A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



in the north) are modern restorations ; each is 

 of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over, and 

 there is a modern doorway in the north wall. The 

 doorway to the stair-turret in the north-east corner 

 has a four-centred arch and belongs to the date when 

 the upper story was added. This upper story is 

 lighted by three windows similar to and above those 

 of the lower chamber, but only the north-east window 

 is old. The fifteenth-century window formerly 

 lighting the chancel, but blocked up when the story 

 was added, is to be seen on the south side of the 

 chamber. 



The door from the vestry into the Wenlock Chapel, 

 the original external door of the vestry, has a single 

 chamfered two-centred arch with a rear arch on either 

 side. It is probable that the outer chamfered reveal 

 of the doorway was once flush with the western face 

 of the wall, and that when the doorway from the 

 chapel to the chancel was built the reveal was moved 

 inwards and the higher rear arch turned to the west 

 of it to make room for the later doorway.'" The 

 three windows of the Wenlock Chapel, two on the 

 north and one on the east, are of four cinquefoiled 

 lights with tracery under segmental pointed arches ; 

 the external stonework of the windows has been 

 completely renewed but the interior seems to be the 

 original fifteenth-century work. 



The two arches of the arcade between the Wenlock 

 Chapel and the north transept, the chancel arch, and 

 the arches opening from the crossing to both transepts 

 are all work of one date, about 1320, and are similar 

 in detail, with high moulded bases and bell capitals 

 and arches of two orders with small chamfers. The 

 responds consist of three, and the pier of four large 

 engaged round shafts separated by small hollow 

 chamfered angles. The height of the bases of the 

 arcade to the chapel shows that the floor of this 

 chapel was from the first, as now, i ft. 6 in. above 

 the general level of the nave and transepts, and flush 

 with the chancel floor. The small squint in the east 

 jamb of the Wenlock arch would be useless if the 

 floor were lower. 



The arcade of two bays between the south transept 

 and the Hoo Chapel to the east of it is of much 

 simpler detail than the corresponding one on the 

 north side and is perhaps a little later in date. The 

 pier is octagonal, and the responds semi-octagonal 

 with a filleted bowtell in the angle between them 

 and the wall. It is to be noted that the face of the 

 wall above is flush with the nosing of the abaci instead 

 of being within it, a detail which suggests that the 

 arches are cut through an older wall. The arches 

 are two-centred, of two slightly chamfered orders with 

 a roll and bead divided by a hollow between the 

 chamfers. The three windows of the Hoo Chapel 

 (two eastern and one southern) are each of three 

 wide lights with cinquefoiled heads and fifteenth- 

 century tracery under pointed segmental arches ; 

 they have been partly renewed. The doorway in 

 the south wall is new, its head cutting into the 

 window-sill above ; to the east of it is a modern recess 

 in the head of which is built part of the cusped head 

 of a recess of late fourteenth-century date, found in 

 the wall when the doorway was made. In the east 



wall of the chapel between the two windows is a 

 piscina with a circular bowl, in a recess with two 

 hollow-chamfered orders and a cinquefoiled head ; it 

 is of fourteenth-century date. 



The windows in the gables of the transepts are simi- 

 lar to each other, both being of five cinquefoiled lights, 

 the foils sub-cusped to make nine foils in all, and with 

 fifteenth-century tracery over. 



The west window of the north transept preserves 

 its old stonework of three cinquefoiled lights with 

 tracery under a pointed segmental arch. The 

 mouldings are of a different section from those of any 

 of the other fifteenth-century windows, and of a 

 somewhat earlier character. The west window of 

 the south transept is of four lights and somewhat 

 similar to the last ; the outside is entirely new, but 

 the inside jambs are old and of a section not found 

 elsewhere in the church. The roofs of the chapels 

 and transepts are modem, but there may be some old 

 timbers in the latter. 



The two arches from the transepts to the aisles of 

 the nave are the earliest architectural details in 

 position in the church ; both are of the thirteenth 

 century, the southern one being the earlier ; its jambs 

 are of two orders, the outer square and the inner with 

 a small chamfer stopped out square below the abacus ; 

 the stops difl^er in the two jambs, the north side being 

 merely a curve outwards whilst the south jamb has 

 a kind of incipient capital. The narrow abacus is 

 square above and hollow chamfered below with a 

 \/-shaped groove above the chamfer, and the arch- 

 section is like that of the jambs. 



The arch on the north side has three detached 

 round shafts in each jamb, vnth moulded bases and 

 beautiful foliated bell capitals ; the arch is two-cen- 

 tred of two chamfered orders. 



In the west wall of the south transept above the 

 arch to the aisle are the remains of a string course 

 running southwards about as far as the outer face of 

 the aisle wall ; it then continues at a lower level 

 until interrupted by the window ; the upper string 

 evidently marks the limits of the thirteenth-century 

 transept. 



There is now no arch between the crossing and 

 the nave, the piers being flat and shallow with 

 chamfered edges, setting back slightly at the level of 

 the capitals of the arcade ; the offsets may mark the 

 springing of a former arch. 



The nave arcades are of six bays, with two-centred 

 arches of two chamfered orders ; the piers on the 

 south side and the eastern pier on the north are octa- 

 gonal, and both eastern responds are semi-octagonal, 

 that on the south being somewhat flatter than the 

 other. The western responds on both sides are of 

 three round engaged shafts, all have moulded bases 

 and bell capitals. In the eastern respond of the 

 south arcade is a niche now filled with a mosaic 

 representation of St. Paul. 



The four western arches on the north side with 

 their three piers are fifteenth-century work, the piers 

 being composed of four half-octagons with moulded 

 bases following the plan of the piers, but with capitals 

 to the inner orders only, the outer orders being con- 

 tinued round the arches without a break ; the arches 



*"Cobbe, ffiiA of Luton Church, -^i^, 

 describes and gives a woodcut of a piscina 

 in the east wall of the chapel within a 



few feet of the vestry door. It has a 

 four-centred arch in a square head, in the 

 spandrels of which are carved the word 



HOLA and the lance-rest as in the old 

 window glass. The bowl is mutilated. 

 All this is now hidden by the organ. 



