CLIFTON HUNDRED 



STOTFOLD 



was rebuilt, and the west tower and south porch 

 added. The last addition to the building was the 

 clearstory, late in the fifteenth century, and fifteenth- 

 century windows were everywhere inserted in place of 

 the older ones, except in the west wall of the south 

 aisle. It is possible, as has been already noted, that a 

 lengthening of the north aisle took place at this time. 

 The building has been restored several times within 

 recent years, and in 1890 the chancel was entirely 

 rebuilt, except its western arch, and an organ chamber 

 was added on the south side. The walling is of flint 

 rubble with ashlar dressings, and all parts of the 

 building have embattled parapets, those of the nave 

 being modern. 



The chancel has a three-light east window, and 

 three two-light windows in the side walls, two on 

 the north and one on the south, all modern and of 

 fifteenth-century style ; the organ chamber opens to 

 the chancel with a wide arch and is lighted by a small 

 cinquefoiled window. 



The chancel arch is of fifteenth-century date, of 

 two orders, the outer, which is continuous, having a 

 hollow quarter round between fillets, and the inner a 

 wave mould with moulded capitals and plain splayed 

 bases. 



To the south of the arch in the east wall of the 

 nave is a fourteenth-century recess for an image over 

 the south nave altar, with a cinquefoiled arch and 

 roll cusps, and jambs moulded with a roll between 

 two hollow chamfers. 



In the north-east corner of the nave is the rood- 

 stair of fifteenth-century date, the lower entrance 

 being in the north aisle. The arcades of the nave 

 are of three bays, both having arches of two orders 

 with wave moulds, but those in the south arcade are 

 of rather heavier detail than those in the north. The 

 piers in both arcades are of four engaged half-round 

 shafts, but in the south arcade there are also small 

 rounded shafts in the re-entering angles, stopping in 

 the bells of the capitals, above the necking, on small 

 human heads, or in one case, on a beast's head. 

 The moulded capitals, while of the same general 

 character, vary in section, those on the north having 

 a taller bell, and fewer moulded members. The 

 labels of the north arcade are filleted rolls, and 

 those on the south have a scroll and small bead, both 

 having carved stops, mostly human heads. The bases in 

 the north arcade, and in the only example above 

 the floor level in the south, namely, in the western 

 respond, are of three rolls, and there is a slight 

 difference of profile in those of the eastern bay of the 

 north arcade from those in the two other bays. The 

 clearstory over has three windows a side of late fifteenth- 

 century date, each of two cinquefoiled lights. 



The north aisle has three-light east and west 

 windows, and in the north wall two of three lights, 

 and one, west of the north doorway, of two lights ; 

 all are of fifteenth-century style, more or less repaired. 

 The south aisle in like manner has a three-light 

 window at the east, and two on the south, of fifteenth- 

 century style, but its west window is of early four- 

 teenth-century detail, with two cinquefoiled lights 

 and a cusped spherical triangle in the head. The 

 south doorway is also of the fourteenth century, with 

 two continuous double ogee mouldings separated by a 

 hollow. 



The south porch has two-light windows on the 



east and west, and an outer archway with a four- 

 centred head under a square label. 



The tower is of three stages with an embattled 

 parapet, and pairs of two-light belfry windows with 

 two-centred heads. The stair is in the south-west 

 angle, and at the western angles are pairs of buttresses. 

 The west window in the ground stage is of three 

 lights, with a doorway below it, and the eastern arch 

 of the tower is of two orders, the inner with a 

 moulded capital and a wave mould on the arch, and 

 the outer continuous, with a wide hollow, a bead and 

 a hollow chamber. On the south wall of the tower 

 are several incised sundials. 



The woodwork of the roofs is modern, except that 

 in the aisles some of the old timbers have been re-used, 

 and all the fittings of the church are modern. 



The font at the west end of the south aisle is of 

 fourteenth-century date, octagonal in plan with 

 quatrefoils in the sides of the bowl and a panelled 

 stem. 



There are a few bits of old glass in the middle 

 window of the north aisle, and in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine for November, 1827, mention is made of 

 wall paintings of St. Michael and St. George ; these 

 have now entirely disappeared. 



There are three bells ; the treble by Russell of 

 Wootton, 1 740 ; the second, a mediaeval London 

 bell, inscribed ' Sancte Petre ora pro nobis ' ; and the 

 tenor is by Miles Graye of Colchester, 161 5. 



The only pieces of church plate are a communion 

 cup of 1739 and a paten of 1847. 



The registers begin in 1589, the first book con- 

 taining baptisms, marriages and burials to 1702 ; the 

 second continues the baptisms and burials to 1772, 

 and the marriages to 1754 ; the third has marriages 

 from 1754 to 18 1 2, and the fourth baptisms and 

 burials 1773 to 18 1 2. 



The advowson and rectory of 

 ADVOWSO'N Stotfold belonged to the priory of 

 Chicksands.*" At the Dissolution 

 the value of the rectory was estimated at £12," and 

 together with the advowson it was granted in 1547 

 to Trinty College, Cambridge,^' to which both still 

 belong. 



Stotfold contains two Baptist chapels, built in 1832 

 and 1857, a Calvinist Baptist chapel built in 1 84 1, a 

 Wesleyan and a Primitive Methodist both built in 

 1869, and also Salvation Army barracks. 



The Poor's Land consists of 5 acres 

 CHARITIES allotted under an inclosure award, 

 1 85 1, in lieu of about eight acres 

 lying dispersedly in the common fields. It is let in 

 allotments to the poor, producing about ;^io a year, 

 which is carried to a general coal fund account. 

 There were thirty-nine allottees in 1905. 



By the same award three additional acres adjoining 

 the above were allotted for the labouring poor, let in 

 garden allotments and producing j^5 12s. 6d. a year, 

 also carried to the coal fund account. Regulated by 

 scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 7 August, 

 1903. There were forty allottees in 1905. 



In 1 6 10 John Fitzakerly by will, proved in the 

 P.C.C., gave to the poor ^^5 yearly out of his lands 

 in Stotfold. The estate became vested in two 

 different owners, and in 1903 one moiety of the 

 charge was redeemed by the payment of j(^ 12 5, which 

 was invested in ^(^128 12/. \\d. ^^3 per cent. 



I Harl. Chart. 45, I. 18. 



81 Valor EccU (Rec. Com.), iv, 194. 



«apat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. 6. 



