Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/293

Rh in it. Whether the corpse of a man were laid in the grave as soon as it was made, for security, and removed from time to time, to give access to the cavity within; or it were buried afterwards, as a bar against intrusive curiosity, can only be matter for conjecture. The man who could have formed so curious a place of concealment for the bodies of the infants, would not have scrupled to use any means for the accomplishment of his object; and the circumstance of the corpse having been wrapped in leather, had it been possible to ascertain the fact, might have shewn a provision for more ready removal, when access to the interior hiding-place was desired.

The frequent discoveries of mural decorations in colour, recently made even in small parish churches, on the removal of the thick coats of whitewash with which their walls for many successive years had been beautified, appear to establish the fact, that all churches, from the Norman times until the Reformation, were decorated with colour in a greater or less degree, both on the plane surfaces and the mouldings. Mr. Charles Dorrien has forwarded to the Committee sketches of subjects brought to light during the restoration of the church of Mid-Lavant, Sussex; these paintings, apparently of the latter part of the fifteenth century, are arranged in compartments, and seem to have formed a series representing the Sacraments and Services of the Church. One of them exhibited the rite of interment; the priest, vested in an alb, touches with the processional cross the corpse wrapped in the shroud, marked upon the breast with a large cross patée. On the south wall of the nave appeared a large figure of St. George, date, about t. Hen. VII. Mr. Dorrien remarked that indications were discernible of three successive decorations; the earliest being coeval with the fabric, and consisting of designs in outline in coarse red paint. Many traces of mural paintings have been found in the churches of that part of Sussex, but mostly foliated ornaments and zig-zag patterns.

A notice and representation of similar paintings, recently uncovered on the north side of the nave in Melcombe-Horsey church, Dorset, has been communicated by the Rev. Charles Bingham. They are in very imperfect condition, the design apparently of the earlier part of the fifteenth century. In one compartment appeared a gigantic St. Christopher, at whose feet were pourtrayed a siren and numerous fishes. Adjoining to this figure was seen St. Michael weighing a soul in the balance. Near to the personification of the departed spirit was introduced a figure, in very small proportions, with the right hand upraised in benediction, and a book in the left. It may possibly represent an ecclesiastic, supplicating mercy towards the deceased; there is no nimb around the head. The church is a building of Decorated character, without any portions of earlier date.

The attention of the Central Committee has been called, by Mr. Richard Hussey, to the existence of a good example of the domestic arrangements of the fourteenth century, in Somersetshire. The rectorial manor-house at Crewkerne, consists of the original buildings, apparently in the style of the reign of Edward II., with an addition in the Perpendicular style. It is in a very dilapidated condition, and will, probably, be soon pulled down to