Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/365

 THE VESTRY-ROOM. 329 projecting staircase turret at its south-east corner, and flat buttresses on each face ; it is surmounted by pinnacles and an embattled parapet. The external surface of the Tower has, in our opinion, grievously suffered by a " renovation," to which it was subjected in the year 1879, when the beauty of its age was chipped away by the hammer, and the interstices of its stones were filled with cement. Although this treatment has not affected the symmetry of the building, it has probably diminished its strength more than was done by any ignoble use to which, in past times, it was occasionally applied. In earlier pages will be found so many allusions to this Tower and its supposed prede- cessor, that we will not here trouble the reader with a repetition of the details. We have seen that the existing building has, now and then, been a storehouse, a cattle- house, a hen-roost; and that from the year 141 3, down- wards, there have been expenditures of money for its bells, its bell-ropes, and its clocks. We have, however, reserved for this place a few words concerning the entrances to the Tower, and concerning the bells now within it. Opposite to the present belfry entrance, on the western side, there is a high and beautiful arch which opened upon the nave of the old chapel — we mean by the old chapel, that which was taken down about the year 151 1, when the present parochial church was built. That church stands about 26 feet east of the Tower, the space between the buildings having, it is supposed, been designed by Mr. Trecarell for the site of a new Tower, whose architectural features should harmonize with those of the church. The space was, however, for three centuries, the site of a dwelling-house, and afterwards, for awhile, of the corpora- tion council chamber. It is now the vestry-room. Above the roof of this room, on the eastern face of the Tower, the line of the old chapel roof, and of a small doorway beneath it, are still distinctly visible.