BLACKBURN HUNDRED 



WHALLEY 



taken place, however, in the interior during the 

 17th or 1 8th centuries, when galleries were erected 

 and new seating introduced. A further restoration 

 took place in 1909, when the north and south 

 galleries were removed, the west gallery reconstructed, 

 a north porch erected, the seating partly rearranged, 

 and the tower arch opened out. 



The chancel, the architectural detail of which is 

 very good, is faced with rough rubble masonry both 

 inside and out, the interior plaster having been 

 stripped from the walls during one of the restora- 

 tions. Its internal dimensions are 5 1 ft. 6 in. long 

 by 24. ft. 6 in. wide and 33 ft. in height to the ridge 

 of the roof It is divided into three unequal bays 

 externally on the south side by wide but slightly pro- 

 jecting buttresses with gabled heads, and has a stone 

 slated roof with overhanging eaves. There are five 

 lancet windows and a doorway on the south side and 

 three similar windows in the western half of the 

 north wall, the eastern end being occupied by the 

 vestry. A string course runs round the chancel both 



bowl of the former being set at one side of a 

 square opening 21 in. wide, the top of which is 

 formed by the moulded string below the sill of the 

 window. The credence has a trefoiled head with 

 chamfered arrises and jambs. The south doorway 

 is situated between the fourth and fifth windows from 

 the east end and has a pointed chamfered arch 

 springing from impost mouldings and with Libel 

 over. The door is the original one of oak with very 

 good iron scroll hinges and has what appears to have 

 been a knocker. The knocker itself is wanting, but 

 the head, probably a representation of the head of 

 our Lord, remains. 



The first 1 2 ft. of the north wall from the east is 

 now occupied by a recess containing the monument 

 to Dr. T. D. Whitaker, and immediately to the west 

 of this is the doorway to the vestry with shoulder 

 arched head. There has been a good deal of recon- 

 struction of the wall and doorway where the Whitaker 

 monument was erected and the vestry, which is of 

 course modern, has no points of antiquarian interest, 



I)™CENT. 

 j;™CENT 



□modern 



acAiz oTiEcr 



Plan of Whai.let Church 



inside and out at the level of the sills of the windows, 

 being carried externally round the buttresses. The 

 window openings are I 8 in. wide, splaying out in- 

 ternally to 4 ft. 9 in., with a depth of 2 ft. 9 in. and 

 with inner arches springing from corbels. The ex- 

 ternal label mould is carried along the wall as a 

 string course at the line of the springing. The east 

 window is of five lights with tracery under a pointed 

 head and external hood mould, the mullions and tracery 

 being apparently the original 15th-century work. 

 The glass on which are painted the shields of arms of 

 families and persons connected with the church was 

 inserted in 18 16. The sedilia are original under 

 the second window from the east and now outside 

 the sacrarium. They are triple, with pointed cham- 

 fered arches springing from circular shafts with 

 moulded caps and bases, the whole under a square 

 head. A stone slab ornamented with an incised 

 cross and probably belonging to the earlier church 

 forms part of the seats. The piscina and credence 

 table are under the first window from the east, the 



though its walls may incorporate some of the masonry 

 of an older and smaller vestry on the same site. 



The chancel roof is divided into five bays by six 

 curved principals, one against each wall, and is pro- 

 bably substantially the old one, though restored and 

 decorated and boarded between the spars. The 

 original i 3th-century appearance of the chancel, how- 

 ever, has been almost entirely lost, owing not only to 

 the complete restoration of 1866, from which time 

 the present arrangement of the sanctuary and stalls 

 dates, but to the introduction of the stalls themselves, 

 vvhose high canopies effectively hide any interior 

 view of the lancet windows. The stalls are said to 

 have come from Whalley Abbey Church and very 

 probably did so, but there seems to be no record 

 remaining of their being placed here.'" They are 

 now twenty-two in number, but were unfortunately 

 taken to pieces and very much altered and mixed up 

 with modern work in 1866. When Sir Stephen 



" Micklethwaite, Report 



351 



