By Mr. Edward Kite. 



219 



portions display, it is evident that they are the work of no less 

 than four distinct periods. 



The Church, in its original state, was cruciform, and consisted 

 simply of Chancel, Transepts, and Nave, projecting from the four 

 sides of a central Tower. 



The whole of these older portions still remain, and constitute the 

 greater part of the present structure. Although they have, from 

 time to time, undergone considerable alterations, still enough is 

 left untouched to show what the building must have been in its 

 original state. 



The Tower, which is the most important feature, is, with the 

 exception of the parapet and pinnacles, almost unchanged externally. 

 As there were no Aisles until three centuries after its erection, the 

 Turret at the N.W. angle containing the staircase (now engaged 

 within the mass of the church) must have arisen from the ground 

 at the junction of the Nave and Transept walls. The Chancel and 

 Transepts also retain many of their original features in windows, 

 pilaster-buttresses, corbel-table, and mouldings. Among the latter 

 may be noticed the Chevron, or Zigzag, the Saw Tooth or Hatched, 

 the Embattled, the Nail Head, the Double Billet, the Beaded, the 

 Cable, the Scolloped, the Indented, &c. The Nave suffered con- 

 siderably by the addition of the Aisles, and therefore retains few 

 of its original ornaments. 



The style of architecture to which the older portions of the 

 building belong is the Late Romanesque, or Norman, and, with the 

 exception of Malmesbury Abbey, they are the finest example of it 

 in the county. Their date from the concurrence of the pointed 

 and the semicircular arch, may be fixed at about the middle of the 

 twelfth century. 



The Aisles were added about the middle of the fifteenth century, 

 and together with the Chapels on the North and South sides of the 

 Chancel, which are of two subsequent dates, exhibit specimens of 

 the Third Pointed, or Perpendicular style of architecture, which 

 was in use for nearly two centuries previous to the Reformation. 



The extreme length of the building from East to West is one 

 hundred and fourteen feet, and its greatest width sixty-eight feet. 



