A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



:ade and look as if they had b. 

 detached piers before they were inserted 



theii 



present position. 31 The moulded capitals of these 

 imposts are of the same section as those of the 

 adjoining two bays, but the arch moulding i= of an 

 earlier period, probably about 1240. There can be 

 little doubt but that this arch was inserted when the 

 tower was rebuilt about 1 600 of old materials. The 

 clearstory window above the arch was probably also 

 inserted at that period or later. There are two small 

 clearstory light? on the north side. 



The roof of the nave has moulded trusses and 

 carved bosses and is probably of early 16th-century 



The stonework of the three-light window in the 

 eait wall of the north aisle and of the four two-light 

 windows in the north wall is modern ; the second 

 window from the east h inserted in a partially 

 blocked archway which opened into a former chapel ; 

 the arch is of two order;, the inner one a hollow 

 chamfer, the outer one moulded with undercut rolls ; 

 the jambs have clustered shafts with rolls between, 

 like the central pier in the north arcade, and the 

 capitals are moulded. It appears to be of 14th- 

 century work, but has been restored. There is a 

 break back of 8 in. in the north wall adjoining this 

 arch. The west doorway is modern. Parts of the 

 aisle roofarc of 1 >th-century timbers re-u^c.l. In one 

 of the windows are some fragments of I Jth-ccntury 

 painted glass. All the windows in the south aisle are 

 of modern stonework, and the west door is modern ; 

 a doorway in the south wall is blocked. The roof 

 is a plain one of 1 jth-century date. 



The tower is in three stages with crockcted 

 pinnacles at the angles. It has been refaced with 

 flint, and all the stonework of the west door, belfry 

 windows and battlements is modern. The wide 

 tower arch has been rebuilt with 1 4.th-centurv 

 materials, the section of the mouldings corresponding 

 with that of the second arch from the east in the 

 south arcade ; the responds, which are semi-octagonal, 

 and the moulded capitals are of 16th-century date ; 

 the arch has been roughly built. It is clear that the 

 whole tower was rebuilt in the 16th century, M old 

 materials being re-used in parts. It is probable, as 

 before suggested, that the tower was square originallv 

 and rested on large piers, but no trace of them is now 

 visible. At the eastern end of the old south nave 

 wall the upper part of an arched recess appears above 

 the ground : it was probably a tomb. Adjoining it 

 on the cast is the head of another recess about 3 ft. 

 wide, possibly a piscina. 



The old font has recently been placed in the 

 churchyard, after being for many years in private 

 hands; it has a plain octagonal bowl of the 13th 

 century and a I ^th-century stem with a plain arched 



A fine 15th-century oak panelled and carved door, 



1 that 



until lately in the west doorway, is now in the 

 belfry ; it appears to have been the original door of 

 the church, but has been considerably damaged. 



The tower walls on the ground floor have been 

 lined with 1 7th-century oak panelling taken from old 



The pulpit has a stone base composed of parts of 

 an old panelled tomb, the pulpit itself, as well as 

 two reading desks, being made up from a fine 15th- 

 century oak screen which was discovered during the 

 19th century; it is said to have fitted the second 

 arch from the east in the south nave arcade. 



Two badly damaged images of alabaster were found 

 during restoration and are now in the chancel ; one 

 is of the Virgin and Child : the figure of the Virgin 

 is headless and in the left hand of the Child is a 

 bird ; the other is the figure of a bishop with head 

 and pastoral staff broken away. They are of the 

 15th century. 3 ' 



Under a modern recess in the south wall of the 

 chancel is the recumbent effigy of a knight, in 

 alabaster, of the 14th century, clad in plate armour 



On a stone slab now beneath the communion 

 table is s long brass cross on stepped base ; it is incised 

 with a Bleeding Heart and the other four Wounds of 

 the Passion, and is probably of i;th-century date. 

 In the nave is a brass with figures of a man and his 

 wife, with indent of a second wife ; there is no 

 inscription, but it dates from about 1500 ; another 

 brass has a half figure of a priest in hood and tippet, 

 under a cusped and crockcted canopy, to William 

 Tabram, rector of Therfield, 1462. On the east 

 wall of the north aisle are three brass inscriptions -. to 

 William Chamber, who died in 1 546 ; to Robert 

 White, Prior of Royston, who died 1 534 ; the third 

 bears a verse in English, but neither name nor date ; 

 it probably dates from about 1 500. 



There are six bells : four by Thomas Lester, 

 1 739, and two recast by John Taylor, 1901. 



The communion plate consists of a cup of 1621, 

 an elaborately chased paten of 1629, another paten 

 of 1 7 1 8, a modern flagon and a plated chalice. 



The registers are in three books: (i) baptisms from 

 1662 to 1812, burials 1662 to 1678, marriages 

 166; to 1754; (ii) burials 1678 to l8iz; (iii) 

 marriages 1754 to 1812. 



The canons at Royston built a 

 ADFOllSON chapel with a burial-place attached 

 possibly between 1164 and 1 1 79- 3a 

 The lack of a separate parish church for so considerable 

 a town was thus ' little prejudicial ' to the inhabitants 

 while the priory existed. Soon after its dissolution 

 they bought the priory church ' to their great charges.' 

 By Act of Parliament the town, which had formerly 

 been in five different parishes, was in I 540 consti- 

 tuted a distinct parish within the diocese of London. 39 

 The vicar was to have tithes, offerings and oblations 



the space left just allowing for it. 



35 In 1514 William Lee of Radwel 

 left £10 toward! finishing the chance 

 roof (P.C.C. Wills 24. Porch). 



iepiilT he built in 

 two year. (P.C.C. Wills 1 FetipUce). 



'■ There were in the priory church 

 altars of Our Lady of Pity, referred to in 

 the will of William Marshall of Royston 

 in 1507 (P.C.C. Wills 29 Adcane), and 

 an image of the Trinity, mentioned in the 

 Henry Deggon in t cog (ibid. 



+ Ben 



ett), * 



of Her 



33 Ayloff), and a 



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