Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/192

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��a very good example of the hamlet-chapel of the late 1 2th or early I3th century.* 7 Even now, in spite of a new aisle, vestries, and organ-chamber on the north side, and other modern alterations, its ancient propor- tions and character can be made out without much difficulty. It consisted originally of a nave, 42 ft. 3 in. long by 22ft. gin. broad, with a western porch, and a chancel 25ft. long by 156. gin. in width, with roofs of comparatively low pitch on account of the exceptional breadth of the nave, and a timber-framed bell-turret at the west end, terminating in a short oak- shingled spire. The roofs were covered with Horsham slabs, and the walls were built of local hard sandstone rubble, plastered, with dressings of hard chalk and fire-stone from the neighbouring hills. Cracklow's view of 1824 shows the church in this state, with the three lancet windows in the south wall of the chancel and the curious diagonal buttresses at the angles of the nave. The chancel had a wooden-framed east window under a circular head ; there was no porch to the south door (which was the same as the pre- sent), the spire of the bell-turret was not so tapering as now, and a curious late vestry is shown attached to the south side of the west porch. As to the nave windows, what appears to be the base of an original lancet is shown to the west of the old south door, and above it a wooden three-light opening, evidently made to light the western gallery, while to the east of the doorway is another three-light window, with a square hood moulding, which looks like a 16th-century insertion.

With regard to the north and west sides of the building, not shown in Cracklow's view, it is not difficult to reconstruct the plan on paper with the aid of the features still remaining in the actual church. The massive west wall, no less than 4 ft. thick, remains much as it was erected about 1190. The other walls of the nave are 3 ft. in thickness, and those of the chancel 2 ft. 9 in., both dimensions being exceptional for a comparatively small aisleless building. Originally the church had no buttresses, and it seems probable that it was lighted by three lancet windows on the north side of the nave and two on its southern side, of which now no trace remains, the present windows being all modern. The west and south doorways are original features, and most interesting. We cannot now say if there was the usual north door- way in the nave, as the aisle of 1865 has made a clean sweep of any such ancient features, but it seems improbable that there would be three doors in such a comparatively small building. The two that remain are interesting, the western being slightly the narrower 3 ft. 6 in. wide, while the southern measures 3 ft. 10$ in. The height of the internal opening of the western, which has a semicircular head, is altogether exceptional, nearly 1 2 ft. The external arch is set much lower, leaving that peculiar tympanum between the two heads so often met with, and the reason for which is one of the minor problems of ecclesiology. Sometimes, as at Trotton Church, Sussex, a consecration cross has been found painted in this blank space. These doorways also have the additional peculiarity that the two apex stones of the

��external arches are left as projecting blocks on the inside, as though meant to be carved. This is found also in the south doorway of Wanborough Chapel, in the west of the county. 18 Both the west and south doorways are in hard clunch, or fire-stone, somewhat sharply pointed, and of one order. They have hood- mouldings, without stops or return ends at the springings, of three sides of an octagon in section, the inner side being embellished with a continuous border of dog-tooth ornament. The original tooling, where left, shows somewhat coarse vertical and diagonal lines, done with the broad chisel and axe. The effect of these severely simple but well-proportioned doorways is enhanced by their retaining their original wrought-iron strap-hinges, both lower and upper hinges having two small ornamental straps with curled ends on either side of them. The hinge-straps them- selves terminate in similar scrolls. The latch and drop-ring handle of the western door appears to be old also, and are perhaps original. Although the boarding on which this ironwork is mounted is modern, the plain ledges across the backs appear to be old. There are three steps down into the church at the west end and two at the south door ; the latter is set to the east of the centre of the nave, instead of to the west.

The original chancel arch has disappeared, and its place has been taken by a wider one of early 14th- century design in fire-stone, which appears to be modern. We may surmise that the ancient arch had square jambs, and resembled in design the two door- ways. The present tracery window in the east wall is also entirely modern, and replaces the wood-framed opening of the churchwarden era, shown in Cracklow's view, which latter, in all probability, displaced two lancet openings of the same character as those in the side walls. There were probably three of these in either wall, but those on the north side have been destroyed in making the organ chamber and vestries. The three lancets in the south wall of the chancel are the only original windows left in the church. They are very interesting examples of their period (c. 1 1 90), and have happily passed unscathed through the ordeal of restoration. Like the rest of the original ashlaring, their dressings are worked in clunch and firestone. They have sharply-pointed heads to the external openings, the curves being so slight as almost to present the appearance of straight lines, 19 and are rebated both inside and out, which implies that the glazing was originally placed against the outer rebate (instead of, as now, in a groove), and that the inner rebate was occupied by a shutter. It is not often that this double rebate is found. The internal heads are splayed equally with the jambs and are almost semicircular in outline, the point of the arch being so slight as to be unnoticeable.

Beneath the easternmost lancet is a pretty little piscina of the same period. It has a segmental head beneath a blind trefoil arch of horse-shoe outline, The drain has a small circular dishing. The aumbry, of similar form, in the opposite wall is modern. In about 1 300 diagonal buttresses with gabled capping- stones were added to the angles of the nave. To the

��^ The chapel mentioned in the con- firmation of Henry of Blois (see advow- lon) must have been a timber building, erected perhaps earlier in the I2th cen- tury, and probably it would be much

��smaller than the stone chapel that suc- ceeded it.

98 Possibly the projecting stones were left to prevent the door being lifted bodily off its hinges.

��" In this they recall the lancets of the chancel at Chipstead, where the in- ternal heads are gabled or triangular in form.

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