Notes on the Churches 



a tower at the crossing : there are three doorways, one in the west 

 wall and one in the north and south walls of the aisles, near the 

 east end, that on the south having* a porch. 



The east walls of the transepts are evidently parts of an earlier 

 Church, for they are built of rubble masonry instead of wrought 

 stone like the rest, and they have no plinths (the connection of 

 the later work with them is clearly distinguishable on the outside), 

 but they had new parapets and buttresses added when the great 

 re-modelling took place at about 1400. 



The walls of the porch are also older, probably late twelfth or 

 early thirteenth century work, and they originally supported a roof 

 of stone, carried on moulded ribs — one of these ribs remains over 

 the outer doorway, and traces of another can be seen over the inner 

 doorway, which, if retained, would have interfered with the fifteenth 

 century niche, and to make room for this it was probably removed. 

 The line of the stone roof is also visible on the outside gable and 

 the old label terminals have been re-used for the later label. The 

 re-modelling of the porch took place after that of the south transept. 



To return to my description of the Church as re-modelled. It 

 will be seen that, whilst the design is perfect, the work is also of 

 the most solid and complete description — the whole of the re-built 

 walls are faced inside and outside with wrought stone, the tower is 

 divided into four stages in height, the two lower ones being open to 

 the interior and ceiled with a groined vault ; and light is admitted 

 to the crossing by windows in the north and south sides above the 

 transept roofs. The corbels supporting the angle ribs are carved 

 to represent kings and bishops alternately. The four piers of the 

 tower rest on stone bench-tables (which were probably the only seats 

 then used in the Church), but the bases are otherwise identical with 

 those of the nave arcade. 



The usual intention of transepts appears to have been to afford 

 more east wall space for altars, and that they were in this case used 

 as chapels is shewn by the four later niches, or reredos, inserted in 

 the wall of the north transept, and the piscina in that of the south. 

 There were no windows in these east walls, for the one now existing 

 in the latter is a modern insertion. The roof of the north transept 



