Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/269

Rh the west end of the north aisle. It has been largely patched, but from the buttresses the wall of the chancel would appear to be Norm., or at least Tr. Norm., for the windows, of which some frames remain, were pointed, but rebated for glass on the outside. The interior is Tr. Norm., verging into E.E. Four Perp. windows have been inserted. In the exterior angle between the tower and the north wall of the north aisle has been a low pointed opening, possibly a door, and apparently there was access thence to the tower, in the wall of which are projecting stones, as if to protect a roof. In the north wall of the chancel is a recessed tomb with figures, but no name. Brasses: John and Eliz. Shelley, 1526. (Monum. Brasses, 72, 130.) In the south wall John and Mary Shelley, 1550, figures of both with children, boys behind the father, girls behind the mother, John and Elinor Shelley. South of the churchyard stands a large farm-house, exhibiting evidence of some antiquity.

61. —Is joined with Keymer, "Cleyton et Kynore," in (A.D. 1291); also in (Val. Eccl.), where Keymer is styled a chapel. They are still thus connected, though the population of Keymer very greatly exceeds that of Clayton. The exterior of this very small church is so unpromising, that I was quite unprepared for finding in the interior anything of so much interest as it contains. It comprises only chancel and nave, with a north porch, and a large shingle-covered bell-turret in the west end. The chancel is E.E.; all the window-frames have recently been renewed, but their splays appear to be untouched. The east window is an insertion within the original E.E. arch. Those on the northern side have shafts with foliated capitals at the angles of the splays, rich, but sadly disfigured by lime wash. Those on the southern side are plain. The chancel arch is round, very massive, and in general features precisely of similar character to, though in detail somewhat differing from, those, which are considered Anglo-Saxon examples. (Comp. chancel-arch, Wittering, Northants, Gloss, of Archit. pl. IV, 3d ed., and Bloxam's Goth. Archit. 62, 66.) At the west end is a two-light Perp. window. Others have wooden frames. The porch contains ancient woodwork, of which some has been cut away, because lower than the top of the churchdoor. At the east end of the north wall of the nave appears an arch, now filled up, with marks of a roof over it. Though the remarkable character of a portion of this church had been already noticed, as I have learned since my visit, no intimation of the circumstance had reached me, and the peculiarity