. All 

 the intersections have carved bosses, and the principals 

 are carried on carved oak brackets of distinctly 

 Renaissance type, resting on small stone corbels. The 

 lean-to roofs over the aisles are of somewhat similar 

 detail, that on the south side having carved wood 

 brackets and diagonally-ribbed panels as in the nave 

 and chancel, but on the north side the principals are 

 carried on stone brackets of Renaissance type, and the 



panels have square instead of diagonally-placed ribs. 

 The stone brackets are carried along the north wall 

 to the roof of the north chancel aisle, where, how- 

 ever, the roof is similar to that on the south side. 

 The beam at the east end of the nave against the 

 chancel arch has carved upon it four shields and the 

 initials E. S., A. S., E. W., and I. C, probably standing 

 for Edward and Alexander Standish, Edward Worth- 

 ington and John Chisnall, and the second beam 

 westward has an inscription not easy to decipher ^ 

 with the date 1589. In the Standish chapel the 

 intersections of the beams are carved with coats of 

 arms showing the alliances of the Standish family, and 

 there are two grotesque figures supporting one of the 

 beams which are quite different in character from the 

 other carvings in the church." 



The combination in the nave and quire of late 

 Gothic and Renaissance detail is effective, and the 

 latter not being over-emphasized the general appear- 

 ance of the interior, the excellent proportions of which 

 give it great beauty, is that of a building of the 

 mediaeval period. 



The north doorway, which is now made up, is 

 small and plain with a four-centred arch and blank panel 

 with hood mould over, the principal entrance to the 

 church being by the south porch, which has a four- 

 centred outer arch under a square label mould and 

 an upper story lighted on the south by a three-light 

 square-headed window. The porch retains its original 

 flat ceiling with heavy moulded oak beams, divided into 

 twelve square panels similar in detail to those of the 

 nave roof, and on each side is a stone seat. On the 

 east wall is a three-light window, and in the north 

 end of the west wall, near the inner door, 5 ft. from 

 the ground, a small recess 6 in. wide and 3 J in. deep 

 with ogee-shaped head. The entrance to the porch 

 chamber is by a door inside high up in the wall over 

 the entrance and now only accessible by means of a 

 ladder. Like the aisles and clearstory the porch is 

 finished externally by an embattled parapet, and on 

 the south side above the upper window is a wood 

 sundial with the motto ' Dum spectas fugit hora.' 

 The outer angles have diagonal buttresses of three 

 stages. 



The west tower is of three stages, with a square 

 base the height of the nave roof, and octagonal belfry 

 stage above surmounted with a spire. The belfry 

 stage has a two-light pointed window on each face, 

 and the parapet above is embattled. The vice is 

 in the south-west angle, and there is a clock on the 

 north, south and west sides. The tower arch is of 

 two chamfered orders continuous to the ground. To 

 some extent the tower follows the design of the old 

 one taken down in 1867, which was of the same type 

 as those at Aughton, Halsall and Ormskirk. The old 

 tower, however, was much lower, and its proportions 

 spoilt when the new 16th-century nave was built up 

 against it, the embattled parapet of the octagon belfry 

 stage, from which the spire sprang, being only slightly 

 higher than the nave roof, the parapets of which 

 abutted awkwardly against it. The old tower is said 



' The west screen dates only from 

 1889. 



^ On the west side of the pedestal of 

 the second pier from the east on the south 

 side of the nave is cut 'a . f . of . s . w . w . 

 OF D.,' and on the pedestal of the third 

 pier ' E . H.' 



' Trans. Hist, Soc. xix-xx (new ser.), 



257- 



* 'An order from [Wm. Chadderton,] 

 Bishop of Chester, for examining witnesses 

 in a dispute amongst the parishioners of 

 Standish in the names of John Adlington 

 and Gilbert Langtree concerning a chapel 



185 



or chancel in Standish Church called 

 Langtree chapel' ; ibid. 256. 



* Mr. Price gives it as sasdwireg'^ 

 ANNO DOMINI I 589 — *a number of letters 

 the meaning of which 1 cannot interpret' ; 

 ibid. 259. 



6 Ibid. 258. 



24 



