A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



It is impossible to say what the early nave was like, 

 as all old work in the nave was completely destroyed 

 at the recent restorations, when the embattled para- 

 pets of the tower and transepts were rebuilt, apparently 

 with new material, and various other restorations 

 carried out. 



There are three lancets, the centre one being the 

 taller, in the east wall of the chancel, all of which 

 are modern copies of the original thirteenth-century 

 windows, but contain a few old stones. They have 

 moulded rear arches and shafted jambs with moulded 

 circular bases and capitals. There were five similar 

 lancets in the north and south walls of the chancel, of 

 which only the eastern pair are now perfect, but traces 

 of the others are to be seen in both walls. 



Immediately to the west of the eastern pair are two 

 wide and shallow fifteenth-century recesses with four- 

 centred heads and moulded jambs, and on the eastern 

 side of that in the north wall Is a small contemporary 

 lamp niche with a flue in its head. East of the recess 

 in the south wall is a fifteenth-century piscina of which 

 the drain and shelf have been lost, the grooves for the 

 latter remaining. On the outer face of the walls there 

 are two blocked square-headed windows retaining their 

 iron stanchions and saddlebars, which correspond in 

 position to the recesses within but are at a higher level, 

 so that their sills are nearly at the same height as the 

 heads of the recesses. Their original intention is 

 difficult to understand. On the south side of the 

 chancel, about midway, is a fifteenth-century doorway, 

 and at the west are three-light fifteenth-century win- 

 dows on both sides. The chancel has shallow clasping 

 buttresses at the eastern angles and similar shallow 

 buttresses in the middle of each side wall, the whole 

 of the exterior having been a good deal repaired at 

 various dates. 



The tower stands on plain semicircular arches of a 

 single order, only the west face of the western arch 

 having any moulded detail The voussoirs are 

 of ironstone, as already noted, and at the springing 

 of the nave and transept arches are heavy chamfered 

 strings of limestone, those in the south transept being 

 modern, while that at the east springing of the north 

 transept arch is cut away, as are those of the east arch 

 of the tower. 



Above the roofs the tower rises in two stages 

 with an embattled parapet, the belfry windows being 

 of two-lights of fifteenth-century detail, while the 

 second stage is lighted by single narrow twelfth- 

 century loops. 



The arch from the tower to the north transept has 

 been rebuilt with modern thirteenth-century detail. 

 This transept, which now contains the organ and vestry, 

 is lighted by a fifteenth-century window of four cinque- 

 foiled lights, and retains in its east wall the original 

 arched recess already mentioned, now partly fiUed- 

 in, a fifteenth-century recess with a four-centred head 

 and panelled back and sides being inserted in the 

 blocking. This is part of a general scheme of refitting 

 which took place in the fifteenth century, and included 

 the fitting up of new altars in both transepts, a scheme 

 of rearrangement for the chancel, as already noted, 

 and the rebuilding or addition of a top story to the 

 central tower. 



There are traces of colour on the stonework of the 

 recess, and the workmanship and design are of excel- 

 lent quality. South of this recess is a piscina of the 



same date, with a moulded cinquefoiled head and 

 moulded jambs. 



The south transept has a very similar arrangement 

 in its east wall, but here the twelfth-century arch 

 has been entirely removed, except for a few stones at 

 its northern springing, as the wall has been com- 

 pletely rebuilt and thickened, a stair leading to the 

 tower, and entered from the south-east angle of the 

 transept, having been contrived in the thickness of the 

 wall. The under sides of two of its stone steps pro- 

 ject into the head of the altar recess, and it is lighted 

 by two narrow slits on the east. In the east respond 

 of the tower arch opening to the transept a tall cin- 

 quefoiled image niche has been inserted at the same 

 date, having an embattled square-headed label, and to the 

 south of the altar recess is a cinquefoiled piscina. Above 

 the piscina is a bracket with two blank shields on the 

 underside, also intended to carry an image, but it is 

 said to have been moved from its original position. In 

 the south wall of the transept is a large fifteenth-cen- 

 tury window of four lights. 



The nave and aisles are entirely modem, with 

 arcades of three bays with two-centred moulded arches 

 and round piers with moulded caps and bases. There 

 are two modern single-light windows in the west 

 wall of the nave of similar detail to those in 

 the east wall of the chancel. Fisher, in his Collec- 

 tions for Bedfordshire, 1817, gives a drawing of a 

 twelfth-century doorway in the nave. There is no 

 clearstory. 



The font, at the west end of the aisle, is of fifteenth- 

 century date, and only unusual in being twelve-sided 

 in form. 



The tower contains five bells : the treble by John 

 Dier, 1591 ; the second by Taylor of Loughborough, 

 1882 ; the third by J. Briant of Hertford, 1816 , 

 the fourth by Joseph Eayre of St. Neots, 1 766 ; 

 and the tenor by William Emerton of Wootton, 

 1774- 



The church plate consists of two cups and a stand- 

 ing paten of 1673, the latter given by Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Salmon, and a modern plated paten. 



The first book of the registers has all entries from 

 1 71 3 to 1 771, the second baptisms and burials from 

 1772 to 1 8 12, while the third book is the printed 

 marriage register, 1 754-1 8 1 2. There is also preserved 

 with the registers of the church a set of rules for a 

 school founded here in 1696. 



The roofs are all modem except in the transepts, 

 where there is some old work, much repaired, of 

 the fifteenth century. 



On the south wall of the chancel is the crude 

 coloured monument of Timothy Archer, who died 

 1672, and two brass plates commemorating former 

 rectors, Thomas Rawlins, 1506, and Thomas Salmon, 

 1 706. On the east wall of the south transept is a 

 portion of the brass of John Meptyshall, 1440, and 

 Katherine his wife, and in the west wall another brass 

 to John Butler, esq., 1441, and Katherine his wife. 



The church of Meppershall was 

 ADFOff^SON given to the priory of Lenton by 

 Robert son of William de Mepper- 

 shall, and the gift was confirmed by Henry II." 

 This charter was moreover confirmed by John in 

 1 199," and also by the pope in 1 205," but neverthe- 

 less, John son of Gilbert, son of Robert in 1224, 

 contested the claim of the prior to the advowson of 



" Cart. Antiq. B. 34. 



-■8 Chart R. i John m. i. 

 292 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 18. 



