By the Rev. W. G. Clark-Maxwell, F.S.A. 431 



if the original heads of these windows were still preserved, it is 

 quite possible that we should be able to traoe there also remains at 

 least of the consoles, which are perhaps the most characteristic 

 of all the features which I have called Sharing tonian ; since in the 

 small partially-blocked windows flanking the colonnade, and in 

 those on the ground-floor immediately beneath them, these consoles 

 are still to be detected, although in a greatly decayed condition 

 (Fig. 10). There is, however, no trace, either within or without 

 the castle, of the circles which ornament the windows at Lacock, 

 nor is there any instance of this decoration elsewhere in England, 

 so far as I know. 1 



The stone in which the ornamental details at Dudley are executed . 

 is unfortunately of a very perishable nature, and ill adapted to 

 resist the corroding influence of the atmosphere of a manufacturing ■ 

 district, such as the neighbourhood has now become ; but despite 

 this unfavourable condition, we can recognise the same delicate 

 skill and mastery of proportion as can be seen so clearly at Lacock 

 and Sudeley ; and the conclusion is practically inevitable that the 

 same hand was responsible for the design of the work in all three 

 places. It is just possible that this was the hand of Sharington 

 himself ; we have seen above that he was able to supply " patterns " 

 of architectural details to his friends, and his signature shows 

 him to have been thoroughly Italianate in that respect at 

 least 2 • but it will be a safer conjecture to attribute the work to 

 someone employed by him, whether the Chapman mentioned above, 

 or some unknown master-mason, Italian, Frenchman, Dutchman, 

 or, more probably, Englishman, trained in the best methods of the 

 early renaissance in England. 



Signature of Sir William Sharington. 



1 Similar circles occur in the early renaissance work at the chateau of Blois. 

 3 The signature is taken from the statement referred to at the beginning 

 of this article (P.R.O. State Papers, Domestic, vol. VI, Edward VI, No. 13). 

 Each page of the statement is signed by Sharington. 



