18 



Notes on the Churches 



perhaps prolonged, example of the method employed in building the 

 Churches of the early Middle Ages. 



There are here, as in most cases, many subsequent alterations and 

 additions. At the west end the last bays of the nave arcades were 

 shortened, probably early in the fourteenth century, for the erection 

 of the tower. At that time the tower appears not to have had the 

 aisles continued past it as at present ; these were added and the side 

 arches cut through some fifty years later. Traces of a coeval arch 

 may be seen in the east wall of the tower, over the present one. 



Buttresses were built on the outside to resist the thrust of 

 these arches, and as it was probably found that the east wall 

 was giving way under the increased weight a new arch was 

 constructed within the previous one, and arches were built across 

 the aisles. A staircase for access was at the same time carried up 

 on the south side, forming a clumsy block on the interior. The 

 tracery of the west window has been renewed. 



The next addition was the Dauntsey Chapel, erected outside the 

 south aisle, opposite the transept, about 1430. It is probable that 

 this chapel did not originally communicate with the Church, for the 

 present archway between it and the aisle is an elliptic one of 

 Elizabethan character, built of chalk or clunch, the soffit being 

 enriched with an ornament formed by four Ds united within a square 

 panel ; the same device appears in some post-Reformation glass in 

 the west window here, which has been made up together with older 

 glass in which the chalice appears. It is doubtless intended as the 

 initial of either the Dauntsey or Danvers family, or both, for they j j 

 were united at this time. The former entrance to the chapel was 

 by a doorway in the west wall, now built up. An arch is carried 

 across from this chapel to support the clerestory. 



There is a Perpendicular recessed tomb, with the effigy of an 

 unknown individual, and good later monuments which have been \ 

 described by the Vicar. 



The last addition to the plan was the Beckett Chapel, erected on ,„ ( 

 the south side of the chancel towards the end of the fifteenth l 

 century — about 1480. This must have been a richly-ornamented ^ 

 work. The windows are all square-headed, but well traceried ; the j Sj 



