Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/253

 THE SIllMXli 01' ST. ALBAN. 205 upper arches only one lias been wholly recovered, but consi- derable portions of others remain where they have joined the cornice. The buttresses havt; terminated with pinnacles, a large part of one of which remains, but not enough to fix its lieight with absolute certainty. In the lower step of the shrine, that which was found still in sif/(, in the pavement of the church, there are six curiously-shaped sinkings, which, till lately, were often pointed out as the positions of the pillars which carried the shrine ; they are now found to be quite outside of it, and range three on each side, exactly opposite alternate buttresses. One stone has been found, which fits and explains the shape of the marks. It is a sub-base, made up of three octagons, and evidently intended to carry a triple pillar.^ No corre- sponding upper base or capital has been found, but there are a number of fragments, made up of three circular shafts twisted together, which fragments, however, do not corre- spond sufficiently to enable us by fitting them together to obtain a complete column, and so obtain the height. These six pillars probably carried the six candles, which, as early as the time of Abbot William dc Trumpington, were placed round the body of the saint. They are much too slender to have carrieil a canopy over the shrine, and those at the corners are not placed as we should expect to find them had such been their purpose. Except the heads of the niches inside, which are of chalk, the whole shrine, and its steps, buttresses, and candlesticks are of Purbeck marble, the hardness of which has not pre- vented its being worked with the utmost elaboration. The ])ieces have been run together with lead, and in one case where a groove was made too large for the panel it was to receive, it was evenly lined throughout with lead, to reduce it to the right size. Some of the stones used were very large ; for instance, all the four pediments on the south side and the figures in their spandrels were worked in a single slab, and the heads of the ten niches were formed out of only four blocks of chalk. On the other hand, very small pieces have been used ; in sonic parts even the mouldings are worked separately, and i)]ante(l on to plain i^anels ; the smaller pieces have been secured to their places with what appears to be pitch. It seems as if the heads of the ' Sue wood-cut on p. 211.