300 



" Andover and its Neighbourhood" 



purchased with money left for that purpose by Bishop Wykeham. 

 When it was conveyed to the College there was a stipulation made 

 that Nicholas Gwyn, the last prior, should receive a pension for his 

 life of fifty-two marks. The annual value of the priory in 1 Henry 

 VI. appears by the charter of that King, confirming the title of the 

 college, to have been one hundred and ten marks. The college had to 

 pay to Queen Joan, consort of Henry IV., twenty marks. A frag- 

 ment of ivied wall in the churchyard was probably a portion of the old 

 priory. The present Church stands almost on the site of the old 

 one. A sketch of the old Church now hangs in the vestry. The 

 principal doorway of the old Church stands at the west entrance 

 to the churchyard. It is a good specimen of bold Norman work. 

 Judging from the sketch of the old Church it would seem that 

 the nave was of transition work, the tower Norman, and the 

 chancel debased Perpendicular. The present Church — Early 

 English in character, and built of Caen Stone and flint — was erected 

 entirely at the expense of the Rev. Dr. Goddard, the Head Master 

 of Winchester College. The cost was said to have been from 

 twenty-five to thirty thousand pounds. Several of the monuments 

 which were in the old Church are missing. Some are in the vestry 

 and in the vestibule of the Church, and two, which were memorials 

 of two liberal benefactors of the town, were placed in the tower 

 where no person could see them ; indeed, so thoroughly were they 

 concealed from the eye of the public that persons born in the town 

 had never seen them. I have had one of them placed on the north 

 and the other on the south of the chancel. The one near the vestry 

 door is to the memory of Richard Kemish, whose will was proved 

 in 1611. The other is to the memory of R. Venables, who died in 

 1621. The old brass plate on the wall near the Venables monument, 

 bears an inscription to the memory of Nicholas Venables. 



The inscription on the centre panel of the Kemish monument is : — 



" Here lyeth the Lady Ann Lawarr the 1st wife of Thos. Olver Esq., 

 2nd of the Rt Hon Sir Wm "West Kt. Lord Lawarr on whose right hand 

 lyeth her mother Elizth the wife of Hen: Swift Esq & on her left hand 

 lyeth Rich Kemish Gent, her late husband who gave to the town £400 

 to purchase land, perpetual payment of 5£ to Lectr. 5£ to ye Free School, 

 5£ for bread & 5£ to ye poor every Good Friday." 



