By C. U. Ponting, F.S.A. 



215 



at the feet of these (the lion and the eagle) symbolize St. Mark and 

 St. John. The truss against the east wall was supported by similar 

 corbels set diagonally across the angles, whilst on the west, against 

 the tower, where the arch precluded this, the corbels are carried by 

 an octagonal shaft standing on grotesques. On the east wall, flanking 

 the window, are two niches of very elaborate design and delicate 

 construction, the slender proportion of their tabernacle work (the 

 smaller shafts of which are only fin square) being suggestive of 

 wood rather than stone. Both bear evidence of rich gilding and 

 colouring beneath the whitewash, and the spirit shown in their 

 handicraft by the respective workmen is very instructive ; for whilst 

 Bishop Edington's artist gilded every part, even where hidden from 

 view behind the canopies ; the churchwardens' whitewasher only 

 smeared over the parts which can be seen from below — or perhaps 

 the latter was more sparing of his whitewash than the former of his 

 gold ! The niche on the north is richer in some minor points of 

 detail than that on the south ; and as the Church is dedicated to the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary and S. Katherine (with All Saints) I would 

 suggest the probability that figures of the two principal saints 

 occupied these niches, and that of Our Lady the richer one on the 

 north. 



Before I leave the chancel I must allude to a singular combination 

 of features, which, so far as I know, has not hitherto attracted 

 notice. In the centre of the south side is a doorway (which, 

 doubtless, from its plain external appearance, has been considered 

 " modern," and is described as such by Canon Jackson, who informs 

 me that this was the opinion of the Rev. E. "Wilton, who had lived 

 nearly all his life in or near Edington, and was much interested in 

 the Church) . This doorway is richly moulded on the inside, and 

 the label is carried up as an ogee canopy, with flanking pinnacles 

 and crockets, and dies into the string course as shewn in my longi- 

 tudinal section. But the rebate for the door is on the outside, where 

 the western jamb and arch have a small plain chamfer, whilst the 

 eastern jamb is deeply splayed off. This was evidently not originally 

 an outside entrance to the chancel as at present, but opened into a 

 long narrow chamber against the two eastern bays. Referring to 



VOL. XXV. — NO. LXXIV. Q 



