WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



ORMSKIRK 



south aisle of the nave at the time the tower was built. 

 Whether it was coeval with or earlier than the tower 

 cannot now be determined ; the fact of its being out 

 of centre with the tower arch would suggest that it was 

 not built at the same time, and the existence of a south 

 arcade earlier than the tower demonstrates the existence 

 of an earlier aisle. Later than the tower it cannot be, 

 as the weathering is part of the original masonry and 

 not an insertion. 



As has already been said, the weathering shows 

 that the aisle roof was gabled, and not a lean-to ; and 

 this raises the question of what was its east end, and 

 how did it abut on the late thirteenth- century south 

 chapel at the east of the church. The form of roof 

 of this chapel cannot now be known, but the height 

 of the arches in the south wall of the chancel makes 

 it probable that it was a lean-to roof, and not gabled. 

 But whichever it was, a little calculation will show 

 that its pitch could not have been the same as that 



respond, it is clear that the arcade ran further east- 

 ward, and that consequently there was no north 

 transept, at any rate after the building of the arcade. 

 But any argument based on the positions of these 

 arcades is weakened, as far as it refers to the earlier 

 history of the church, by their late date, which will 

 shortly be referred to. 



In the sixteenth century a great deal of building 

 was undertaken, as may be shown both by documen- 

 tary evidence and by actual remains.' The great 

 west tower may be dated from 1540-50. The fact 

 that on the eastern face of this tower the apex of the 

 weather-moulding is on the centre line of the early 

 nave shows that at this late date the nave arcades 

 were almost certainly in their original position, and 

 that the south arcade did not occupy its present site 

 till after the building of the west tower. But it must 

 have been built almost at once after this, and the 

 words of John Bochard's bequest evidently point to 



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SOUTH AISLE 



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of the aisle roof, and that therefore the two roofs 

 could not have run in one line from east to west. 

 No decisive argument can be based on this, but the 

 existence of a south transept is at least suggested, and 

 further evidence is available on the point. The pre- 

 sent nave arcades, which are entirely modern, replace 

 an arcade of four bays of sixteenth-century date, 

 whose east pier on the south side was level with the 

 west wall of the Scarisbrick chapel, and between it 

 and the western respond of the thirteenth-century 

 arcade in the south wall of the chancel was an arcade 

 of two bays of a totally different character from the rest. 

 In the north arcade there was a corresponding eastern 

 pillar, but as it was a complete pillar, and not a 



other work than the tower being in hand. The plan 

 shows that the old south arcade would give a very 

 lopsided effect with the newly built west tower arch, 

 and that the obvious remedy for this would be to re- 

 build it further north, on the line of the south wall 

 of the chancel ; and this is exactly what happened. 

 Whether any sort of transeptal arrangement remained 

 at this time is not clear, but the evidence given above 

 suggests that it did, on the south side at any rate. 

 In the late restoration both arcades and the whole of 

 the north aisle were rebuilt, and any further light 

 they may have had to throw on the history of the 

 church is finally destroyed. The south-east or Derby 

 chapel is, with the exception of the eighteenth-century 



1 Miles Gerard, 1518, left ^loo to- 

 wards the building of a new aisle on the 

 south side of Ormskirk Church ; P.C.C. 

 29 Mainwaring. No work at present 



3 



remaining can be attributed to this be- 

 quest. In 1528 Peter Gerard, priest, left 

 j^2o towards the building of St. Mary 

 Magdalen's Chapel, but nothing of this 



241 



date can now be identified. John Bochard, 

 clerk, in 1542 bequeathed ^^60 towards 

 the building of the steeple and church of 

 Ormskirk; P.C.C. 20 Spert. 



31 



