Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/259

 THE SHIUNE OF ST. AL13AX. 209 ami caiullesticks, AvLicli Lciug slcii«lei-, and detached from the main structure, would be very likely to be broken away, and to disappear durin.i^ the fourteen years in which the churcli was disused, and probably neglected. The complete recovery of the main structure, and the circumstance that fragments of the same parts Yerc usually found near together, shows that the shrine was broken to pieces at the same time as the walls in which it has been found were being built, and most likely fur the express purpose of supplying matei-ial for them. Besides those of the shrine of St. Alban tiicre have been found, both in the arches I have spoken of and in other parts of the church, a large number of other fragments, many of which are of great beauty. These, though cared for, are as yet very imperfectly sorted and fitted together, owing to the want of special funds for the purpose, and the unwillingness of the Restoration Committee to do it out of the general fund at their disposal. We have, however, been able to identify sufficient of the shrine of Amphibalus to give us its design complete except the plinth, of which somewhat oddl}-- none has yet been found. It is of chalk, and in the disposi- tion of its parts much resembles the shrine of St. Alban, but is much smaller, being only about six feet long and three feet broad. There are only two bays to each side, and one at each end, and the divisions between them are more marked than in the other shrine. The figures between the gables are con- tained in niches, the canopies of which form part of the cornice, and there do not appear to have been any detached buttresses. The panels of basement are ornamented with curious interlacing tracer}-, amongst which at one end are letters forming the words ^t's ampbibalus, and at the sides the initials inv, together with fleur-de-lys and dogs' faces. The initials are, as ][r. ]Iackenzie Walcott has pointed out, those of Ralph "Whytcherche, a sacrist who placed the feretrum of Amphibalus on a tomb of white stone — operis interasilis. On one end of the shrine there are considerable remains of colour and gilding, but the remainder appears never to have been painted. Considering the large number of images which have been removed from the adjoining parts of the church, particularly from the great reredos, it is remarkable that so few fragments of statuary have been found in the walls which have been VOL. XXIX. G o