Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/176

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��in this wall is a large embattled corbel, set at some height above the floor towards the western end. The soffit of the chancel arch retains a groove for a boarded tympanum, which originally formed a background for the rood and attendant images.

The modern extensions of the chancel and north chapel are in excellent taste and in general conformity with the old work : they include a fine east window, piscina, and sedilia, new windows in the chancel and north chapel, and a door in the latter.

In 1793 the nave and the space formerly occupied by the aisle were re-roofed under one span, with great queen-post trusses, and the whole ceiled. The ceiling has now been removed, exposing the somewhat naked constructional timbers. The roofs of the chancel and north chapel are modern (except for a moulded beam, of 1 5th-century date, in the former, which, however, appears to have crowned a screen or rood gallery), and are elaborately ornamented with bosses, on which are carved sacred emblems, shields of arms, &c., the whole

���PLAN OF WONERSH CHURCH

being coloured and gilt. The painted glass is all modern and exceptionally good, especially that in the east window of the north chapel, with figures of St. George and St. Alban. A few slight traces of me- diaeval colour decoration remain, as on the voussoirs of the chancel arch. The altar-pace in the north chapel is paved with old tiles dating from the 1 3th to the 1 5th centuries. The chancel is paved in black and white marble, laid in squares and patterns, and the sanctuary is raised three steps above the nave. The chapel altar is brought forward to allow of the passage way behind it. Both the chancel and chapel altars have stone slabs, incised with the five crosses, on wooden framework, that of the high altar being hand- somely carved in several woods. The chancel seats are elaborately carved in oak, with figures of saints as finials to the stall-ends, and the nave and tower are seated with benches in elm, very beautifully figured. There are one or two pieces of old oak beams lying in the ' crypt ' passage behind the chapel altar, and within the arch to the south chapel is a good plain oak screen of 15th-century date, having moulded work, but no

��tracery. This has been copied in a modern screen in the opposite arch. There is a fine old Flemish chandelier hanging in the centre of the chancel, and in the north chapel is a pair of Georgian altar- candlesticks.

The font, of cup-shaped bowl, stem and base, is a restoration in sandstone, incorporating a curious band of ribbed work in a coarse grit-stone below the bowl, which, from its archaic character, may be of pre-Con- quest date. This font was found buried beneath the floor at the restoration.

In the nave, aisle, and chapels are a few old slabs and ledgers, some with armorial panels. There is a large Purbeck marble altar-tomb in the north chapel, of 15th-century date, probably that of the founder of the chapel, but without name or inscription of any kind. Its sides are ornamented with quatrefoiled tracery panelling and shields, originally filled with coats-of-arms in latten, but these have all disappeared. An earthenware jar, now in the vestry, was found under the floor near this tomb. It is r-> said that the person interred in the

tomb was embalmed, as the cassia used in the embalming still exudes from the tomb in damp weather. In the south chapel, now the vestry, is another altar-tomb with a marble slab to the memory of Robert Gwynn, a ' Filezar of London,' with a fine heraldic panel and the date 1701. Built into the west wall of the nave are the frag- ments of a fine Elizabethan mural monument, with cornice pilasters and a foliaged scroll-work panel of good design : the inscription is missing. One of the grave-slabs, now missing, recorded the death of one of the Carills of Tangley, and the rhyming epitaph ended with the line, 'Caryll sings carols in the heavenly quire.'

On the floor of the chancel is a brass with figures of a civilian and wife and an imperfect inscription to ' Thomas Elyot de Wonersh ' and his wife Alicia, dated 146. An- other, with figures of a civilian and lady and groups of twelve sons and eleven daughters, bearing date 1503, is to Henry Elyot and Johanna his wife. Within the chancel rails are two small brass inscriptions, to Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Thomas Blennerhayset, 1513; and to Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Bossevile : ' who died the 9 daye of February 1578, beinge 27 dayes olde."

Some of the tool marks on the I 2th and I 3th cen- tury arches are very well preserved, and on the arch between the tower and the nave is a dial, or incised circle.

The bells are modern.

Among the church plate are a silver cup and cover, with the usual band of arabesque foliage round the bowl of the latter, and the date 1569. with the corre- sponding hall-marks. Another silver paten bears the hall-marks of 1 8 1 1, with the inscription noteworthy for the date : ' Ut dignius celebretur Eucharistia in Eccl. par. de Wonersh in Com. Surriensi, haec Patina Deo dicata est A.D. 1812. Gul H. Cole Vicario. J. Sparkes et E. Chitty Sacrorum Custodibus.' The registers date from 1539.

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