238 The Churches of Purton and Wanborough. 



The plan consists of nave with north and south aisles, north and 

 south porches, chancel, and western tower. There is also a sacristy 

 on the north side of the chancel. Although there is a spire between 

 the nave and chancel there can hardly be considered to be a central 

 tower on plan. The roofs of nave and aisles are continued through, 

 and the easternmost bays of nave and aisles, which are narrower 

 than the rest, are cut off from them by archways, that across the 

 nave forming (what for want of a better term I will call) the lower 

 part of the lantern, and those across the aisles, north and south 

 chapels. 



From fragments of Norman work to be seen in the walls of the 

 nave, it is evident that the present Church is built on the site of an 

 earlier one, and partly of the same materials. 



The earliest parts of the present Church are the nave, aisles, and 

 lantern turret with spire. These all appear to have been erected at 

 the same time, and afford an interesting study, and a conspicuous in- 

 stance of the superior value of mouldings over all other architectural 

 features as a guide to the date of the work. 



At a first glance the square-headed windows of the aisles, with their 

 flat cusping, and those of the lantern might be taken for Perpendicular 

 work of a late, almost debased, type; but, on a closer inspection, it 

 will be found that these are almost a century earlier, probably not 

 later than 1380 to 1400, and that this is another instance of Tran- 

 sitional work embracing features of both the period preceding it 

 and that which followed. Thus the strings of the lantern at I. and 

 K., Plate III. (the latter shewn in detail by Fig. 5, Plate IV.) ; 

 the plan of the piers of nave arcade, with their bases (Figs. 3 and 

 4) ; and the necking and abacus of their caps (Fig. 2, Plate IV.) ; 

 as well as the two boldly-projecting square buttresses ; the moulded 

 copings at L., Plate III., and the buttress weatherings, Fig. 7, 

 Plate IV., are distinctly " Decorated " in type, and the peculiar 

 character of the cusping to the lantern windows, Fig, 6, redeems 

 them from the late period which might otherwise be assigned to 

 them. 



The lantern, with its lower lights, spire, and dormers, is an un- 

 usual and very striking feature, and the manner in which it is 



