Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/578

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��former of which were appointed a constable and an ale-taster for each of the tithings of Pyrford, Horsell, Sithwood, and Woodham."

The church of ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH remains very much as it was erected in about 1140-50, both as to general form and its principal features ; and the exception- ally sympathetic restoration which it underwent in 1869 at the hands of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., has enhanced its archaeological interest, by bringing to light paintings and other things.

It is built of conglomerate, or pudding-stone, with sandstone rubble and heterogeneous materials, the walling being finished, as was commonly the case, with a rough daubing of sandy mortar which has worn off in places. The external dressings are mostly of clunch and firestone, with some Bargate stone in the later work, but internally it is a somewhat remarkable fact that the original dressings, such as in the doorways, the chancel arch and windows, are of Caen stone, pre- sumably brought by water to London, and thence by the Thames and the Wey. The beautiful north porch (c. 1 500) is of oak framework, the sides filled in with plaster. In Cracklow's view (c. 1 824) some Horsham

DATES-

���PLAN OF PYRFORD CHURCH

slabs are shown on the roof of the nave, and these no doubt formed the original covering, but the roofs are now tiled. The western bell-turret, with graceful spirelet, is covered with oak shingles.

In plan, save for the timber north porch, and the modern vestry that balances it on the south side of the nave, the church has preserved unaltered the propor- tions of the 12th-century building, having escaped the almost invariable addition of aisle, chapel, or tower. It consists of a nave 3 8 ft. by 1 6 ft. 7 in., and a chancel 1 9 ft. 8 in. by 13 ft., the south wall being 4 inches shorter than the north. The nave walls vary in thickness from 2 ft. 9 in. (S.) to 2 ft. 6 in., while those of the chancel are 2 ft. 3 in., except the east, which is 2 ft. 6 in. They are unusually low for an aisleless building about 8 ft. from the nave floor level to the wall-plate giving the building a long drawn-out appearance : and the roofs are of steep pitch, especially that of the nave.

The west wall retains its two original round-headed windows of firestone, and between them a large buttress has been added, probably about 1500. The north and south doorways also date from about 1150, the latter, quite plain and narrow, giving access to the modern vestry, while the north doorway, which

��has always served as the principal entrance, is some- what richly ornamented. It is of two orders, with a hood-moulding of chamfered section, having a border of little pellets between the chamfer and the square outer edge. The outer order is decorated with zigzag mouldings, and is carried upon nook-shafts, one with a scalloped capital, and the other a capital having broad angle-leaves, with a row of punched holes up the centre. The inner order is plain, with a narrow chamfer carried round the arch and jambs. The right-hand shaft has been cut away to allow the insertion of a holy-water stoup, probably when the porch was made ; the base of the shaft below this remains in a very perfect state. By a curious arrangement, the later timber porch is placed considerably to the west of the centre of this doorway, so that the eastern jamb is partly hidden by the post carrying the wall-plate.

The chancel arch is of two plain orders, the inner having only a narrow chamfer, with a pyramidal stop beneath the imposts, which are hollow-chamfered. The crown of the arch is somewhat depressed by a settlement of old date, so that it has assumed an ellip- tical shape, and the piers, from the same cause, are out of the upright. The hatched tool-marks on the Caen stone and firestone of this arch are remark- ably sharp. In the east wall of the nave, on the north of the arch, is a rudely-formed pointed- headed niche, semicircular in plan, and evidently intended to hold a somewhat tall image. As this niche is not in wrought stone, but merely scooped out of the rubble wall and plastered, it is probably a century or so later in date than the arch, and indicates the existence of an altar at the rood- screen.

In the chancel two of the original windows remain the only ones in the north and south walls that in the north wall having a short and broad round-headed aperture, 10 in. by 2 ft. 6 in., chamfered externally, on which face clunch has been used, while on the inside the round arch and jambs of the splays are worked in Caen stone.

The opposite window in the south wall is similar, so far as the interior face is concerned, but about 1 1 80 the external aperture was widened and changed to a depressed pointed shape, with a curious hood- moulding of acutely pointed form over it, leaving a large unpierced tympanum between the two arches. Neither piscina nor aumbry is now visible in the church. Fortunately, the external quoins of nave and chancel, in clunch, and in a somewhat crumbling state, were suffered to remain at the restoration, although the angles of nave and chancel were buttressed. A recess in the south wall of the chancel at its western end is of modern date, and apparently meant to give more room in a confined space.

At a period between about 1380 and the close of the 1 5 th century the little chapel appears to have under- gone a general restoration and re-fitting. The two- light east window, with cinquefoil heads and a quatre- foil over, suggests the earlier date, while the two-light windows of the nave, with square heads, devoid of arch or cusping, would seem to belong to the later date, to which also the porch, the roof panelling over the rood, and the nave seating may be referred, but in work of such plain character it is difficult to speak certainly. These square-headed windows are found in the low aisle walls of several Sussex churches, such as

��44 Manning and Bray, op. cit. i, 153.

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