Page:A History of Cawthorne.djvu/112

 because this Paulinus was Bishop of Nola in Campania at the beginning of that fifth century. The first authentic record of a bell in use in this country occurs in Bede, who mentions the existence of one at Whitby in the year 680. From that time they steadily increased in number, and Saxon laws gave encouragement to bell-founding. Of the few Saxon buildings indeed which have weathered eight centuries, a large proportion are towers with a definite belfry stage. The fondness of mediæval builders for the music of bells is attested by the number and grandeur of their steeples, the bells for which were often cast within the Church, and then solemnly consecrated with a form of service following that of baptism, the bell having two godfathers and a godmother from whom it received its name. Bells were originally intended to be rung separately, but the introduction of change-ringing in the seventeenth century led to the recasting of old bells to make them into harmonious peals.

The first peal of bells in England was put up in Croyland Abbey, A.D. 870.

The new Clock, by Gillett and Bland of Croydon, was given by the late General Stanhope, and a third face was added on the west side of the tower.

The Ordnance Survey Bench-mark is on the south side of the Tower.

has been entirely rebuilt, taking the place of one which was built in 1828, of that very poor modern character which acquired the name of "Churchwardens' Gothic" at a time when churchwardens and clergy were equally unhappy in what they called restorations and improvements. The Aisle is now extended to take in the width of of the Tower, from which it may be entered by the new arch mentioned above.

The Font stands nearly opposite the door from the South Porch, near the Tower, thus by its position at the entrance of the material fabric fitly representing Baptism to us as the outward form of admission into the spiritual building of the Christian Church. It is an