Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/255

Rh of this ancient edifice, the division of its chancel, the stone benches which extend along the walls, and the stone altar peculiar in its form and position. The altar, benches and walls within the church, were plastered with a white substance now commonly known as china clay, and the floor is composed of the same material mixed with coarse sand. From the two doorways it will be observed that three steps lead down into the church; it seems to have been a feature of British structures to have the floor lower than the ground outside the walls, a peculiarity which is also found in the domestic buildings of early times which have been discovered. Of the doorway itself, destroyed soon after the first discovery, some notion maybe formed from the representation here given, copied from a sketch which was taken at that time. The carved heads and a portion of the moulding are preserved in the museum at Truro; it may deserve notice that their position presents a feature of analogy between this building and the ancient chapel at Clonmacnoise, near Seir Kyeran in King's County, supposed to have been founded by St. Piran, the doorway of which was ornamented in a similar manner. The rude character of the masonry is shewn in the accompanying wood-cut,