Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/487

 WOKING HUNDRED

��SEND WITH RIPLEY

��is of chalk. There is no chancel arch ; but that one originally existed is proved by the remains of squints on either side at the western angles of the chancel.

The north wall of the nave contains three windows, the easternmost being one of two plain lights with a square head set low in the wall. The head, sill, and mullion are chamfered, but the jambs are rebated as well as if to receive a shutter. The other two win- dows have each three trefoiled lights under a square head with a moulded label. They have both been restored in places. The windows of the south wall of the nave are similar to those of the north just described, except that the small south-east window is of one light only. The south doorway has plain chamfered jambs and a pointed four-centred head, and the porch retains its original moulded wall plates and uprights, but the lower parts have been replaced by plas- tered brickwork. The cusped barge-board at the south gable end is original. The tower arch is of two con- tinuous chamfered orders, and in the north wall of the tower is a small doorway with a four-centred head which leads to the stair turret.

In the west wall of the tower is a plain doorway, much repaired, with two continuous hollow-chamfered orders and a moulded label. Above it is a 1 5th-cen- tury window partly restored, having three cinquefoiled lights under a four- centred head with a moulded label. The tower is of three stages with angle buttresses and a modern em- battled parapet. In each face of the top stage is a window with a modern outer order and four-centred head of two wide trefoiled lights, the tracery of which is masked by modern louvres. The second stage has a single cinque- foiled light on the north and south, the former having a two-centred head and the latter one of ogee shape.

The walls throughout are of flint rubble, a few pieces of 13th-century detail being built into those of the nave ; some of the heavy Horsham slabs remain on the lower parts of the nave roof, but elsewhere red tiles are used. The nave roof has old tie-beams and embattled wall plates, and is plastered between the rafters ; and the tie-beam at the west end of the chancel is supported on curved brackets.

The chancel screen has been rebuilt, most of the upper portion being modern, but the traceried heads to all the lights and part of the moulded cornice are of 1 3th-century date. There are no mullions now, but modern carved pendants take their place, the holes where the original mullions tenoned into the middle rail being filled up ; below the rail is plain solid panelling. The moulded posts at each end of the screen show the marks of former parclose screens returning westwards.

The font is apparently of 13th-century workman- ship, but the octagonal bowl has been entirely recut ; the lead lining, however, is old. One side of the moulded base has been cut away.

Over the west end of the nave is an early 17th- century wood gallery with a turned baluster front, now reached by modern stairs.

In the tower is an ancient chest constructed out of roughly finished log timber and bound with iron straps.

��It has two lids made out of half tree-trunks, the curved surface being uppermost.

A stone on the north wall of the chancel has a brass attached to it which bears the following black-letter inscription : ' Here lyeth Laurence Slyffeld gent' & Alys he wyfe which Laurenc decessid ye xin day of Novebr' a dni M v" xxi who! soule JhO have m'ci.' Above are the figures of the man and his wife, and below are three boys.

Above this brass is another with inscription : ' Pray for the Soule of S' Thomas Marteyn late Vycar of Sende the which decessed the xxix day of September the yere of our lord M' v xxxm on whos soule JhQ have m'ci.'

To the south of the tower in the churchyard is an indent of a half-figure and an inscription plate.

The westernmost window of the north wall of the nave has in the top of its centre light a few fragments of old painted glass.

The tower originally contained a ring of five bells, all cast by Phelps in 171 1 ; but three of these are now missing, and one is known to have been sold. The tenor was cast by T. Mears in 1803.

The oldest piece of plate is a paten of the Britannia standard, but the date-letter is worn away. It is

��lilM is* cent-

L^te-lf'-Cent-

���of fet-

��PLAN OF SEND CHURCH

��inscribed 1845. There is also a cup of 1844, a flagon of the same date, and a plate or almsdish which is not silver.

There are six books of registers, the first, which is of parchment, containing in the beginning entries of births from 1633 to 1659 copied from an old book. Following this are baptisms from 1666 to 1683, marriages from 1654 to 1700 with a gap between 1659 and 1666, and burials from 1653 to 1700 with a gap as in the marriages. The second book contains baptisms, marriages, and burials all from 1 700 to 1762, 1754, and 1764 respectively. The third book contains marriages from 1754 to 1769 ; the fourth baptisms and burials from 1792 to 1812 ; the fifth has marriages from 1762 to 1791 ; and the sixth continues them from 1792 to 1 812.

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, RIPLEr, consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle, and north porch; and was rebuilt in 1 845-6, except the chancel, which dates from about 1 1 60 and was intended to have a stone vault of two bays, the vaulting shafts of which yet remain, although it is not certain whether the vault was ever completed. The east window is an insertion of c. 1230 and is too high to have co-existed with any

��369

��47

�� �