Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/347

 LOW SIDE WINDOWS. 323 window, but merely a square opening in the lower part of one light of a late two-light Perpendicular window, having the wooden shutter and the iron-work remaining It is in the usual situation on the south side of the chancel {a) ; but the opening would be entirely concealed from almost every point of view by a buttress supporting the central tower, which projects immediately in front of it, and so close to it as to prevent any person from standing or kneeling on the outside of it, but a hole is cut through the buttress {d) in a direct line with this opening, either for the purpose of enabling some person to see out, or to make a light in the window visible to passers by. The distance from the outside of the buttress to the opening appears too great for the purpose of confession. From the jamb of this window is a squint into the south transept. A very singular example occurs in Winchester College chapel, on the south side, near the screen ; one of the lights of a three-light window is divided by a transom with an arched head under it ; the hinges of the shutter remain : it is now blocked up by one of the buttresses of the tower, which was built about fifty years after the chapel, but as the foundations are known to have given way, this buttress is probably of later date. The low side opening is about ten feet from the ground, both inside and outside, which does not seem to agree with any one of the theories for its use. The theories and conjectures that have been started to account for these openings are almost endless. 1. They were called lychnoscopes by the Cambridge Cam- den Society, on the assumption that they were for the purpose of watching the paschal light, a theory which the Society has since acknowledged to be untenable. 2 The theory which is at present most prevalent is that they were confessionals. This is said to be the oldest, and to be supported by tradition. It has lately received addi- tional support from jIr. E. J. Carlos, who called attention, in the Gentleman's jMagazine for October, 1846, to the follow- ing passage in a letter from Bedyll to Cromwell at the time of the suppression of monasteries : " We think it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward con- fession of all comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and that use to be foredone for ever." This passage applies only to the monks of a particular order ; but Mr. Carlos ob-