Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/308

250 contained at least one church previous to the period of the Survey. When in 1839 the old church of St. John sub castro was pulled down to be re-erected on an enlarged scale, a few of its more remarkable portions were preserved, comprising three or four sepulchral monuments, and the stone frame of a doorway; all which were built into the wall on the northern side of the new church. This frame consists of a triple arch, not receding like those in the E.E. style, but flat, and low, with plainly moulded capitals on each side, the outer part of which affords some ground for conjecture, that the arch might originally have been quadruple. The doorway has been much repaired, but sufficient of the old work remains to prove, that it possesses the same general character as the early portions of Barnack Northants, Corhampton Hants, Sompting Sussex, and other churches, which are regarded as specimens of Anglo-Saxon architecture.—"The old church—was very small, and a mere fragment of an ancient one; consisting only of the nave, walled up at each end. The structure, to which it belonged, was in the form of a cross; and from traces of the foundations that were formerly visible appears to have had three aisles" (q. nave and two aisles?) "with a transept," (q. does "a transept" mean both limbs of the cross?) "with a tower rising above the intersection." It is stated to have had an "entrance by a descent of several steps into the west end," and "narrow lights near the roof." (A Day's Ramble in and about Lewes by Gideon Mantell, 112, 113.) A view of old St. John's church is given in Horsfield (Lewes, I,), but not such as to convey a good idea of the building.—Part of St. Anne's church is E.E., and part Tr. Norm. Of the latter style there are both round and pointed arches, all of them being single-soffitted. The piers are round, but the capitals square, of a plain abacus-character above, with trefoil foliage somewhat undercut beneath, and the corners supported by heads, or other ornaments, as corbels. The east end is lighted by a small round window in the angle of the gable, and three lancets below; there are also other lancets in the northern side wall. The font of this church is peculiar. The form is cylindrical without a stem, and the pattern round the centre bears some resemblance to wicker-work. The upper border, consisting of pellets or studs, is an example of the neglect of measurement and calculation, which I imagine to have been common, in ancient times previous to commencing operations on the ornamental carving; for the pellets are not all of the same