By the Rev. W. E. Jones. 



285 



the subject, because such an opinion implies the existence of a 

 previous church on the same site, differing both in size and ground- 

 plan from what we should have expected. Of the dates of the 

 other portions of the structure there can be but little doubt ; the 

 piers on the south side of the nave would be about the date of a.d. 

 1220 ; those on the north side, some 30 or 40 years later, or about 

 1260. The tower, arch, and side chapels, together with the porch, 

 would appear to have been added in the middle of the following 

 century, or about a.d. 1350. The present tower and chancel, 

 together with the aisles, were built probably about a.d. 1500, since 

 which time there does not seem to have been any material alteration 

 in the fabric. 



In the ancient font belonging to this church you have a relic of 

 great interest. Certainly as early as the 12th, possibly the 11th 

 century, it has been preserved without injury through all the 

 successive changes that the structure of the church has undergone. 

 It is made of stone, circular in form, and of rude workmanship ; — 

 the exterior is decorated with simple ornaments, consisting of little 

 more than a series of round pillars, with semicircular arches. 

 Possibly some twenty-four generations, from father to son, may 

 have been baptized in that same massive font. It seems to have 

 been a custom to refuse interment in the churchyard to those who 

 had not received Christian Baptism. The very first entry in the 

 oldest remaining parish register is of the date of 1678, and records 

 the burial of 'a stranger in Chilvercombe Bottom/ This is a 

 lonely hollow on the downs, which, even till as late a period as 1746, 

 was used literally as a i field to bury strangers in.' 



One word may be said concerning the present Altar Table. The 

 top is moveable, and underneath it is an arrangement like that of 

 a * telescope table,' by which it may be drawn out, and increased to 

 nearly three times its apparent size. At the time of celebration 

 of Holy Communion, the table was brought into the body of the 

 church, standing east and west, and the communicants ranged them- 

 selves round it. No doubt it was constructed in compliance with 

 the Ordinances of .1643, which, amongst other things, enjoined 'that 

 all Altars and Tables of stone should be taken down and demolished, 



