Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/249

 REIGATE HUNDRED

��BURSTOW

��The south-east window of the chancel is like the east window, but of two lights, and the other south window is of four lights of the same character. Near the east end of the south wall is a piscina with a small quatrefoiled basin and a chamfered shelf. The lower portion has plain chamfered jambs, but above the shelf they are moulded and the head is trefoiled, under a square lintel. It is of 15th-century date. Beneath the sill of the first window is a canopied seat which has moulded jambs and a very flat arched head.

Between the two south windows is a small 15th- century priest's doorway with a four-centred arch under a square head, and now blocked on the inside.

The vestry has a small single trefoiled east window, the jambs being of old stones re-used, but the head and sill are modern.

The 15th-century chancel arch has shafted and moulded jambs with octagonal moulded bases and capitals to the shafts. On either side of it are shallow trefoiled recesses to contain images over the nave altar, that on the south having a second recess below it, while in the south-east arcade of the nave is a piscina. At the north-east end of the north wall of the nave is an arched recess, common in this district, designed to give more room for the altar here.

The north-east window of the nave has two cinquefoiled lights under a flat head with a moulded label, and near the west end of .the north wall is a window of four cinquefoiled lights under a square head with a moulded label, all but the foiled heads and the label being modern. Immediately to the east of it is a small blocked 1 2th-century window with a semicircular head, the western jamb of which must have been de- stroyed when the four-light window was inserted. No-

��to contain a deal screen of poor Gothic character, now set up in the west side of the tower. The tower is a very interesting piece of timber construc- tion, probably of 1 5th-century date, the supporting beams and posts being very massive. As usual, the lower stage is wider than the upper, the main posts coming down within its lines, and being connected by heavy ground sills with a most picturesque effect. The ground stage must have been almost entirely dark before the narrow cinquefoiled windows were pierced in the north and south walls within recent years. The stairs to the belfry are in the north-west corner, and do not rise above the first floor ; in the west wall is a wooden doorway with moulded jambs and a three- centred head with trefoiled spandrels. The upper part of the tower is covered with oak shingles lately renewed (1902), and has small angle pinnacles, and an octagonal shingled spire, on the east side of which a large flagstaff is set up. The fittings of the church, except the font, are of modern date, but under the tower is kept an old chest with an arched lid heavily strapped with iron, and doubtless of con- siderable age.

The font is of 15th-century date, octagonal with

���PLAN OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH, BURSTOW

��thing of it can be seen on the inside. There is no trace of a doorway in this wall.

The south arcade is of three bays with columns formed of four attached shafts set square with the wall over, and not diagonally after the usual fashion ; their moulded bases and capitals are single octagons, not following the plan of the shafts, the arrangement being unusual, but quite satisfactory in effect. The arches are four-centred and are moulded with a hollow casement between two hollow chamfers, and above the capitals at the springing level there are plain shields, and in a similar position on the south side of the east respond is a large carved head.

The east and west windows of the aisle are modern and have each two cinquefoiled lights, and the south- east window is like that in the north wall, of four cinquefoiled lights, of which only the heads are old ; to the east of it is a piscina with chamfered jambs and four-centred head and a small quatrefoiled drain.

The south doorway is of 15th-century date and has moulded jambs and a two-centred arch under a square head, the spandrels being filled with quatrefoils.

At the west end of the nave is a modern Gothic tower arch, set within the lines of a four-centred arch evidently coeval with the south arcade. It was made

��quatrefoil panels on each side, and leaf paterae at the base of the bowl.

There are six bells in the tower, the treble by Gillett and Johnson, 1906, and the second by the same founders, 1 899, who at this date recast the other four bells, preserving their original inscriptions. The third was by John Daniell of London, c. 1450, in- scribed, ' Sancte Thome ora pro nobis," with Daniell's cross and stop, and the royal arms of England ; the fourth had the three names ' Thos. Gelman, John Bhyss, and Wyllum Rofe ' ; the fifth was by William Mears, and the tenor by William Eldridge, 1 68 1.

The plate is as follows : A silver cup of 1 667 ; a paten probably belonging to it, but the hall-mark, if any, is almost obliterated. There is also a stand paten of 1899 and a flagon of 1898. There is a pocket Communion set of plated white metal.

The registers are contained in six books, the first having entries of baptisms, marriages, and burials from 1549 to 1600. This is a paper book in very good condition. The second book is of parchment, and contains all three entries from 1547 to 1685, and is a copy of the first with additions both at the beginning and end of the book. The third book has marriages and burials from 1685 to 1756 and

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