412 
ANTIQUITIES 
these niches are in a different style of arcli_, and were pro- 
bably not formed at the same time.] 
In tlie middle aisle there is nothing remarkable; but 
I remember when its beams were hung with garlands in 
honour of young women of the parish, reputed to have died 
virgins/ and recollect to have seen the clerk's wife cutting, 
in white paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to 
be twisted into knots and roses, to decorate these memo- 
rials of chastity. In the church of Faringdon, which is the 
next parish, many garlands of this sort still remain. [The 
pulpit is placed at the eastern end of the middle aisle. At 
the western end is an organ loft and organ : the latter being 
a gift of the Rev. William Cobbold, a former vicar, to his 
parishioners.] 
The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, 
reaching within nine or ten feet of the floor. It had origi- 
nally a flat roof covered with lead, till, within a century past, 
a churchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to 
have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the 
money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason ; 
because the north side of the churchyard, being surrounded 
by the vicarage garden, affords no path to that side of the 
church. Nothing can be more irregular than the pews of 
this church, which are of all dimensions and heights, being 
patched up according to the fancy of the owners; but 
whoever nicely examines them will find that the middle 
aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of solid 
oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we 
should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present 
church ; and especially as it is to be observed that, at their 
ends, they are ornamented with carved blunt Gothic niches, 
exactly correspondent to the arches of the church, and to a 
niche in the south wall. The south aisle also has a row of 
1 Virgin garlands were originally formed of real flowers, and garlands 
so made are often alluded to by our old dramatists. We believe that 
the custom referred to still prevails amongst the peasantry in some parts 
©f Yorkshire and Westmoreland. — Ed. 
