Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/24

xiv have been pulled down, as no longer necessary, on the proprietor of the estate founding a chantry in, that is, as an addition to, the parish church; which, as even the following Notes will show, see particularly that on Poynings, Sussex, was frequently done. There is reason to suppose, that other, perhaps many, chapels, beside those specially named hereafter, once existed in various parts of our three counties.

In investigating the period, to which the erection of individual churches should be assigned, I doubt if sufficient attention be generally paid to the material, of which the building is constructed. My own experience leads me to imagine, that occasionally some clue to the date may be afforded by the kind of stone, which may have been principally used. A few years ago the accumulated whitewash of centuries was scraped from the arches of Rottingdean church, Sussex, when, among the Caen stone chiefly employed, beside several pieces of the county sandstone, appeared numerous others of a sort, which was new to two persons of considerable experience in such matters, one as an architect, the other as a stonemason. Subsequently I embraced every opportunity of searching elsewhere for this stone; and the result is, that I have discovered small portions in many churches in this neighbourhood, where they may have been old stones worked up again; the more ancient the edifice, the greater being the prospect of finding specimens. It is remarkable also, that such specimens occur as if in their primary position, where the strongest marks of antiquity exist. For example: at St. John's sub Castro, Lewes, see the Note, the original part of the very curious arch consists of the stone in question. It is likewise present in the ribs of the tower, as well as in the foundation of the east end, of Sompting church, also in Sussex. The two churches of Corhampton and Warnford in Hampshire both exhibit specimens, but with a striking variation: in the former the stone remains in the ornamental parts, namely, in the chancel-arch, and in the distinctive ribs upon the outer walls, as if so placed from the first ; whereas in the latter it is mixed up among other stones, not being the sole, nor the chief, material used. Now Corhampton, as well as Sompting, is a generally admitted relic of Anglo-Saxon workmanship, while Warnford cannot probably date earlier than Norman times. Again; of the splendid Norman church of Romsey, Hampshire, the greater proportion certainly, if not the whole, is constructed of this stone, even including the exterior walls of the western end, which was completed in the