Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/56

38 arch between the cardinal sides of the belfry, which are enriched by shafts. The lower part of the belfry forms, in its section, a cross, the upper part an octagon, of which the cardinal sides are smaller than the diagonals. The spire being equilateral, its angles evidently do not correspond with those of the turret, and there is also a small space left upon each of the cardinal sides, uncovered by the spire; this is filled up by what appears to be the base of a pinnacle, the upper part of which has been destroyed. This belfry is also of Early English character, though the chancel-arch, and indeed the whole of the church, leads me to believe that in point of date it belongs to the period in which the Decorated style prevailed. The reason why shafts are introduced, both in this and the last, is obvious, namely, to form a graceful finish to the diagonal openings, and to give the impost the character of a clustered pier instead of a bare wall. This belfry is also central, and the addition of a south aisle gives, in some aspects, a very picturesque outline to the church, which contains other portions worth notice, for instance a late stone pulpit, and some beautiful tabernacle-work at the east end, in the interior, the east window being blocked up. Leigh Delamere is about eight miles from Chippenham, to the northwest.

The belfry of Corston church stands upon the west gable, and in its construction is perhaps the most elegant of any. Here the transverse block springs from a corbel immediately above the west window, and is carried, as at Harescomb, up to the base of the spire as a wall, dividing, in two equal portions, the space between the northern and southern piers. Here the diagonals of the spire can neither be said to rest upon an arch, as at Leigh Delamere, nor to be supported like an entablature,