A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



reticulated tracery in the head, and lock and handle 

 of the same date. To the west of this doorway is a 

 modern arch for the organ. The chancel arch is ot 

 three orders with engaged shafts, moulded capitals and 

 bases, and a well-moulded arch with labels. It is 

 26 ft. high to the crown, and 1 5 ft. 8 in. to the 

 springing. The central shaft shows the almost 

 obliterated traces of the coping of a dwarf stone wall 

 loin, thick, and about 3 ft. high, which served as a 

 base to a wood screen across the arch ; a 3 in. fillet 

 on the central shaft has been cut away for the fitting 

 of this screen. 



Parts of the stalls are ancient, good and deeply-cut 

 work of the end of the fifteenth century. They were 

 re-arranged at the late restoration, and there are now 

 six ancient stalls on the south side, and one on the 

 north. All these retain their ancient carved seats, the 

 subjects of the carvings being ( 1 ) wrestlers backed by 

 two ' religious ' ; (2) an angel with a key in each 

 hand, and wearing a cap with a cross ; (3) a bearded 

 head ; (4) a flying eagle ; (5) a fox and goose ; (6) an 

 angel with a book, wearing a cap with a cross ; 

 (7) fighting dragons. Some of the old desks remain, 

 with boldly carved fronts and standards, the finials 

 being a good deal broken ; one of them has the 

 Stanley eagle and child, another a lion standing. 

 East of the southern stalls is an altar tomb with 

 panelled sides containing shields in quatrefoils, which 

 have lost their painted heraldry, and an embattled 

 cornice. On the tomb lie two effigies, said to be 

 those of Sir Henry Halsall, 1523, and his wife Mar- 

 garet (Stanley). Besides the tombs already noticed 

 there are a fragment of a brass to Henry Halsall of 

 Halsall, 1589, memorials of the Brownells, Glover 

 Moore, and others.' 



The vestry on the north of the chancel was 

 probably built in the first instance for its present 

 purpose. Its north wall has been rebuilt, but the 

 south and east walls show some very interesting 

 features. The south wall, which is also, of course, 

 the north wall of the chancel, was originally designed 

 as an outer wall, and had a plinth like that of the 

 rest of the chancel ; but when the wall had been 

 built to the level of the top of the plinth the design 

 was altered and the vestry built as it now is, the 

 plinth being cut away, leaving its profile in the east 

 wall. A large piscina was placed in the south wall, 

 and the east wall built against the west side of the 

 second buttress from the east, with a locker at the 

 south end and a central window of one wide, single 

 cinquefoiled light with a trefoil in the head. This 

 window is somewhat clumsy, and shows signs of 

 having been rebuilt. It does not belong to the 

 chancel work, but its details are those of the nave, 

 and it is probably an adaptation of the east window 

 of the north aisle of the nave. Under the first 

 design for the chancel this window would not have 

 been disturbed, but when the vestry was added to 

 the east it became useless, and was probably taken 

 down and rebuilt in an altered form in its present 

 place.' The two rows of corbels in the south wall 



of the vestry show the line of former plates, belonging 

 to a roof now gone. 



Externally the chancel has a fine moulded plinth 

 of two stages and a string at the level of the window 

 sills. The buttresses set back 3 ft. above the string 

 with weathered and crocketed gablets, with excellent 

 details of finials and grotesque masks, and are carried 

 up through a simple parapet projecting on a corbel 

 course to crocketed pinnacles, which have at their bases 

 boldly designed gargoyles, the most noteworthy being 

 that at the south end of the east face of the chancel, 

 a boat containing a little figure with hands in prayer. 

 In the east gable, above the great east window, is a 

 single trefoiled light which lights the space over the 

 chancel roof. The roof is of steep pitch, covered 

 with lead ; the timbers are mainly ancient, and are 

 simple couples with arched braces under a collar. At 

 the western angles of the chancel are square turrets 

 finished with octagonal arcaded caps and crocketed 

 spirelets. The southern turret contains the rood 

 stair, which is continued upwards to give access to 

 the nave and chancel gutters on both sides of the 

 roof in an original and interesting manner. The 

 northern turret contains no stair from the ground 

 level, and appears never to have done so, being built 

 solid at the bottom. It could not therefore give 

 access to the northern gutters or roof-slopes ; and 

 this was provided by taking a passage from the south 

 turret over the chancel arch in the thickness of the 

 wall, opening into the north turret in its octagonal 

 story, whence doors east and west led to the gutters. 

 The passage rises at a steep pitch from both ends, and 

 is lighted by four small square-headed loops, two 

 towards the nave and two towards the chancel.' On 

 the apex of the gable above is an octagonal sanctus 

 bell-cote with a crocketed spirelet, which is open to 

 the passage, and it is quite possible that the bell may 

 have been rung from here at the elevation, as anyone 

 standing at the loops looking towards the chancel has 

 a clear view of the altar. Access to the west end of 

 the chancel roof is also obtained from the highest 

 point of the passage, and in the west wall at this 

 point, exactly over the apex of the chancel arch, is a 

 short iron bar, which may be connected with the 

 fastenings of the rood. 



The nave is of four bays with north and south 

 arcades having octagonal bases, shafts, and capitals, 

 1 1 ft. 6 in. to the spring of the arches, which are of 

 two orders with the characteristic fourteenth-century 

 wave-moulding. There is no clearstory, and the 

 whole work is much plainer and simpler than that 

 of the chancel. The nave roof is 47 ft. high to the 

 ridge, covered with stone healing, and the timbers 

 are modern copies of the old work. At the east end 

 of the nave the junction of the two dates of work is 

 clearly shown in the masonry of both walls, and the 

 plate level of the later work is considerably higher 

 than that of the nave. On the south side the upper 

 part of the wall has been cut away for the insertion 

 of a three-light sixteenth-century window with square 

 head, embattled on the outside, its object, as already 



• A full description of the church and 

 it3 monuments with plates is given in 

 Tram. Hist. Soc. (N'ew Ser.), xii, 193, 

 215, &c.; for the font, ibid, rvii, 63. A 

 view is given in Gregson's Fragmenn (ed. 

 Harland), 215. See also Lanci. Churches 

 (Chet. Soc), 106, for its condition in 

 1845. 



* That the change of design took place 

 at a very early stage of the building is 

 clear for three reasons : (i) that the pis- 

 cina in the south wall is of the same 

 masonry as the wall, i.e. it is not a 

 subsequent insertion ; (ii) that the vestry 

 doorway is built from the first to open 

 into a building and not to the open air (it 



186 



would, of course, have been reversed if 

 this had been the case) ; (iii) that the 

 buttress west of the doorway, although 

 having the gabled weathering of the other 

 external buttresses, has never had a plinth ; 

 the vestry door could not open if it had. 



* There is a similar arrangement at 

 Wrotham church, Kent. 



