430 Notes on the Churches of Ashley, Berwick Bassett, etc. 



at the level of the present roof corbels. The tower is of three 

 stages divided on the outside by well-moulded string-courses ; it 

 has good plinth and base moulds and an embattled parapet ; at the 

 angles are diagonal pinnacles carried the full height of the tower, 

 which have lost the pinnacles which once surmounted them. The 

 stair turret is on the north, octagonal, and carried above tlie tower, 

 but its parapet has gone. The west window of the lower stage is 

 a pointed one of three lights with outside label having shield 

 terminals; below it is a four-centred doorway with similar labels. 

 The four belfry windows have pointed arches and labels, and there 

 is a two-light window in the west of the middle stage. 



The south aisle is nicely-treated Perpendicular work with 

 plinth and base-mould, cornice and embattled parapet, it has a 

 buttress at the end only. In the wall is built part of an incised 

 grave slab. The north doorway has a moulded and labelled four- 

 centred arch, over which is a niche with circular corbel and ogee 

 arch. The font has an octagonal bowl with quatrefoiled sides, on 

 a modern stem and base. 



I have left to be separately described the gem of the Church — 

 its exquisite stone screen. The screen is a double one with a 

 passage between which has a vaulted ceiling with moulded ribs 

 and two rows of panels representing one half of a four-centred 

 arch, springing from the top of the inner screen and abutting 

 against the outer (Plate III.). 



The outer (or western) screen is of three bays, divided by diagonal 

 piers with attached rolls on the angles having octagonal bases of 

 good depth ; similar rolls occur on the jambs. Between the rolls 

 are flat hollows which are carried around the arches ; these have 

 two tiers of niches in the vertical parts and carved patterns below. 

 On the underside of the arches, in place of the inner roll, is an in- 

 verted cresting; the vertical roll being carried up to intersect with 

 the lower member of the cornice ; the spandrels formed between 

 these and the arches are filled with carving of a most delicate and 

 refined type. The cornice has one order of vine carving, with five- 

 pointed leaf; above this is an order of paterae — one being a 

 centaur — and an embattled coping. 



