NOTES ON MOORLAND CHURCHES. 195 
The arcade on each side of the nave consists of five bays. The por- 
tion of the roof which covers three of these bays westward, is between 
four and five feet higher than that of the eastern portion of the 
nave, and this double level of the nave roof has a peculiar external 
appearance. It may be accounted for in this way: the tower is of 
later date than the church, and is said to have been voluntarily 
built by a company of successful tinners who had worked some 
neighbouring mines. They did not regard cost, and were only 
desirous that their tower should be, as it is, the glory of the Moor. 
They gave it, therefore, an elevation of more than ninety feet, and 
designed a lofty arch to open into the church; which arch, however, 
they found rose considerably above the then existing roof of the 
nave. Thinking, perhaps, more of the tower than of the appearance 
of the rest of the church, they raised the westera portion of the 
roof (both of nave and aisles), leaving the eastern part on its original 
level. This supposition is borne out by the appearance of the 
masonry, and the indications in the north and south aisle walls that 
the sills of the windows have been raised. There is nothing, in 
my opinion, to bear out satisfactorily the other conjecture, that 
the church originally terminated further eastward than now, and 
that the three bays were added when the tower was built. The 
pillars, arches, and roof, all correspond in detail, and the masonry 
of the tower is almost independent of that of the chancel, showing 
clearly, I think, that it was a separate erection. 
For beauty of proportion this tower has been compared to 
Magdalen Tower, Oxford; and for sharpness and finish of detail it 
probably may rank first amongst the granite towers of the west. It 
is in three stages, and from the plinth to the parapet is exceedingly 
bold and effective in style. It terminates at the top with a fine 
battlement, and large and handsome octagonal pinnacles five feet in 
diameter, each crocketed and surmounted with a cross. 
This noble tower, built by men who gave of their wealth to God, 
and who said— 
‘Tigh heaven rejects the lore 
Of nicely-calculated less or more,” 
has suffered no injury from time, or the ruder hand of the so-called 
‘reformer ;”’ but it is sad to see the church erected by our pious 
fathers of the fifteenth century, not only now shorn of its original 
embellishments and of much of its proper furniture, but in places 
actually in a ruinousand dangerous condition. Something has already 
been done towards its restoration, but much more is required. 
