Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/227

 MORWENSTOW blazing with gorse or red with heather, and the background of sparkling blue sea half-way up the sky- — from such a height above the shore is it looked upon — form a picture, once seen, never to be forgotten." There are two wells near — that of St. John the Baptist, to whom the church is dedicated, and that of Morwenna, tumbling to the sea from half-way down the cliff. The church consists of chancel, nave and two aisles ; its rough font is probably the earliest relic it contains (tenth century). In the N. aisle are Norm, arches with beautiful zigzag moulding ; two other arches here are transition E.E. The zigzag was interpreted symbolically by Hawker, as " the ripple of the lake of Genesareth, the spirit breathing upon the waters of baptism " ; but the beauty of such interpretation must not be taken for archaeologic accuracy. A carved vine creeps from the chancel down the church, and in this a symbolic meaning is quite admissible. " Its root is where the eastern sunbeams fall First in the chancel ; then along the wall Slowly it travels on, a leafy line, With here and there a cluster, and anon More and more grapes, until the growth hath gone Through arch and aisle." The S. arcade is much later than the N., one capital bearing the date 1564. Some of the fine bench-ends peculiar to this district remain, but the screen, rescued and recon- structed after mutilation by Mr. Hawker, has now been " restored " away. The nave door is good Norm. ; the piscina E.E. 191