Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/236

208 shire, has the west gable built up to a square top, instead of the usual pyramidal form, and surmounted by a corbel-table of transition Norman character, so that it is evidently original work, while the other three sides of the bell-tower are of wood, and must always have been so, for there are no preparations for carrying stone walls on these sides.

The more usual fashion is to have the bell-cot built upon the west wall and carried up above the roof; examples of this kind in Norman work are not common, but they may be found, as at Adel, Yorkshire, Northborough, (5) Northamptonshire, and in other instances. Another position for the bell-cot is between the nave and chancel, being built upon the wall of separation or immediately over the chancel-arch; a good example of this arrangement, which generally has a very picturesque effect, occurs at Binsey, (8) near Oxford, in transition Norman work, and in Early English work the well-known instance of Skelton, Yorkshire, may be mentioned as proof of the elegant effect which may be produced by this arrangement. Another elegant example occurs at Little Coxwell, (6) Berkshire. More usually however, when the bell-cot is found in this situation, it is small, and intended for the Sanctus bell only. In Decorated and Perpendicular work examples of the Sanctus bell-cot are common, and frequently very elegant, sometimes with pinnacles, as at Idbury, (7) Oxfordshire, more often without them, and sometimes very plain; instances occur of the bell remaining, as at Idbury, and still used as the little bell to announce the arrival of the clergyman, but such examples are comparatively rare. This small bell-cot may also be found