By C. H. Talbot, 



339 



lit by two small windows. This is said to have been the " Con- 

 sistory," and as Corsham was formerly what is called a Peculiar, 

 the vicar having had probate of wills, the records connected therewith 

 were, no doubt, kept here. The vestry seems to have been reduced 

 j in size at the " restoration," but it retains an original arched doorway, 

 in a partition wall, surmounted by some very good wood panelling, 

 | with the remains of painting and gilding. This chapel, on its 

 I erection, had absorbed the south transept, 1 by the removal of its 

 j east wall, just as the north nave aisle had absorbed the north 

 transept, by the removal of its west wall. The chapel opened into 

 ■A the south nave aisle by an early pointed arch of the old transept. 

 ! In modern times, an arch, in imitation of this one, was erected 

 ] on the site of the demolished east wall of the transept. At the 

 j " restoration," the ancient arch was actually removed, and the 

 ' modern arch retained, and part of the panelled wooden ceiling of 

 the chapel may be seen, in what has now become an extension of 

 B the south nave aisle. This is a good ceiling, which appears never 

 j to have been quite finished, 2 having a very low pitch, like that of 

 ' the chancel, though the pitch of the actual roof is a high one. 

 l An original window of this chapel, in perfect condition, was 

 j removed at the " restoration," and a new tower and spire erected 

 : to the south of it. The terminals of this window appear to have 

 been re-used, in the new window, in the tower. 



The south aisle of the nave is, to all intents, Perpendicular. Its 

 west window has tracery of flowing lines, and has very much the 

 appearance of Decorated, but I do not think it differs much, if at 

 j all, in date, 3 from the side windows. I believe it to be a Decorated 



1 The weathering or dripstone of the high-pitched roof, which once existed, to 

 » this transept, remained, on the south side of the central tower, and appears in 

 j the photograph which I have referred to above. The Early English lancet 

 j window, on that face, was in the centre, and came down lower than the one on 

 I the west face. The point of the drip was under it, showing the roof of the 

 transept, in the thirteenth century, to have been much lower than that of the nave. 

 ; 2 The mouldings are not finished at the mitres. 



j 3 1 have been asked to state my reasons for not classing this window as 

 Decorated. The hood-moulding has some reminiscence of Decorated, but as muoh 

 or more of Perpendicular character ; but the most conclusive evidonce of the date 



i of the window is that the jambs are all of one work with the adjacent Perpendicular 



