THE CASTEL CHURCH. . 407 



like those already mentioned. The window of 1750 cuts into 

 the top of an ancient doorway of which the lower part is 

 walled up ; this doorway gave access to the chancel. On the 

 east, the south window, perhaps of the 15th century, seems to 

 have taken the place of an earlier window of two lights. The 

 circular openings over this and the large window of the north 

 chancel are modern. On the north side of the Church we again 

 find buttresses of two stages like the others already mentioned, 

 of different heights and rude construction. An ancient chantry 

 projects from the north side of the tower, having on its east 

 side the remains of a rudely constructed window with a 

 quatrefoil in the head between two trefoils. In the gable is 

 again a squareheaded opening. The nave has very massive 

 and rudely shaped buttresses of one stage only, and in this 

 wall there is only one little window, possibly modern, adjoining 

 the tower. Between two of the buttresses are to be seen the 

 remains of a wide doorway which was pierced in the north 

 wall to admit the parish artillery into the nave, where the guns 

 were kept. Inside this northern nave solid buttresses starting 

 from the ground support the ribs of the roof, which in other 

 parts of the Church rest upon corbels. The arcade of the 

 nave contains pillars which seem to date from the 14th century. 

 The northern chancel was thought by Sir E. MacCulloch to 

 be older than the south, but the comparatively late vaulting of 

 the tower, and the fact that the south chancel contained the 

 priest's door, and was enclosed by screens whose places are 

 well marked in the pillars, makes me believe that the principal 

 altar was on the south side. There is a rude " squint " in the 

 S.E. pier of the tower. In the east wall of the south chancel, 

 on the north side of the altar, is an archway for which I cannot 

 account. It looks too large for an awmbry and has no remains 

 of hinges. It is not a doorway, for there is no sign of an 

 opening on the outside of the wall. 



The vault of the northern chancel contains the remains of 

 some ancient frescos, of which Sir Edgar MacCulloch gave 

 the following interesting account : — 



" About the end of the year 1829 or the beginning of 1830, 

 it was thought advisable to take precautions against the effects 

 of lightning and a conductor was ordered, but when it came to 

 be placed on the spire the workmen discovered that in conse- 

 quence of some miscalculation it was not long enough. The 

 work was accordingly suspended, leaving the lower end of the 

 conductor hanging at a distance of about twelve feet from the 

 ground, opposite to a window in the north wall of the chancel. 

 A violent storm came on during the night from the 11th to the 



