VALE CHURCH AND PRIORY. 281 



interesting. The roof of the chancel seems to have been 

 rebuilt when the arcade and north aisle were added ; this 

 would account for the strange clef de route. The zig-zag 

 mouldings which predominate in the chancel are not found 

 in early Norman times. The Vale Church was much less 

 ornate than that of Lihou, where " beak-heads " occur in 

 the mouldings. Under the tower-arch, which is pointed, a 

 small patch of fresco Avas to be seen on the plaster when 

 the Church was restored a few years since, but the plaster 

 was too ruinous to be preserved. The north aisle of the 

 Church is probably of the 15th century and was built in 

 two parts, the east end first. The east window of this aisle 

 is later than the wall in which it is found, as is shown by 

 the way in which it encroaches on the buttress outside. 

 The tracery is of late flamboyant style. Close by this 

 window is a good granite piscina of the same period. 

 Another piscina, in Caen stone, is to be seen near the high 

 altar, and a third outside the chancel. According to Mr. 

 Parker, no piscinas are known in England before the middle 

 of the 12th century, and M. de Caumont says that they were 

 extremely rare in France before the 13th. On the western 

 sides of the pillars of the nave arcade are corbels to hold 

 statues ; these have been unfortunately mutilated. The 

 windows of the same aisle have heavy hoods over them, 

 which indicate the style of the 15th century. The porch 

 of that period is of very rough workmanship. To the same 

 date Mr. Lee ascribes the handsome doorways of the west 

 end, with their receding arches of red and blue granite, 

 recalling a similar arch in the manor-house of Anneville. 

 One or two really interesting floor monuments still remain, 

 but in the recent restoration were most unfortunately placed 

 between the vestry door and the chancel. The result is that 

 they are fast being destroyed. On one of these we used 

 to read the legend Orate pro anima Galfridi. This may have 

 been the tombstone of Prior Greoffrey De Carteret, circa 

 1370 ; but there was another monk of the same name in 

 1314, and a Geoffrey le Yallet at the same date. Another 

 stone shows the matrix of a brass with heater shield, probably 

 of the 14th century. On leaving the church Mr. Lee 

 pointed out the few interesting remains of the priory 

 buildings. These include the 15th century buttresses in the 

 gable on the roadside and a pointed window in the wall which 

 separates the churchyard from the garden below. Unfor- 

 tunately too little remains to enable us to reconstruct the 

 plan of this priory, as we are still able to do at Lihou. 



