By C. E. Pouting, F.S.A. 



27 



in 1398 ; the inscription is remarkable as giving the Dominical 

 letter for the year (E). 1 The manor of Chadenwyche (now pro- 

 nounced Oharnage), together with much other property in Wilts 

 and elsewhere, went to his only daughter Elizabeth, wife of Sir 

 John Berkeley, Kt., and the chantry was then known as " Berkeley's 

 Chantry." 2 



In the floor of the sanctuary of the chapel are the remains of 

 another brass, supposed to be that of Sir J ohn Berkeley, who died 

 1426-7. 3 This is described by Aubrey 4 as that " of a Chevalier 

 with a Greyhound at his feet ; his wife's effigies is lost, as also the 

 escutcheons and inscription : " the brass was then more complete, 

 but it appears to have become reduced to its present condition by 

 Hoare's time. 



Under the eastern arch is a Purbeck marble altar-tomb with the 

 sides enriched by elaborate tracery with shields. There was a brass 

 on one of the shields (that on the west side) but this, together with 

 the inscription, was lost before Aubrey's visit. The tomb is coeval 

 with the screens, and it may well have marked the burying-place 

 of the first Lord Stourton (referred to later), who died in 1463, and 

 who doubtless assisted in the great work of re-modelling the Church 

 which was then drawing to a close. 



This seems to be a suitable place at which to mention the con- 

 siderable slope of the floor of the chapel from north to south, in the 

 direction of the natural fall of the site : this has been jealously 

 preserved in the recent works of restoration, as a striking instance 

 of the practice which I believe was very general in mediaeval times. 

 The floor of the entire Church seems to have followed the same 

 lines, for it has been levelled up at the south porch to the extent of 

 loin., as indicated by the benches in the porch and the stops of the 

 door jambs ; and the bases of the south arcade of the nave are 5-} in. 

 lower than those on the north. 



Kite's Wilts Brasses, p. 23. 

 2 See Appendix F. 

 :t Kite, p. 31. 

 4 Jackson's Aubrey, p. 387. 



