Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/674

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��was put up. Presumably the aisles also fell into decay as, according to Manning and Bray, they were rebuilt in 1729 of brick. The body of the church was 'beautified' in 1681.

Coming to the modern work : this was begun about the middle of the last century, but not a great deal had been done when the present vicar the Rev. A. S. W. Young was presented to the living ; a new roof had been placed on the nave by Brandon, the west gallery had been removed, and the west wall was being rebuilt but was left unfinished, and some other work done to the windows, &c. Since his induction in 1878 a large sum of money has been spent in putting the building into substantial repair, including the following works : the restoration of the nave and aisles (the galleries being removed and the brickwork of 1729 being replaced with stonework and new traceried windows inserted in place of the former round-headed windows), new west windows and the' finishing of the west wall, including the remodelling of the west doorway, new tracery in the chancel window, rebuilding and lengthening of the north transept and the heightening of both with the insertion of large windows ; the addition of the west aisle to the south transept to match that on the east side, the heightening of the east and west arches of the tower and the addition of a stone vault in the tower, new roofs to the transepts and aisles, three heavy tie-beams to Brandon's nave roof which was thrusting out the nave walls, new seats in the chancel (just finished), and nave, a new organ, and much other work. During the heighten- ing of the tower arches the south-east pier began to show signs of weakness and it had to be taken down and rebuilt ; it was then found that the 14th- century outer skin of ashlar had no bond with the earlier core, which was made up of very loose material. Substantially the building is now in very good con- dition, the only exception being the north-east vestry, which has some much-decayed external stonework.

The chancel has an east window of five lights and tracery; the inner jambs are of the ijth century, but the rest is modern ; the wall, which was probably of the original 13th-century thickness, has been thinned for the window. It has been cemented outside in imitation of stone ; the buttresses on either side are veneered with thin stone slabs ; the founda- tion of the walls is of brick. The north window is of three cinquefoiled lights under a traceried head ; it dates from the 151(1 century. Below it is a modern tomb-recess. The doorway into the vestry is of the 1 5th century with moulded jambs and pointed arch. The archway opening into the north chapel has plain jambs, the eastern with slightly chamfered edges, the western with chamfered corners excepting on the south side where, to a height of 6 ft. 6 in. above the floor, it has an edge roll ; the arch is two centred and has a wide hollow between smaller moulds which die on the jambs. The arcade of three bays dividing the chancel from the south chapel has arch moulds similar to the north arch ; the piers are composed of four engaged round shafts with hollow-chamfered angles between ; the shafts have moulded bases and bell capitals ; the east respond resembles the piers but has also the outer order of the arch carried down ; there is no west respond, the arch dying on the tower buttress ; the arcade is built of chalk.

��The tower has an arch in each of its four sides of two chamfered orders, the inner being carried down in the jambs, the other dying out. The north and south arches are of their original height, but the east and west have been heightened in modern times. A shallow buttress of ashlar serves to rebut the arches outside the wall line at each angle. The axial line of the tower is some 2 ft. to the south of that of the chancel and deflects to the north of it.

The north-east vestry is the least restored part of the church, its walls are of ashlar much weathered outside ; it has a square-headed window in its east and north walls of two hollow-chamfered orders and with moulded labels all very much decayed ; the lights are now boarded up. In the east wall is a modern doorway.

The north chapel has a modernized east window of four cinquefoiled lights, and in the north wall are two similar modern windows, each of three lights ; the jambs of all three windows are similar in section to those of the east window of the chancel. Under the second window is a small modern doorway.

In the east wall below the window is a shallow recess 4 ft. 3 in. wide with moulded jambs and a four-centred arch in a square head. It dates from the 1 5th century and is part of a tomb, but whether it is in its original position is doubtful. It was probably moved from the north wall when the doorway was inserted. In the south wall next it are the remains of a piscina without its basin ; it has a plain four-centred head. In the north wall is another tomb-recess of the same width and almost like that in the east wall, but of more elaborate detail ; the inner parts of the splayed jambs are panelled, the arch is four centred (splayed and panelled as the jambs) and has traceried spandrels under a square head ; the recess retains its base, which is panelled with quatrefoils, each containing a shield. To the east of this tomb-recess is a short length of a large mould of similar character to the side arches of the chancel ; from its position it might almost be inferred that it is part of an archway which opened into a chapel or chamber, still farther north, and that it was abolished and filled in when the tomb-recess was in- serted, but there are no other traces of such a chapel or chamber.

The walls of the chapel are cemented, excepting a small portion at the west end, where they are seen to be of flint with an admixture of stone. A modern archway through the west wall of the chapel opens into the north transept. South of the archway is the vice to the tower with semi-octagonal outer faces. In the north-west face is an old piscina with a pointed trefoiled head and a mutilated round basin ; the piscina might be of either the 1 3th or the 1 4th century, but is more probably the latter ; the vice is entered by a pointed chamfered doorway with broach stops. The transept has a modern north window of six lights and tracery, and, in the west wall, a modern archway replacing a smaller one of the 1 8th century.

The south chapel has an east window of five cinquefoiled lights and tracery below a two-centred head ; the moulded jambs are similar to those of the chancel windows, and while the outer stonework and tracery are modern the inner jambs may be old. This also applies to the two south windows, which are each of three lights with tracery. The opening of

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