Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/377

 AND NOTICE OF THE CHURCH AT THAT PLACE. 269 if looking towards each other. Their dress is the close- fitting ungraceful gown of the times of Edward IV., with furred collar and cuffs. The inscriptions are as follows : — " Hie jacet Ehzabeth Echyngh'm filia primogenita Thome ct Margarete Echyngh'm, q^ obiit tercio die decembris, A° D'ni M° cccc" lij"." And, — " Hie jacet Agnes Oxenbrigg fiha Rob'ti Oxenbrigg q" obiit iiij" die augusti A" D'n'i M°, cccc", Ixxx". quor' animabus p'picietur deus, Amen." I will now proceed briefly to notice the churcli in wdiich these memorials are preserved. On descending from Hare- raere, — originally Haremeld or Haremele, — the ancient seat of the family of that name, of wdiich Milo de Haremele is mentioned in the reign of Henry II., the church of Etching- ham appears pleasantly situated in the centre of a basin- shaped valley, formed by the ridges of hills which dip into it on all sides, at a short distance from the Hother. The date of its original erection is not known ; that of its restoration has been fixed at 1350. I should conceive it to be rather later. William de Echyngham, by whom it w^as restored, was only seventeen in that year, and had hardly entered upon the estate, w^hicli was then much involved ; from the donations he made to Adam de Foxle, parson of Etchingham, in 1362, as well as from its transitional archi- tectural features, I should suggest a later year, probably 1 3 70, as a more accurate date. Rickman describes it as a curious church, partly Decorated, partly Perpendicular. It is of very lofty but irregular elevation, and its plan comiirises chancel, nave, two aisles, a square massive central tow^er, a stair turret towards the north-east, with south porch. The interior is spacious, the nave and aisles appear of rougher w^orkmansliip than the chancel ; and the work of William de Echyngham, perhaps, was specially directed to the enlargement and decoration of the chancel and of the windows tln-oughout. The east window contains five lights ; there are three on the north and south sides of the chancel, of two lights. Those to the north are in part filled in with stone, but in all yvo- bability they were originally uniform wdth the others ; and these, as well as the west window, and those of the aisles, were decorated by William do Echyngham with stained glass, of which scarcely a vestige now remains. In 1784, Grimm made elaborate drawings of them, and they would well repay the attention of the Archaeologist as displaying