A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



the position of the north doorway of the nave, the 

 west wall of the bay being built as close to it as 

 possible, in order to get as much space as might be in 

 the addition. 



About 1330 the north aisle was again extended 

 westward, an arcade of two more bays being intro- 

 duced ; this seems to have carried the west wall of 

 the aisle beyond the line of the then existing west 

 wall of the nave, and the nave and south aisle were 

 then lengthened westward to the new line. The two 

 new bays of the north arcade were not set out con- 

 tinuously with the two already existing, probably to 

 avoid the removal of the west wall of the thirteenth- 

 century aisle until the extension was finished, and in 

 consequence the spacing of the north arcade did not 

 correspond with that of the south. The extra length 

 obtained by bringing the west wall of the south aisle 

 into line with that of the north was not enough for 

 an arch of a span corresponding to the rest of the 

 south arcade, and so to avoid a long blank space of 

 wall here a half-arch was turned in continuation of 

 the arcade. The chancel arch was widened at or 

 about this date, and several minor alterations made. 



moulds chamfered on both edges. The arches are of 

 two chamfered orders with a plain chamfered label, 

 all being more or less out of the perpendicular ; in 

 the west face of the second pier in the south arcade 

 is a rudely-cut niche with an incised cross above it. 

 The second bay of the north arcade has capitals some- 

 what similar to those of the eastern bay, but of less 

 depth, and the springing of the arch is about 2 in. 

 lower ; it is also of two chamfered orders. Most of 

 the chamfers in the thirteenth-century arches are 

 stopped out square above the capitals, some of the 

 stops being ogee-shaped, some a plain chamfer, and 

 two of them broach stops. The two western arches 

 of the north arcade, and the half-arch opposite, follow 

 the design of the earlier bays, but show their four- 

 teenth-century date in the treatment of their capitals 

 and bases. The clearstory has five windows a side, 

 each of two cinquefoiled lights ; a moulded string of 

 fifteenth-century section runs at the level of the 

 window-sills. At the south-east of the nave is the 

 lower door to the rood stair, a fifteenth-century in- 

 sertion, and above it is a wide stone corbel to take 

 the south end of the loft. 



13'^cent. 



Ijrf, .. 

 C23 laJer a»d modem 



P»rchr- 



Plan of St. Peter's Church, Arlesey 



which are noted later. The structural alterations of 

 the fifteenth century included the building of a 

 western tower, the addition of a clearstory to the nave, 

 and the making of the rood stair at the south-east of 

 the nave. 



In modem days the church has undergone various 

 repairs, the most important of which was the entire 

 rebuilding of the tower in 1877. 



The east window of the chancel, c. 1330, has three 

 trefoiled lights with net tracery over. There are two 

 lancets in the north and south walls, c. 1220, and 

 near the north-west angle a low side window of four- 

 teenth-century date. 



The chancel arch has semi-octagonal jambs with 

 moulded capitals, c. 1330 ; the arch is of two cham- 

 fered orders and the capitals have been cut off flush 

 with the inner order on both east and west faces. In 

 the nave the four bays of the south arcade and the 

 eastern bay of the north have octagonal piers and 

 semi-octagonal responds with moulded bases and 

 capitals of a simple and early form, the abaci being 

 square above and chamfered below, and the neck 



All the windows m the aisles, except the west 

 windows, are insertions in fifteenth-century style, 

 each of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 

 four-centred head. 



The west window of the north aisle dates from the 

 first half of the fourteenth century, and is of two tre- 

 foiled lights, and the west window of the south aisle 

 is a modern copy of it. 



The north doorway is of fifteenth-century date, 

 and has a two-centred arch under a square head ; the 

 stops to the label take the form of large human heads, 

 and may have done duty as corbels to a porch roof 

 now gone. 



The south doorway has an arch of two continuous 

 wave-moulded orders, and is of early fourteenth- 

 century date, contemporary with the wall in which 

 it is set. Over it a modern porch is built. 



The east end of the north aisle retains a number of 

 interesting details. 



In the east wall north of the inserted fifteenth- 

 century east window is a fourteenth-century trefoiled 

 niche for an image with roll cusps and a crocketed 



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