A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



small opening about midway in its length 10 in. wide 

 by I 5 in. high with a pointed head, and 3 ft. 6 in. 

 from the floor. The outside of the wall having been 

 rebuilt no trace of an opening now appears on 

 the exterior, but the wide splay on the interior 

 seems to show that it answered the purpose of a 

 low side window directed on to the altar. In the 

 14th century a good deal of alteration appears to have 

 taken place on the south side of the chancel, the 

 sedilia and piscina being of that date, together with 

 two windows ; one a wide three-light opening near the 

 east end replaces the second lancet and the other of 

 two-lights at the west end with low transom forming 

 a lychnoscope or low side window. The first of these 

 14th-century windows, the lights of which were low 

 with cinquefoiled heads under a wide pointed arch 

 with foliated circular tracery, has been entirely re- 

 newed, but the original jambs and traceried head of 

 the western two-light window remain, though the 

 mullion and transom are modern. The south door- 



stone corbel 5 ft. above the floor, probably for an 

 image, but now unoccupied and broken at the top, 

 and in the south-west corner is preserved a sepulchral 

 slab 4 ft. 3 in. long, though imperfect at the top, with 

 incised ornament and sword. The chancel arch is 

 pointed and of two chamfered orders, springing from 

 circular moulded imposts and semicircular shafts below, 

 with fillet on the face and bases with the water 

 moulding. The bases, however, have been a good 

 deal restored, and rest on a plain chamfered plinth 

 running along the west side of the chancel back to 

 the north and south walls. The small vestry on the 

 north side of the chancel and all the fittings arc 

 modern. 



Externally the chancel has a plain chamfered 

 plinth now below the level of the surrounding 

 ground, and flat buttresses of two stages. The heads 

 of the east window are quite plain without hood 

 moulds, and the gable has been repaired at the top 

 and a modern apex cross erected. The roof is 



1)2 Century 

 142! Century 

 1^2 Century 



B16S Century 



□ Modern 



Scale or Feet 



Plan of St. Wilfrid's Church, Ribchester 



way is the original 13th-century one with a simple 

 pointed arch with external hood mould springing 

 from moulded imposts slightly above the level of an 

 external string course which goes round the chancel. 

 The sedilia and piscina appear to have been inserted 

 subsequent to the three-light window, if the present 

 stonework of the latter exactly represents that which 

 it displaced, as they break awkwardly in front of the 

 opening. They are, however, of 14th-century date, 

 the sedilia being triple with semicircular heads and a 

 half-semicircular arch at each end dying into a scroll 

 moulding string course which forms a square head to 

 the sedilia and piscina. The piscina has a segmental 

 head and two bowls with floreated sinkings. The 

 13th-century string which runs the length of the 

 north and east sides is cut away under the first lancet 

 on the south side against the returned 14th-century 

 scroll moulding. In the east wall the string and the 

 sills of the windows have been renewed. To the 

 north of the east window is a semicircular moulded 



covered with stone slates and has overhanging eaves. 

 The raising of the walls has greatly injured the 

 appearance of the chancel on the south side, spoiling 

 the proportions of the windows by reason of the long 

 stretch of blank walling above. The line of the 

 former high-pitched chancel roof, the eaves of which 

 were level with the top of the windows, can still be 

 seen on the east wall of the nave. 



The nave is 61 ft. by 24 ft. and consists of four 

 bays, with south arcade of four pointed arches of two 

 chamfered orders, carried on octagonal piers with 

 moulded caps and bases, and similar responds at 

 each end. The floor is flagged and the roof is 

 divided into eight bays by nine oak principals, the 

 two end ones against the walls and the middle one 

 having a tie-beam and short pieces down the walls 

 carried on corbels. The others are merely collars 

 with shaped pieces under, and the roof does not seem 

 to have been at all altered since its erection in the 

 1 6th century except by the insertion of the two great 



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