244 The Churches of Purton and Wanhorough, 



We were able, however, to successfully open out and secure (by 

 pouring- in thin cement) nearly the whole of a beautiful fresco to 

 the west of the north doorway, near the font. It is of fifteenth 

 century date, and is now a sort of palimpsest, having had a seven- 

 teenth century or Elizabethan covering- of scrollwork enclosing 

 black lettering, painted over it. The portion of the fresco left 

 represents Our Lord's entry into Jerusalem. The upper part of the 

 principal figure, who is riding on a yoked ass, is nearly obliterated, 

 but the lower parts are sufficiently clear. To the right is a some- 

 what indistinct figure laying down garments on the approach of 

 the cavalcade, whilst above a figure is seen as if throwing down 

 flowers or leaves ; the latter is well preserved. The whole is en- 

 closed under an arcade of two bays, which was apparently carried 

 further westward; and the head of a second ass following is dis- 

 cernible. 



A comparison of these two Churches will at once show that their 

 both having a spire at the east end and a tower at the west end of 

 the nave is an accident so far as the earlier features — the spires- 

 are concerned, or at any rate that there was no intention of making 

 the one like the other. Purton has a central tower, of ordinary 

 construction, carried up directly from piers, and finished above the 

 roof as a tower, and the spire placed within its parapet : whilst the 

 corresponding feature at Wanborough is little more than a turret, 

 resting on arches, not growing out of any direct support from the 

 ground, and capped with a spire. They are, moreover, quite 

 different in detail. It is curious, however, that the central feature 

 and the western tower of each should be so similar in style, and by 

 inference near in date, to the corresponding part of the other. The 

 central and western steeples of each Church belong, however, to 

 periods sufficiently far apart to entirely discredit the local legend 

 which accounts for the double-steepled arrangement. This venerable 

 fiction makes it the result of a compromise between two sisters, 

 founders of the Church, one of whom wanted a tower, and the other 

 a spire, the difference being happily settled by adorning the building 

 with the favourite feature of each. 



