THE EVOLUTION OF THE COUNTRY CHURCHES. 



HY 8. CAREY CURTIS, 

 Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 



THIS article is the continuation of one which commenced in 

 the year 1915, dealing with the Church of St. Peter- Port, show- 

 ing the gradual growth of each church, as evidenced by the 

 texture of the stone work, the windows, doors and other 

 features, the position of buttresses which have been incor- 

 porated into walls, and many other points which are brought 

 home to an observer on close examination. 



As in the case of the Town Church, a series of plans show- 

 ing the development is attached to the account of each church. 



The Church of Torteval has been left out, as it is only 

 about a century old, and is without interest as far as this article 

 is concerned. 



ST. SAMPSON'S CHURCH. 



The gradual building up of this church is very illustrative 

 of the growth of the ordinary Guernsey 7 church. We see the 

 nucleus of the whole in the centre aisle, with a piece added 

 first on this side, then on that, on one end and later at the 

 other until the church as we know it now gradually evolved. 



St^Sampson's, like the Yale Church, is notable as having 

 no church in Guernsey with whom it has an affinity — no part- 

 ner in fact, in little details of planning and construction. It 

 stands on a plane by itself, just a simple place of devotion, by 

 a people who had no opportunity or perhaps wish to avail 

 themselves of what they saw in the neighbouring parishes. 



It is, if tradition is correct, our oldest church, and its 

 position lies on practically the sea beach. Old drawings show 

 this clearly, and at high tides the sea came up to the walls of 

 the churchyard. 



In its architecture we see no trace at all of the skill in the 

 manipulation of stone we find in some other churches. Every 

 arch differs from its neighbour, every buttress has its own 

 shape and size, and in these respects it is unique in Guernsey, 

 that is in not having any worked stone in the essential parts of 

 the interior. 



Let us now examine the plan. 



There is no doubt happily of the oldest portion of the 

 church ; it is the portion now used as a Sanctuary. There are 



