Page:An Old English Home and Its Dependencies.djvu/112



S the manor-house with its hall was the centre of the organization for civil purposes, so was the Church the religious centre of the parish. In a considerable number of cases it certainly occupies the place of the older temple, in which the thane or chief was godi or priest as well as law-man in his hall. This was not always the case; a good many of our churches are of later and exclusively Christian foundation, and were then planted in such place as was determined by quite other considerations. The parish church is full of interest connected with the parish, it has been built and decorated by the ancestors of the humble