A few words to church-builders

L I B RAFLY

O F THE

U N I VERS ITY

Of ILLl NOIS

A FEW WORDS

CHURCH BUILDERS

ilul)It0t)(^Di tip tf)e Camlbrttifge OTamDen S^ottetp

RXPFPT THE LOBD BUII.D THE HOUSE : THF.IR LABOUR tS BX'T LOST
THAT BUILD IT "

CAMBRIDGE

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

STEVENSON CAMBRIDGE PARKER OXFORD

RIVINGTONS LONDON

M DCCC XLl
Price Sixpe7ice

CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY.

Instituted May, 1839.

PATRONS.

His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge.

The Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of England,
High Steward of the University of Cambridge.

His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Armagh.

The Right Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Lincoln.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Ely.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Hereford.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Worcester.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of New Zealand.

The Right Rev. the Bishop of Ross and Argyll.

The Right Rev. the Bishop of Edin-burgh.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of New Jersey, U. S.

The Hon. and Rev. the Master of Magdalene College.

The Rev. the Master of Clare Hall.

The Rev. the Provost of King's College.

The Rev. the Master of Downing College.

The Very Rev. the Dean of Peterborough, Regius Professor of
Divinity.

PRESIDENT.

The Venerable Thomas Thorp, Archdeacon of Bristol,

Tutor of Trmity College.

OFFICERS.

CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES.
The Rev. John Mason Neale, Downing College.

TREASURER.

Arthur Shelly Eddis, Esq., Trinity College.

HONORARY SECRETARIES.
Benjamin "Webb, Esq., Trinity College.
James Gavin Young, Esq., Triruty College.
Frederick Apthobp Paley, Esq., St John's College.

A FEW WORDS TO CHURCH BUILDERS.

^ ^ , . 1. The folio wina- pages ai-e intended in some measure

Introduction. „ , °^ ° ^ .

as a preiace to the Designs for Churchks about to be

published by the Cambridge Camden Society: but as it is hoped
that they may by themselves be not altogether useless to the prac-
tical enquirer, it has been thought well to print them separately,
and in a more portable form. They arc intended for the use of
those to whom God has given, not only the means, but the will,
to undertake a work, the noblest perhaps in which man can engage,
the building a House in some degree worthy of His majesty: and
who feel at the same time their want of the knowledge which is
necessary to the correct and successful accomplishment of so great
a design. It is needless to say that the writer is not an architect;
it is rather his intention to dwell on the Catholick, than on tlie
architectural, principles which ought to influence the building of a
church ; and he wishes to bring forward from the stores of a
Society a larger number of exami^les for the illustration of his
I'emarks, than would be easily procured by an individual.

2. It is somewhat strange that, while so many
useful '^ liave written on this subject as architects, so few should

have treated it as Churchmen, though every one will
allow that Ecclesiastical Architecture is a thuig in which the Church
mainly is, or ought to be, interested. Yet though no systematic
treatise has appeared, setting forth how churches may best be built
in accordance with Catholicity and antiquity and the voice of the
Anglican Church, there are several works from which much in-
formation may be g-ained on this point. Among these we may
especially notice — Mr Bloxam's Catechism of Gothick Architecture ;
the Rev. F. E. Paget's S. Antholin's; the Rev. G. A. Poole's
Lectures on Churches and Church Ornaments; jMr Pugin's True
Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture; and the articles
on the subject which appeared in the 55th and 58th numbers
of the British Critic. I may also refer to the first part (Ninth
Edition) of The Few Words to Churchwardens by the Cambridge
Camden Society; and to the second part (Second Edition) of the
same Tract which has just been published.

3. It is not supposed that all the decorations re-
^^^Tr °t *^"^ commended in this tract can be adopted in every

church, especially where the building is carried on

1-2

under the controul of a committee. But to describe a church such
as it ought to be may perliaps have the advantage of shewing how
very far below this model are most of the buildings to which we
now by courtesy give that name. And here we may address
ourselves to chui-ch-building committees, for whom, rather than for
architects, who generally know v/hat is right if they be only allowed
to practise it, these words are written. The smaller these committees
are, the better ; and the whole superintendence should be vested in
the Clergyman of the parish, the only man who, in most country
villages, understands anything about the matter ; and whose tastes,
and feelings, and views are far more likely to be correct than
those of any other person. Above all, if the Incorporated Society
for building and enlarging Churches and Chapels be consulted, care
must be taken that the beauty of the building be not sacrificed to
the accommodation of Avorshippers, a fault into which that great
Society is — I say it with grief — too apt to fall.

4. The style in which a church ought to be built

Style depen s j^^^^^^^ depend on sevei'al considerations. It will, gene-

on locality, '■ / • »

rally speaking, be better to adopt that (if any) which

prevails in the district in which the church is to be built. The num-
ber of worshippers will much affect the style. Nothing
for example can be better suited to a small chapel than
Eai'ly English; for a larger building either of the two later styles
may be employed with more effect. It is cheapness alone which
has induced modern architects to build churches of every shape
and size exclusively in the Early English style, without any regard
to the many circumstances which may render it less applicable in
particular districts. But yet it is ill-suited to a large "cheap
church," because Early English buildings are remarkable, when
large, for the elaborateness and expensiveness of their decorations,
as the Minster churches of Southwell and Beverley may shew.

.5. In a cold and faithless age like this, to attach

Patron Saint. . , i • n r. r. • .1,

any importance to the selection 01 a ratron Saint will

probal)ly provoke a smile in some, and in othei"s may cause a more
serious feeling of displeasure at the superstition of those who do
it. We are well content, if it be so, to lie under the same charge,
and for the same cause, as Andrewes, Hooker, and Whitgift. Let us
give an example or two of the motives which lead to tlie choice of
a Patron Saint now. In a large town in the south of England a
meeting-house was built by a dissenter, who called it, out of com-
pliment to his wife, Margaret chapel. This, being afterwards bought
for a church, is now named Sdint Margaret's. In the same town is
another chapel called AH Souls, " because all souls may tliere hear
the word of Gon." Other dedications are now given, which were

rarely, if ever, in use among our ancestors. Such are— S. Paul,
instead of SS. Peter and Paul ; Christ church, and S. Saviour's, for
a small building ; Emmanuel church, and the like. But who viould
found a church in England — once the " England of Saints" with-
out some attention to the local memory of those holy men whose
names still live m the appellations of many of our towns ? "Who,
in the Diocese of Lichfield, would forget S. Chad ? in that of Dur-
ham, S. Cuthbert ? in those of Canterbury and Ely, S. Alphege, and
S. Etheldreda ? Surely, near S. Edmund's Bury, a church-founder
Avould naturally think of S. Edmund, or in the west of Wales, of
S. David ! Still it may be as well to confine ourselves to the holy
luen commemorated in our own Calendar; not as undervaluing
others, the Blessed Saints and Martyrs of the Most High, but in
order that we may not give occasion to be accused of Romanism.

„ , „ 6. There are two parts, and oxly two parts.

Ground Plan. '

WHICH are absolutely ESSENTIAL TO A CHV'RCH

Chancel and Nave. If it have not the latter, it is at best only a
chapel ; if it have not the former, it is little better than a meeting-
house. The twelve thousand ancient churches in tliis
Chancel abso- j^nd, m whatever else they may differ, agree in this, that
tial:andwhv. every one has or had a well-defined Chancel. On the
least symbolical grounds, it has always been felt right
to separate off from the rest of the church a portion which should
be expressly appropriated to the more solemn rites of our religion;
and this portion is the Chancel. In this division our ancient ar-
chitects recognised an emblem of the Holy Catholick Church ; as this
consists of two parts, the Church Militant and the Church Triumph-
ant, so does the earthly structure also consist of two parts, the
Chancel and Nave ; the Church Militant being typified by the latter,
and the Church Triumphant by the former. But in nine- tenths of
" new churches," w^e shall find no attempt whatever at having a
distinct Chancel, or it is at best confined to a small apsidal pro-
jection for the Altar. And tliis, one of the most glaring faults of
modern buildings, has not met with the reprobation which it so well
deserves ; nay, has even been connived at by those who knew better.
To illustrate the respective sizes of ancient and modem Chancels, I
subjoin [Plate 2] two ground plans, one of a church built about
1250, the other of one within a mile of it erected in 1835. And
surely, if we had no other reason for the prominence we attach to
a Chancel than that, without one exception, our ancestors attached
such prominence to it, it ought to be enough for us who pro-
fess to admire their wisdom, and as far as we may, to tread
in their steps. And this was the pnictice of the Ilcformed An-
glican Church in its best times, as may be seen in the churches of
S. Catherine Cree, and Hammersmith, consecrated by Bishop Laud ;

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Leighton Bromswould, built by George Herbert; Little Gidding,
erected by Nicholas Ferrar; and above all in the church of S.
Charles the Martyr, at Pljonouth.

7. This division, essential in the interior, is
Division not j^^^ always to be traced in the exterior. It is far
"j^g^gxterior: better indeed, generally speaking, that it should be

marked in both; and to this end the breadth of the
Chancel should be a little less than that of the Nave ; a difference
of four or five feet will be quite sufficient. The height of the

Chancel is usually less, in the same proportion. Some-
ye esiia e. ^j^^^ ^j^jg latter is the only mark of division, as in
the churches of Chailey and Southease, Sussex. In a cross church,
it will be sufficiently marked by the Transepts. The only kind of
church in Avhich it cannot be externally shewn, is where there are
Chancel and Nave, with two Aisles to both ; but this is rarely the
case, except in city churches, or where the builders were cramped
for room. 'Where there is no exterior division, as in Wymington,
Bedfordsliire, there is only the more reason to make that in the
interior more distinctly marked.

8. The comparative size of Chancel and Nave is a

Comparative point which, within certain limitations, must be left
size of Cliancel ' y-,, , i i »

and Nave. ^^ taste. Yet, as a general rule, the Chancel should

not be less than the third, or more than the half, of

the whole length of the church. The larger, within the prescribed

bounds, it is made, the more magnificent will be the appearance

of the building.

•'■^ 9. A Cross is of course the most beautiful form in

beautiful form- ^^^^^^ ^ church can be built. Yet those persons who

think it necessary to a perfect building are in great
error; not one tenth of the churches in this coimtry having been
erected in that shape. From this mistaken idea Transepts have been
attempted with funds hardly sufficient for Chancel and Nave, often

to the destruction of the fair proportion of the Chancel.

yet not at all r^j^^ symbol conveyed by the Cross is certainly

necessary: ^ j j ^

better adapted than any other for a Christian place of

worship ; yet that of a ship, which the other form sets foi-th, is by

no means unsuitable, and was a very favourite one with the early

Church, as S. Chrysostom and S. Hilary (writing concerning the

Saviour's Avalking on the sea) testify. A very general fault of

modern cross churches is the excessive breadth of each of the

four arms; whence the arches to the lantern, or cen-

and why. -,,•■, -, ■, i ^

tral part ot the cross, are made obtuse to an almost

absurd degree ; and sometimes are omitted altogether, as unneces-

sary. But if they are iinnecessaiy to the safety of a church, they
suggest (according to the great authority on such pomts, Durandus)
an important sj'mbolical meaning; namely, that by the writings
of the four Evangelists the doctiine of the Cross has been preached
through the whole world. And this is the reason that we so often
find the Evangelistic SjTnbols on, or over, them.

10. If however the funds should be more than
desirable:

IS es ^er> adequate for the erection of Chancel and Nave, and

these ought to be built fii-st, — the Aisles to the latter
are of the next importance. For we thus gain another import-,
ant sj'mbolism for our ground plan, the doctrine of the JVIost
Holy axd Undivided Trinity, as set forth by the three parallel
divisions which meet us as we enter the church at the west.

There is no fixed rule as to the breadth of the Aisles ;

about a third of that of the Nave seems a fair pro-
portion to each. For instance, the plan, Plate I., has the Aisles
too broad for beauty, though thereby it serves the better to illus-
trate the point for which it was given.

11. There is not the slightest objection, whatever
one Aisle.

urc eswit ^^^ fastidious taste of modem times may think of it.

against building at first one Aisle, if the funds are not
sufficient for the erection of two. And it is far more in accordance
with Catholick principles to build one Aisle as it ought to be,
than to "run up" two cheaply; always supposing it in this, as in
other cases of imperfect design, to be the intention of the builder,
that the church shall, at some future time, though perhaps not by
himself, be completed. And tliis leads to an important remark.
It is not of consequence that the opposite sides of a church should
correspond with each other. Churches with one Aisle, or one
Transept, constantly occur. I avUI prove this by some examples,
taken at random.

Llanfwrog, Denbighshii'e, has N. Aisle,

Tal-y-LljTi, Merion. S. Transept.

Brandon, SuflPolk, S. Aisle.

Avening, Gloucestershire, N. Aisle.

Rodborough, Gloucestersliii-e, N. Aisle to Chancel and Nave,

and S. Transept.

Hunsdon, Herts. S. Transept.

Stanford, Berks. N. Aisle.

Erith, Kent, S. Aisle to Chancel and Nave.

But now in most people's opinion, the great beauty of a church
if it have two Aisles, consists, in having both sides the same in

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details, whereas nothing can be more opposite to the ti-ue princi-
ples of Ecclesiastical Architecture than this idea, so cramping to
boldness of design and variety of ornament.

12. This remark applies particularly to the posi
Tower

Position o ^.^j^ ^£ ^j^^ Tower. Now-a-days it is almost universally

placed at the west end of the church, that it may
"stand in the middle;" whereas the following positions are equally
good: the intersection of a cross church, or between the Chancel
and Nave, where the church is not cross; these are very common.
Other positions are

Middle of north Aisle, VauceUes, near Caen.

Middle of Nave, Caen S. Sauveur.

North of Chancel, Berneval, Normandy.

South of Chancel, Standon, Hertfordshire.

North end of the noi-th Transept, Montgomery.

South end of the south Transept, East Lavant, Sussex,

North side of the Nave, Goustranville, near Caen.

South side of the Nave, Midhurst, Sussex.

East end of the north Aisle, Patcliing, Sussex.

West end of the north Aisle, Clapham, Sussex.

East end of the south Aisle, West Grinstead, Sussex.

Went end of tlie south Aisle, Amiens S. Loup. Holyrood,

Southampton.
North-west angle of Nave, York S. Crux.
South-west angle of Nave, Sacombe, Herts.
^Vestern part of the Chancel, Yainville, Normandy.

It shews the perverseness of modern times, that the only position
in which a Tower never ought to be l)uilt, namely over the Altar,
is almost the only one which in modern churches ever takes
place of that at the west end; and it is adopted for the same reason,
it is "just m the middle" too.

I.". It must always be kept in mind, that the
essential.

Tower not Tower, though a highly ornamental, is not an essential

part of a church; and the really essential parts should
never be sacrificed for it. A bell gable may be made a beautiful
ornament, and is very well suited to a small church.

14. Where the funds are small, or of uncertain

Building by amount, an excellent plan is to finish the Chancel
parts. ' , ■ ,. ,-

and Nave first, leaving it to the piety ot future years

to raise Aisles. Of this a remarkable instance occurs in Ovingdcan

church, Sussex. It is a small Early English building, with Chancel

9

and Nave; it was intended that a south Aisle should be subse-
quently built, and arches for it (like large arches of construction)
appear in the south wall. That it never was built is evident from
the Early English windows inserted in the flint work with which
the arches are filled up. And such is the case in Irnham, Lin-
cohishire. Lamentable indeed it is when this intention of the pious
founders is frustrated by modern "improvements". In a large and
magnificent church in Derbyshire, where there was only a south
Aisle, room was wanted on account of the increase of population.
Instead of throwing out a north Aisle, the parish, at a greater ex-
pense, had a gallery built all round the church ! Transepts and a
Tower also may very easily be added. An instance of the inten-
tion to pro\ide for future Transepts which has never been carried
into execution, occui's in Iford, Sussex. Here the arches are Noi-
man. Only where the church is cross, and the Tower is to be
central, care must be taken to make the belfry arches strong
enough for the future weight: the want of this precaution had
nearly, as every one knows, caused the ruin of the Cathedral church
of Peterborough. This way of building was often adopted by our
ancestors, especially in the north of Devonshire, and with the
happiest results; as it ought to be now in the Cathedral churches
of Sydney, Montreal, and Calcutta.

15. The choice of the stone must of course depend
in a great measure on the locality; for almost every
county has its ovm kinds of stones. Brick ought on no account to be
used : wliite certainly is worse than red, and red than black : but to
settle the precedency in such miserable materials is worse than useless.
Flint however may be used with good effect. Where
the windows are faced with stone, the flints may be used
either whole, as is generally the case in Norfolk and Suffolk, or
cut and squared, as is usual in Kent and Sussex. The church of
S. Michael and All Angels in Lewes (re-built in the middle of the
18th century) is a most beautiful model, so far as respects the ma-
terials. But if there be no local stone, and the situation be near the
sea so as to admit of easy Avater-carriage, the best material would
be Caen stone for the walls and windows, and Purbeck
marble for the piers and shafts. Bath stone may be
conveyed to almost any part of the country at a small cost : it is
easUy worked, and durable when properly selected. Caen stone was
most deservedly a special favourite with our ancestors, ^^'hen first
taken from the quarries, it is so soft as to be carved easily : but it
speedily hardens on exposure to the air, and never loses its colour.
It can only be quarried in the spruig and summer months, as when
first taken out of the earth it is peculiarly liable to be spoilt by frost.
It must, till used, be raised at least four inches from the ground.

10

and carefully covered over with straw in frosty weather. There
has been very little demand in our own countiy of late years
for this stone, inferior stones having taken its place: but with
the reviving taste for church architecture an increasing demand
for it lias gone hand in hand. The stone is landed here in masses
of about 70 cubic feet ; each foot weighs from 135 to 140 lbs.

16. The Orientation, that is, the precise degree of
inclination of the church towards the East, is the next

point. It is Avell known that a direction to the due East was not
tliought necessary by our ancestors: they used to make the church
point to that part of the horizon in which the sun rose on the day of
the foundation of the church, the day also, it should be remembered
of the Patron Saint. But many modern churches are buUt directly
north and south, in total defiance of the universal custom of the
Church in all ages : and some, as if out of pure perverseness, though
they stand east and west, have the Altar at the west.

17. Having thus disposed of the ground-plan and
Chancel not to , . , . , . t ,

be entered by the questions connected with it, we proceed to observe

the laity on that the Chancel, except during the celebration of the
common occa- jj^j Eucharist, ought not to be used for the accommo-

sions. '' ;> o

dation of worshippers. The reason is plam : this portion
of the church ought to be set expressly and exclusively apart for
our Holiest Mysteries. This is ordered by the Holy Ecumenical
Council of Constantinople: and that it is the practice of the
Anglican Church will be proved by the following extracts from
Visitation Articles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

" Is your Chancel divided from the Nave or body of your church
with a partition of stone, boards, wainscot, grates, or otherwise,
wherein is there a decent strong door to open or shut, as occasion
serveth, Avith lock and key, to keep out boys, girls, ii'reverent men
and women?" — Bp. Montague, 1638. (Reprinted at Cambridge,
1841).

" Whether a partition be made and kept between the Chancel
and the church, according to the advertisements?" — Abp. Parker,

1559 Abp. Grindal (1571) directs that the Roodscreen be left to

separate the Chancel from the Nave, and instead of the Roodloft,
''some convenient crest put upon it."

" ^Vhether is it [the Chancel] fenced in with rails or pales ?" Bp.
Bridges, 1617.

This deplorable waste of "available space," to use the language
of the cheap -church-builders of the present day; this due regard to
the solemnity with which the worship of Almighty God ought to be
performed, to speak as the great Prelates whom I have just quoted

11

would have spoken ; is doubtless the reason why Chancels have been
so totally neglected in the ground plans of modem churches. They
are pronounced, in short, an unnecessary expense.

18. A VERY magnificent appearance may be given

Chancel.

to the Chancel by raising it on a flight of nine or ten

steps. I do not say that this is at all necessary; but
where it can be done it has a fine effect, and renders the Chancel
very dry. Every Chancel however should be raised at least two
steps at the Chancel arch: a Chancel level with the Nave is all
the more objectionable when (which however never ought to be)
the Roodscreen is wanting.

19. There is some difficulty in speaking on the sub-
ject of the Altar, on account of the vehement objections

raised by many against the use of any thing beyond a Table, nay,
to the very name Altar, For those however, who consider a stone
Altar, though not necessary, desirable, the great difficulty is where
to find a model since their almost universal destruction in the great
rebellion. It seems that a solid mass of masonry about six feet by
four in size, and about four feet in height, is the most suitable form.
This also gives scope for panellmg of any design and to any extent.
In the Prior's house at Wenlock Abbey, Shropshire, is a fine specimen
of a stone Altar quite perfect, and panelled in front. In the Altar
we are left more to our own judgement than in any other part of
the church ; and having few actual models we must be especially
careful not to admit anything at variance with the purity of the style
in which we are working; for it must always be remembered that
the Altar is something more than a piece of church furniture ; that
it is an actual and essential part of the church.

20. The reredos, dossel, or Altarscreen, when
wrought with all the richness of which it is capable, is

one of the most beautiful ornaments of a church. We are unfortu-
nately in possession of but few examples. The Cathedral churches
of Gloucester, Bristol, Wells, Winchester, and Worcester, the Abbey
churches of S. Alban's and Sclby, and Christ Church Hampshire,
the churches of S. Saviour's Southwark, Geddingion Northampton-
shire, Tideswell Derbyshire, and Harlton Cambridgeshire, all fur-
nish examples which may at least be useful in affording the leading
idea of a modern reredos.

^ ,.,. 21. The sedilia I would restore, if I could, because

Seculia. 1 .^ ,

at least they are ornaments; but if their restoration

would give offence I would not insist on them, because they

are only ornaments. However great the off'ence may be which

12

the Catholick arrangement of a Chancel causes, we must bear it
rather than give up an arrangement which is of the essence of
a church; the case is not the same with sedilia. It may tend to
remove objections to their use to observe that one of the alter-
ations which Romanism has introduced into modern churches
as seen on the contment is the disuse both of them and of the
piscina: the latter being too often (like our Fonts) appropriated
to the reception of lumber, and the place of tlie former supplied
by chairs.

Table of Pro- ^^' Many opinions have been entertained as to the

thesis, or Cre- situation in our ancient churches, of the Table of Pro-
dence. thesis ; that is, tlie place whereon the Elements were

placed previously to their Oblation. As this is a point on which
we cannot speak positively, three ways remain in which we may
supply the want. We may make a recess like a small Easter Sepul-
chre on the north side of the Altar, in which case we can easily find
many excellent models, as Shottcsbrook, Berkshire; or we may
have an octagonal projection on the south, supported on an octa-
gonal shaft, after the manner of some piscinae ; or, better still, a
large low bracket, which, as in Barholme, Lincolnshire, and Hard-
ham, Sussex, seems to have answered this purpose. At Southease,
Sussex, is a plain oblong recess on the Gospel or north side with
a slightly projecting base, which was doubtless a Table of Prothesis,
and the slab in Compton, Surrey, was probably the same. The
Credence table in the church of S. Cross, Hampshire, is on the south
side of the Altar.

23. The Holy Vessels were anciently kept in ah
Aunibrye. i • i • » i

aumbrye or locker, as they are to this day m Imham

church, Lincolnshu-e. They should always be kept in the church ;
and, of course, if an aumbrye be used, due attention must be paid
to its security. The usual position of aumbryes was on the Gospel
side of the Altar, though sometimes they are found in the east wall.
They are seldom much ornamented, though the door, where it
remams, is sometimes elaborately carved. A good model, from
Chaddesden, Derbyshire, is figured in Bloxam's Catechism of Archi-
tecture.

24. The Altar should be raised on one, two, or three
tion of fl.
Altar.

Elevation of ^.^.j^^^ ^^ ^j^^.^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ » ^^.^ ^^^^,^ ascents to the

Altar?" asks Bp. Montague in his Visitation Articles.
The sides of these steps may be panelled in a series of quatrefoiled
circles, or in many other ways; sometimes, as in Geddington, Nortli-
aniptonshire, and Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire, the dedication and
date of the diurth arc or have been carved on tliem.

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25. Very muclx of tlie appearance of a church
Chancel arch. . >- . i »

depends on its Chancel arch. A very excellent effect

is given by throwing a highly ornamented "squinch" across each
corner of the lantern : this gives the lantern of the Cathedral
church of Coutances its great beauty.

It is the intention of the Cambridge Camden Society to publish
shortly, as an appendix to this tract, a collection of lists of windows
or other parts of a church, arranged in order of date.

26. The use of such lists is threefold. Firstly, it
UseofLsts. . ., 1 , , .

IS possible that the enquirer may find among them

some church in his own immediate neighbourhood. Or, secondly,
he may be able to procure without difficulty working drawings
from some church mentioned in them. Thirdly, they may at least
be useful to those in whose churches they are found, by directing
their attention to them, and tending to the preservation of the
things themselves. And on all these accounts, a catalogue raison-
iiee of windows, and the like, now existing in England would be
of inestimable value to the ecclesiologist.

Early English 27. We now come to speak of windows, and first
Windows, ^f Early English. In very small churches, especially
in Wales, we find the east window consisting of a single lancet
(Llanaber, iMerionethshire), but the effect is poor, though it may
do well enough for the west end. A great improvement upon this
is to have two equal lancets (Patching, Sussex). These lancets
are sometimes trefoiled (Up 'V^^altham, Sussex), sometimes ogee and
trefoiled (Chithurst, Sussex) ; in other cases at some height above
them they have a plain circle {W. Hampnett, Sussex), a quatre-
foil (Cherrington, Gloucestershire), a sexfoil (Portslade, Sussex), an
eightfoil (Beddingham, Sussex), or a smaller lancet (All Saints,
Hertford). Three lancets are the most usually adopted; these,
it need not be said, symbolise the Holy Trinity. These are
sometimes of equal height under one internal arch (Bosham,
Sussex), or not (Foxton, Cambridgeshire) ; some have internal
shafts (Clymping, Sussex). Oftencr they are of unequal height,
either under one interior arch (Onibury, Salop), or not; in which
case they may be adjacent (Thakeham, Susibx), or not adjacent
(Faringdon, Berkshire), and sometimes each lancet has internal
shafts (Beaulieu, Hampshire). They sometimes nearly reach to
the gi'ound (Ringmer, Sussex). Again, the breadth as well as the
height of the central light is sometimes greater than that of
the others (The Temple). These lancets are sometimes trefoiled
(Finden, Sussex), and the central light in this case is some-
times, though rarely, ogee (Jevington, Sussex). In other cases
there are three plain circles in the head of the window (Ditchell-

14

ing, Sussex), or near the apex of the roof is a circular window
(Birdbrooke, Essex). We sometimes find two tiers; the lower of
three equal, the upper of three unequal lights (Vanner Abbey,
Merionethshire) ; and this arrangement has sometimes the cu-cular
window in the apex (New Shoreham, Sussex). Four equal lancets
at the east end are unusual (Repton, Derbyshire) ; sometimes they
are arranged two and two (Goustranville, Normandy). Five un-
equal lancets are exceedingly beautiful (Oundle, Northamptonshire).
A still finer effect is produced by seven, as in Ockham, Surrey;
an example almost unique. The chief tiling which gives to modern
Early English lights their wretched appearance is their double splay,
as shewn in Plate III. This of course necessarily makes them
lai'ger, light pouring in and spreading through a smgle splay with
so much more ease than it does through a dark one. Triple lancets
are far too beautiful a feature to be used so cheaply as they fre-
quently are now. The number of lights on each side of the Nave
and Chancel is generally unequal. The Chancel of Cherryhinton,
Cambridgeshire, of Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, of Chailey,
Sussex, of the church of S. Nicolas, near La Mailleraie, on the Seine,
and the Chapel of the Seminary, Bayeux, are very fine specimens of
this style; and the church of Clymping, Sussex, a plana but very
good model of an unmutilated Early English building. Perhaps
one of the most beautiful instances of an eastern triplet is at
Castle Rising, Norfolk.

Decorated and ^^ Decorated and Perpendicular Windows, as no
perpendicular description can convey an adequate idea, a large classi-
wmdows. £gjj jjg^ ^^Y[ be given in the Appendix.

The deep symbolism however of many, perhaps all, of the former,
is well worthy our attention. To take only one example. The
east window of Dunchurch, Warwickshire, is figured in Bloxam's
Catechism, p. 108. May we not see in it a most speaking type of
the doctrine of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity 1 Its three
/re-foiled lights, its tracery of three ^re-foiled triangles round an
equilateral triangle, and its three tre-ioils interspersed between these ;
what else can they point to ?

28. The subject of Fonts is highly interesting; a list

of modefs will be given in the Appendix. The reader

cannot do better than consult Mr Poole's before-mentioned little work,

where he will find much valuable information on the subject. To

his remarks there we may add a few more.

The shape of the bason may be either square, circular, or oc-
tagonal; the greater number of examples in each style are octagonal;
an octagon being a very ancient 'symbol of Regeneration. Where
there is a central, and four corner shafts, the latter have capital
and base, the former has neither. Hexagonal Fonts, though

15

they do occur, are not to be imitated; yet they are not always
late; that at Ramsey, •which is Norman, is of this shape. A
pentagonal Font, of which Mr Poole has not an example, occurs
at Hollington, Sussex; a heptagonal one at Chaddesden, Derby-
shire. I quite agree with Mr Poole, that coats of arms are to
be avoided in ornamenting the instrument of our initiation into
Him Who " was despised and rejected of men." Yet shields
do occur in early Fonts: for example, at West Deeping, Lincoln-
shire, which is Early English. And shields mth the Instruments
of Crucifixion, and the like, would be no less beautiful than appro-
priate ornaments.

A kneeling stone at the Avest side appears desii-able ; it may be
panelled to any degree of richness. It need hardly be observed
that the cover should be richly carved in oak; there is a magnificent
specimen in Castle Acre, Norfolk, about 16 feet in height. The
pulley by which it is elevated is sometimes, as in Stamford S.
George, curiously carved; the Fall of Man, the Baptism of our
Saviour, and His victory over the devil, are here frequently re-
presented.

The position of the Font must be in the nave, and near a
door; this cannot be too much insisted on : it thus typifies the
admission of a cliild into the Church by Holy Baptism. The Canon
orders that it shall stand in the ancient usual place ; 'and I quote
the following passages from the Visitation Articles of some of the
Prelates before mentioned.

"MTiether have you in your church or chapel a Font of stone,
set up in the ancient usual place?" Abp. Bancroft, 1605.

"A handsome Baptistery, or Font, in the usual place." Bp. Bridges,
1636.

" Is there in your church a Font for the Sacrament of Baptism
fixed unto the Lord's freehold? Of what materials is it made ?
"^^Tiere is it placed ? AVhether near unto a church door, to signify
our entrance into God's Church by Baptism?" Bp. Montague,
1638.

" A Font of stone, set up in the ancient usual place." Abp. Laud,
1636.

''A Font of stone, set in the ancient usual place." Bishop Wren;
Hereford, 1635, and Norwich, 1636.

"A stone Font, towards the lower end of the church." Abp.
Juxon, 1662.

29. We now come to speak of the pavement. No
doubt painted tiles* when they are really made well

* "Stones of course are best for the floor: then tiles, as ice make them note."
A Few Words to Churchwardens (9th Edit.), part i. p. 14. "We do not think that
stone is beyond doubt the best paving- for a church. For our part, we like coloured

tiles

K)

are better than any other. This is the place for heraldic devices:
we thus by treading them under foot symbolically express the
worthlessness of all human dignity and rank in the sight of God.
Excellent models both of devices and arrangements are to be found
in the Cathedral church of Gloucester: in the Hospital church of
S. Cross near Winchester; in the Chancels of Standon, Hertford-
shire ; of Poynings, Sussex ; and Ludlow, Salop ; and under a chantry
in Christ Church, Hampshire. If stone be preferred, nothing can
come up to white, and black Devonshire marble, chequerwise. Wood
and brick are alike insufferable.

30. In the doors and porches of a church both the
position and arrangement are matters of extreme im-
portance. In a cross church we shall generally find five doors; three
in the Nave, at the west, at the south-west, and at the north-
west: one at the west of the north or south Transept, and one
at the north or south side of the Chancel. This is called the
Priest's door, and was always appropriated, as it ought to be now,
to his entrance. Porches give great scope for beautiful groining;
the devices here may be of a less chastened character than those
in the church. Thus we meet with true-love knots, (because the
earlier part of the service of Holy Matrimony was performed in
this part), the zodiacal signs, and the like. In Early English, or
early Decorated doors, a good effect will be given by terminating
the drip-stone in those remarkable corbels called notch-heads, one
of which is figured in the Glossary of Architecture, Vol. ii. pi. 39,
fig. 3; and again in the corbel table. Vol. ii. pi. 28, fig. 4. Again,
in the two later styles, why should we not adopt the beautiful cus-
tom which prevailed once, of terminating them in the heads of the
reigning monarch and the Bishop of the Diocese? Neither are
shields out of place here: when charged with armorial beaiings,
they are sometimes found in modern churches with the tinctures
expressed ; an architectural anachronism. There may be a stone
seat on each side the porch, and a window of two lights on each
side will add much to the richness of the whole.

31. In Mr Anderson's Ancient Models some excel-
Tower

lent wood-cuts of spires are given, with a list of a few

others. An additional list will be found in the Appendix.

32. The management of the interior of the roof,
so as to look even decent, gives so much trouble to

Churchbuilders, that they will perhaps be glad of some suggestions

tiles which are getting cheaper every day, just as well." British Critic, No. 59,
p. 251. Both these sentences are equally true: if only sufficient emphasis be
laid on the italicised part of the former.

17

on the subject, backed by sound reasons for adopting tliem, 1 am
writing as a Ciiurehman to Churchmen, and therefore must recom-
mend that kind of roof which is most churchlike. As stone roofs
are seldom thought of now-a-days, I shall confine myself to wooden
ones. The common way of late is to have a ticbeam with king
or queen posts: and no grant is given by the Incorporated Society
for Churchbuilding except there be a tiebeam : — a rule which I ear-
nestly hope will be dispensed with ere long. These unadorned beams
and posts are either left bare, in which case (and it is the best)
the church looks like a barn : or they are hidden by a flat cieling,
which gives it the appearance of a drawingroom: or lastly, the
cielmg is coved, which is one degree less hideous than the last
method. The remedy for all this is to do without the tiebeam.
If the roof is a small one, over a Chancel for instance, it does
not require a tiebeam, the rafters resting on the walls and being
sufficiently tied by the collar: the interior may be boarded and
panelled either as high as the collar or to the very ridges: this
gives a handsome roof, and allows of abundant ornament in the
shape of bosses, panelling, and the like. Or if there must be braces
for strength, they may pass obliquely from the foot of the rafter
on one side to the top of the correspondmg rafter, as we find in
some old roofs: either of these two kinds of open roof leaves an
ample vaulted space internally, and on this account should be pre-
ferred, as more churchlike, to such as do not. But even these
are less Ecclesiastical in their appearance, than could be wished:
in the former the vault has a flatness and stiffness of outline; in
the latter it is marred by the difference of shape in the rafters
and braces: nor will either plan do for a large roof, as there will
then be too much thrust on the walls. In all cases then, for a
small church or a large, we heartily recommend the arched open
roof, of all wooden roofs the most elegant and churchlike. In this
the place of the tiebeams is supplied by arched braces pinned to the
rafter and collars, and others again pinned under the hammerbeam.
Of this kind of roof we have specimens both of the most elaborate
and of the simplest kind : from the vast hall of Westminster down
to the country church of ten yards by six. As all of these were
erected in the 15th or early in the 16th century, they are so many
standing refutations of the modern belief (acted on by the before
mentioned Society,) that there is no safety without a tiebeam.
There is an excellent article on this kind of roof in No. 58 of
the British Critic, to which we refer for fuller details, and for
engraved specimens from chiirches in Suffolk, a county famous
for these roofs. We will only remark, that while they are the"
most churchlike as having the simplest and most uninterrupted
vault consistent with safety, they are at the same time peculiarly
beautiful. A small roof of two arches corresponds exactly witli
2

18

a trefoUed light : a roof of three arches with a cinqfoiled light :
the ornaments also generally found at the spring of the arches cor-
respond to the richly feathered cusps of window heads, and in the
spandrells of the arches, in the collars, cornices, purlins and the
like, there is room for a variety of ornaments.

Ornaments. 33. Of these we may mention the follo^^•ing.

The monogi'am Ihc, or Ihs.

An Agnus Dei.

A pelican "in her piety."

A nest of young eaglets, the old one hovering over them: an
allusion to Deut. xxxii. 11.

A boar rooting up a vine. Psalm Ixxx. 11.

A salamander. When found on a Font, this animal symbolises
the promise, "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost
and with, fire;" elsewhere it refers to Isaiah xliii. 2.

The Crown of Thorns.

The Instruments of Cmcifixion.

All kinds of Crosses; especially a Cross botonnee, a Cross pattee,
a Cross raguly, a Cross potence, a Cross moline.

The Crown of Thorns surrounding Inc.

A Chalice with Fruit.

A hart drinking. Psalm xlii. 1.

Two doves drinking out of one pitcher: an emblem of the peace
and joy arising from the reception of the Holy Eucharist.
A very ancient sjTnbol.

The Tree of Life, with Adam and Eve, and the serpent.

On one boss, a barren tree; on the next, a tree in full bear-
ing, swine generally revelling on the fallen fruit.

Our Lord in the ship (which was generally taken by the Fathers
as a type of the Holy Church).

Bunches of grapes intermingled with wheat ears.

A Cross standing on a crescent.

A Rose and a Lily.

The Phcenix, which S. Clement adduces as a symbol of the
Resurrection.

All these are strictly Catholick emblems, and might well be
employed now. Sometimes, though less appropriately, the founder
has alluded to circumstances connected with his own life; so the
famous Norfolk legend of the pedlar who founded Brandon church,
Norfolk, is worked in the open seats there.

34, We must now speak of the woodwork of a
church. Tliis includes the Roodscreen, Altar rails,
doors, wood-seats, pulpit, faldstool, lettem, parish chest, alms box,
and Font-cover.

19

„ . 35. We have seen that the Chancel and Nave are

RooclscrcGn.

to be kept entirely separate. This is done by the Rood-
screen, that most beautiful and Catholick appendage to a church.
We have also seen that the Prelates of the seventeenth century
required it as a necessarj^ ornament; and that they who were most
inveterate against Roodlofts always held the Roodscreen sacred.
Why is it that not one modern church has it? It constitutes one
of the peculiar beauties of English buildings; for abroad it is veiy
rare. There can be no objection to the erection of a Perpendi-
cular screen in a church of earlier style ; because such was the con-
stant practice, and because that style is better adapted for wood
work than any other. The whole may, and indeed ought to be,
richly painted and gilded. The lower part, which is not pierced,
may be painted with figures of Saints, as in Castle Acre, Norfolk ;
Thei-field, Hertfordshire ; Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire : Brad-
ninch, Devonshire; why S. Edmund the King so often occurs
is not known. In the Appendix nothing will be given but what
might well serve as a model, though some instances may be much
mutilated.

Stone Roodscreens do not often occur. I may men-
tion Ilkestone, Derbyshire; Harlton, Cambridgeshire;
Great Bardfield, Essex; Merevale, "W'arwickshire ; Christ Church,
Hampshire, as examples; but the effect is not good in a small
church.

36. Many Roodscreens were put up during the i-eigns
Roodscreen ^f j^^g James the First and King Charles the Mar-
our Churcli. tyr : there is a good instance in Geddington, Northamp-
tonshire. It was erected by Maurice Tresham, Esquire,
in 1618 ; probably as an expression (and a truly Catholick one) of
thankfulness, as the words on the western side, "Quid retribuam
Dosnxo?" seem to imply. It is an arabesque imitation of the
fine Decorated east wmdow; and the effect is not bad. There are.
other instances in Stoke Castle, Salop, Isleham, Cambridgeshire,
Middleton, Warwickshire, and Messing, Essex.

37. Two objections have been made to the use of
Objections ^^^ Roodscreen now. The first is, that it is a Romish
innovation, and is not to be met with before the 14th
or 15th centuries. Now Early English screens, though not common,
as might be expected from their material, do yet occur: as one at
Old Shoreham, Sussex, the date of which is about 1250; and in
Compton, Surrey, there is a Norman parclose, of the date of 1150.
Add to which that modem Romanism, as we see it on the continent,
has in almost every case removed the Roodscreen, and where the
Roodloft is retained, it is mostly in the shape of an ugly twisted

20

beam thrown across the Chancel Arch. Secondly, it is said, that it
prevents the worshippers from having a view of the Altar. But
where this occurs, it is from the fault of the artist : for the " tcxtilis
aura" of such a Roodscreen as Llanegryn or Guilden Morden can
prevent neither the Priest's being heard from, nor the people's
looking to, the Altar.

38. Since Altar rails were not known to our ances-
Altar rails. ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ Romish Church at the present

day, we must use our best diligence in adapting, where we cannot
imitate. In modern churches, with hardly an exception, they are
nothing better than eyesores. But, by exercising a little ingenuity,
a model for them may be taken from the upper part of any per-
fect Roodscreen. But it may be questioned how far we are bound
to retain Altar rails at all. At Orton, near Peterborough, they are
not fixed, but only put up when the Holy Eucharist is administered :
and many churches are without them altogether. The harm they
have done to brasses and monuments is incalculable.

39. Our pious ancestors, who thought nothing in
°°'' the service of God small or of no account, panelled

their doors in the most elaborate manner possible ; the stanchions,
locks, and handles were also very rich. Sometimes, as at Market
Deeping, Lincolnshire, and Hickling, Nottinghamshire, the hinges
ramify into tracery covering the whole surface of the door. Is it
a proof of our modern wisdom that we now use deal doors grained
in oak, or chesnut, as the case may be?

40. We must now speak of the way in which the
worshippers are to be accommodated. Those who have

thought on the subject have long seen, and every day see more,
the absolute necessity of getting rid, at any sacrifice, of those
monstrous innovations, pews, or, to spell the word according to the
most ancient spelling, pues. For remarks on the unmixed evil of
which they have been the cause, I would refer the reader to Arch-
deacon Hare's first charge to the Archdeaconry of Lewes. The voice
of the Anglican Church has been raised against the innovation long-
ago. For example: in the Visitation Articles of Bishop Bridges of
Hereford, 1635, we find the following question [iii. 10]: "Whether
doth any private man, or men, of his or their owne authority erect
any pewes, or build any new seats in your church ? and what pewes
or seats have been so built 1 by whose procurement, and by whose
authority ? And are all the seats and pewes in the church so ordered
that they which are in them may all conveniently kneel down in time
of prayer, and have their faces towards the Holy Table?" And Bishop
Montague, Bishop ^Vren, Archbishop Laud, and others, ask the ques-

21

tion in nearly the same words. 'But people must sit somewhere,
and they must be kept from the cold.' So they must. They will
be sufficiently protected from the cold if the church be kept dry, and
the doors during the time of worship shut close ; above all, the daily
service will do more towards making the church comfortable than
anything else. And as to sittings, — our ancestors would have said
kneelings, — they may easily be provided without pews. Two ways
have been adopted for this purpose : the first, open wood seats ; the
second, chairs. The former was more prevalent in England, the
latter on the continent.

41 . 1 SHOULD not be disposed to adopt wholly either
of worsWppers *^^® °'^*^ ^^' ^^^® other: to use chairs alone would be to

deprive the church of some of its most beautiful orna-
ments; to use wood seats alone would be to leave hardly sufficient
space unoccupied, and would occasion considerable difficulty in the
arrangement of the Transepts. Plate 1 may make the arrangement
which I would adopt more clear.

42. On each side of the Chancel is to be a double,
jMissFBrcs.

or, if needed, a triple row of misereres: these affijrd

scope for an almost unlimited extent of carving. If the Chancel has
Aisles, the misereres will not stand against the walls, but between
and before the piers, and may have a canopy of tabernacle work
thrown over them. Any Cathedi-al Church will affiard excellent
examples. Ripon, Winchester, and Dumblane have magnificent
specimens. The row nearest the wall must, of course, have a slight
advantage in point of elevation. It is needless to observe that this,
and all the other wood-work in the church, must be of oak or
chesnut. In smaller buildings we often find open wood seats, like
those in the Nave, adopted instead of misereres.

43. Wood seats are found of every degree of rich-
ness. It is desirable that they should be somewhat

inferior to those in the Chancel ; and care must be taken that every
one has ample room to kneel. The proper model for chairs, or
Ijrie-dieux (as they are called in France), may be seen by a reference
to Plate 4. When used for sitting, the upper seat which moves on
hinges, is shut down, and the back of the chair is towards the
west; when wanted for kneeling, it is lifted up, the chair tiu'ned
round, and the occupier kneels on the lower part.

44. Where shall the pulpit stand ? is a question
which we continually hear asked. There are but two

places where it ought to stand, namely, either on the north or south
side of the Nave arch. It is better to have it of stone; in this case

22

it should be octagonal, richly panelled, projecting from the pier, and
sloping off to a point, like that at Beaulieu, in Hampshire, figured
in the Glossary of Architecture. The entrance is to be by a
winding staircase in the pier itself. But the pulpit may also be
of wood. It will then be octagonal, on an octagonal stem. And it
may be sculptured, or painted, with the effigies of the eight doctors
of the Church, or, which was more usual, with the four doctors of
the Western Church, S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Jerome, and S.
Gregory the Great. Round the upper part may be carved, "Their
sound is gone out into all lands : and their words unto the ends of the
world." Excellent examples occur in Hatley Cockayne, Bedford-
shire; Otterbourne, Hampshire; Castle Acre, Norfolk; and All Saints,
Pavement, York.

But there are so many excellent pulpits of the time of King
James the First, that I should have no objection to adopt this
style. Some examples for the use of those who might wish to
do so hei'e follow:

1590. Ruthin, Denbighshire.

1G04. Sopley, Hants.

1 608. Kingstone nex t Lewes, Sussex.

1G16. Byfleet, Surrey.

1618. Geddington, Norihampt.

1624. Bristol Cathedral church.

1624. Rodborough, Gloucestershire.

1625. Breaston, Derby.

1625. Huish Episcopi, Somerset.

1627. Ashwell, Herts.

1627- Keymer, Sussex.

1630. Little Gidding, Hunts.

1632. Oxenhall, Gloucestershire.

6633. Sep. 24. Clymping, Sussex.

1634. Ilkeston, Derby.

1635. Barton, Camb.

1636. Sawley, Derby.
1636. Pyecombe, Sussex.
1636. Wells— St Andrew.

1636. York— St Cuthbert.

1637. Boston, Lincoln.

1638. Uppingham, Rutland.
I63S). Iford, Sussex.

1640. Cerne Abbas, Dorsets.

1631. Steeple Morden, Camb. i 1644. Whitchurch, Denbighshire.

1632. Bradford Abbas, Dorsets. |

45. One of the great abuses of modern times is
the monstrous size and untoward position of the pulpit.
It, with the reading pue and clerk's desk, are in most modern
churches placed immediately before the Holy Altar, for the purpose,
it would seem, of hiding it as much as possible from the congre-
gation. How symbolical is this of an age, which puts preaching in
the place of praying ! If prayer were the same as preaching, such a
position Avould be more natural: but as the prayers are not offered
to the people, but to God, our Church instructs us far otherwise.
It is necessary to strike at the root of this evU, because some
people seem still to fancy that the prayers ought to be preached ;
j and what is called fine readmg, in plain words, declamation, is
preferred to the chant, or canto fcrmo, the primitive way of
praying.

23

46. Other positions may be mentioned as occurnng
... in modern times. In one of the most fashionable chapels

in a fashionable watering place, the Altar stands in a
low recess at the east end, and over it is a large room, with two
openings in front, looking into the chapel; these serve respectively
for reading-pue and pulpit. The church in a country town in
Sussex has a large arch, thrown across the Chancel from pue to
pue, on which is the pulpit, and under' which is the reading desk,
in the shape of a door, which shuts back or opens as occasion requires.
This example has been followed in a village in Gloucestershire.
In another village in Sussex, the clergyman mounts into a window
seat, and there, without any desk or raised part before him, delivers
his sermon from under a sounding board, erected above the window.
Sometimes the pulpit is at the west end (alas! that it should be so
in an University church!); and of course the worshippers, or rather
the auditors, sit with their backs to the Altar. There are also pa-
rabolic sounding-boards, and semi-parabolic sounding-boards, and
parabolic sounding-boards with a slice cut out to admit the light.
Who can think, with common patience, on such enormities?

. 47- It is, I hope, hardly necessary to caution you

against any approximation to a gallery. Bishop Mon-
tague (Articles of Inquiry, Cambridge, 1841) says of these (i. 10),
*' Is your church scaffolded" {i. e. galleried) " every where, or in
part? do these scaffolds so made annoy any man's seat, or hinder
the lights of any windows in your church?" Again Bishop Wren
(ni. 13), "What galleries have you in your church? How ai*e
they placed, or in Avhat part of the church ? When were they
built, and by what authority? Is not the chui'ch large enough
without them to receive all your own parishioners? Is any part
of the church hidden or darkened thereby, or any of the parish
annoyed or offended?" StUl, if there be an organ, there must be
a gallery for it; but it should be a shallow stone projection at the
west end, such as we constantly meet with on the continent.

48. The reading-pue is nothing but a modem
Reading-pue. , . f ^ . . , , , , „

mnovation, very ugly, very mconvement, and totally

repugnant to all Catholick principles of devotion. Who first sanc-
tioned this mischievous and unhappy practice it is impossible now
to determme: it certainly was not generally introduced before the
l7th century. In its stead we ought to substitute two things, the
faldstool, and eagle desk or lettern.

The faldstool, whence the Litany and other prayers

are to be read, is a small desk at wliich to kneel ; it

is to be turned to the East, and may have rails on each side, as is

the case in many of our Cathedral churches. The front admits of

24

the most elaborate panelling. The proper place of this faldstool in
a parish church is the entrance to the Chancel, on the east side of
the Roodscreen. Its use is sanctioned, as indirectly by all parts of
our Rubrick, so du*ectly by the coronation service.

The lettern is usually made of wood, though some-
times of brass. It may be described as a revolving
desk, on the top of a stand about five feet in height. From it the
lessons are to be read. Examples may be seen in the Glossary of
Architecture. Brazen eagles are however the most usual, as well
as the most beautiful ornaments: they are sometimes represented as
trampling on a sei'pent. There are mstances in many of our Cathe-
dral, and in some of our parish churches, as Campden, Gloucester-
shire; Holy Rood, and S. Michael's, Southampton; Isleham, Cam-
bridgeshire; S. Stephen, S. Alban's; Christ's and King's College
chapels, Cambridge; S. Nicholas' and S. Margaret's, Lynn; Mag-
dalen and Merton College chapels, Oxford ; Croydon, Surrey ; Salis-
bury S. Martin ; Eton Chapel ; and Wiggenhall S. Mary, Norfolk.

49. The Parish Chest, in better ages, often re-
ceived a considerable degree of embellishment. In

Clymping, Sussex, is one of good Early EngUsh character : Bignor,
in the same county, and Luton, Bedfordshire, have good Perpen-
dicular chests. This is not to be confused with the alms box:
about the latter some curious particulars may be found in Bloxam's
Catechism, with some specimens. In Castle Acre church, Norfolk,
is a beautiful alms-box, said to have come from the priory. I
would also recommend the adoption of another box, for the repeiirs
of the church, which is always in use abroad.

50. A POINT of some difficulty is the position of
the vestry. It is equally a disfigurement, whether it

appeal's in the shape of a brick projection outside, or of a wooden
one inside. Yet its erection has not done half the mischief in
England that it has done in France, where, from the constant prac-
tice of throwing out a Sacristy behind the Altar, many a fine east
window has been spoilt. The only way in which a vestry can be
managed (unless the parvise, or room over the porch, be used for
this purpose, which is in practice highly inconvenient) seems to
be the following. A small chapel may be thrown out, as was often
done, on the north or south side of the Chancel; and a parclose
or screen being erected across its entrance, it will serve the pur-
pose of a vestry very well. But the sanctity of God's House must
not be profaned by parish meetings, or religious association anni-
versaries, which are too often held within its walls. An original
Sacristy exists at Salisbury, S. Thomas ; Stone, Kent ; E. Bourne,
Sussex.

25

51. The texts, which the 82nd canon commands
to be written up in various parts of a church, were

often during the earlier part of the 17th century admirably se-
lected, generally from the Psalms. The references are all to the
Prayer-Book version. A few are here given:

North and south of Chancel. Psalm xlii. 4, 6 ; 1. 2 ; Ixviii. 35 ;

cxvi. 12.
West of the Chancel arch ; on which, it must be remembered, the
eyes of the congregation would, when kneeling, be fixed:
Psalm xviii. 5, 6 ; xx. 1, 2 ; xxxvii. 4 ; 1. 15 ; cxxii. 6 ;
cxxxii. 8, 9 ; cxxxiv. 1 , 8.
North and south of Nave. Psalm vii. 7 ; ix. 14 ; xxii. 25 ;

xxvii. 4 ; xlvii. 4 ; Ixxxiv. 1 ; Ixxxvii. 1 ; cxxii. 4.
Opposite the principal entrance : Psalm v. 7 ; xv. 1, 2 ; xxvi. 8 ;

Ixvi, 12; c. 3; cxviii. 19; cxxii. 1.
Opposite the pulpit. Psalm cxix. 43.

A chronogram was also sometimes employed. Thus in Mallwydd
church, Merionethshire, we read: " A° ViVus et efFICax." Heb. iv. 12.
That the commandments, if they must be put up, were not in-
tended to assume the elaborate ugliness in which they now appear,
is evident from the enquiries of Archbishop Grindal, and Bishop Cox,
whether "they are written on fair sheets of paper, and pinned up
against the hangings in the east end."

52. Needlework and embroidery are needed for
embroidery *^® Altar-cloth, Corporas or napkin to be laid over

the Elements, Altar carpet, the antependium of the
faldstool, and pulpit cushion.

We may be allowed to ask, would not the time and ingenuity
spent on worsted work, satin stitch, bead work, and the like fri-
voHties, be better employed if it were occupied in preparing an
offering to God for the adornment of His Holy dwelling places ?
Hour after hour is cheerfully sacrificed in the preparation of
useless trifles for those charity bazaars which would fain teach us
that we can serve God and mammon: no time is then thought
too much, no labour spared. But when an Altar cloth or carpet
is t» be provided, then the commonest materials and commonest
work are thought good enough. Better examples were set in
former times: as here and there a tattered jjiece of church em-
broidery still remains to tell us.

That such ornaments are employed Ijy our Church, is proved
by the following questions:

"A comely and decent Communion Table with a fair covering
of some carpet, silk, or linen cloth to lay upon it." ArchbishoiJ
Parker, 1559.

26

"A Table for the Holy Communion with a fair linen cloth to
lay upon the same, and some covering of silk, buckram, or such
like." Archbishop Grindal, 1573.

"A convenient Communion Table with a carpet of silk, or some
other decent stuff, and a fair linen cloth." Archbishop Bancroft, 1605.

" A convenient pulpit with a decent cloth and cushion ; a Com-
munion Table with a handsome carpet or covering of silk stuff, or
such like." Bishop Bridges, 1634.

" A Communion Table with a cai-pet of silk or some other decent
stuff, continually laid upon it at the time of divme service." Arch-
bishop Laud, 1636, and Bishop Wren, 1635.

"Have you a carpet of silk, satin, damask, or some more than
ordinary stuff to cover the Table with at all times;?" Bishop Montague,
1639.

There are very few specimens of Altar cloths now remaining, and

those wliich do remain are so much mutilated that we are thrown

almost entirely on our own resources in providing a pattern for them.

Our forefathers provided more than one Altar cloth.

More than according to the different Feasts on which they might
be used. Thus, that employed on an ordinary Sunday
was green : that on the great feasts, as Easter and Pentecost, purple
and gold, the symbol of triumph; that on the Festival of any Martyr,
scarlet, in reference to his resisting unto blood; that used on the Puri-
fication and Annunciation, white, the colour of purity. During Lent,
a black Altar cloth was employed, excepting only on Easter Eve,
when the Altar was entirely stripped. Any of the symbols mentioned
in Section 33 might here be worked with gold thread on the velvet.
The Altar cloth should not hang over the edge of the Altar more than
six inches (otherwise the panelling would be concealed), and should
be furnished with a thick gold fringe.

Altar candle- 63. The precious metals are now only needed for

sticks. two things, the Altar candlesticks and the Holy Vessels.

Two Altar candlesticks are commanded by the first rubrick in

the Prayer book. The thing signifies " that Christ is the veiy true

Light of the world:" the number, His Divine and Human Natures.

They are to stand on the Altar, and not on the Altar rails.

The universal shape of the Chalice was, as it generally is, and
always ought to be, an octagonal base and circular bason. In most
of the Visitation Articles particular enquiry is made as to the silver
cover of the Chalice.

54. Stained glass is of much importance in giving
a chastened and solemn effect to a church. Those
who travel on the continent might find many opportunities of pro-
curing, from desecrated churches, at a very trifling expense, many

27

fragments, which Mould be superior to any we can now make.
But if it be modern, let us at least imitate the designs, if we can-
not attain to the richness of hues, which were our ancestors'. In a
window lately stained by Evans of Shrewsbury, for the church of
the Holy Cross in that town, no one would at first believe that
the four elegant figures which occupy a conspicuous place are the
four Evangelists. And in the new window at Ely, by the same
artist, the case is not much better, except that here the Evange-
listick symbols are to be seen on close inspection, though in the
wrong place and form. I will here give the usual symbolism used
to represent those Saints who are recorded in our calendar:

The Holy Apostles:

S. Peter. With a key; or two keys with different wards.

S. Andrew, Leaning on the Cross called from him.

S. John Evangelist. With a Chalice, in which is a winged

serpent. (In this case the eagle is never represented.)
S. Bartholomew. With a flaying knife.
S. James the Less. With a fuller's staff", bearing a small

square banner.
S. James the Greater. With pilgrim's hat, staff", and cockle

sheU.
S. Thomas. With an arrow; or with a long staff".
S. Simon. With a long saw.
S. Jude. With a club.
S, Mathias. ^Yiih a hatchet.
S. Philip. Leaning on a spear ; or with a long Cross in the

shape of a T.
S. Matthew. With, a knife or dagger.
S. Paul. With elevated sword.

S, John Baptist. With an Agnus Dei.
S. Stephen.' With stones in his lap.

We Avill proceed to other Saints in our calendar wliose symbols
are distinctly known:

S. Hilary. A Bishop, with three books.

S. Fabian. Kneeling at the block, the triple crown by his side.

S. Agnes. With a lamb at her feet.

S. Blaise. Holding a woolcomb: or with a woman at his feet,
offering a pig.

S. Agatha. Her breast torn by pincers.

S. David. "With Pall and Crosier, preaching on a hill.

S. Perpetua. "With a child at her breast, surrounded by flames.

S. Gregory. A book in one hand, the triple Crosier in the
other, and a triple crown.

28

S. Richard. A Chalice at his feet.

S. Alphege. An Archbishop, with a heap of stones in his

chesible.
S. Dunstan. An Archbishop, with a harp in his hand.
S. Boniface. A Bishop, laying an axe to the root of an oak.
S. Margaret. With a crozier in her hand, and trampling on

a dragon.
S. Mary Magdalene. With the alabaster box, and with loose

long hair.
S. Anne. Teaching the Blessed Virgin Mary to read : her

finger generally points to the words, " Radix Jesse floruit.'
S. Laurence. With a gridiron.
S. Giles. A hind, with an arrow piercing her neck, standing

on her hmd feet, and resting her fore feet on the lap of

the Saint.
S. Edmund. Fastened to a tree, and pierced Avith arrows ; the

royal crown on his head.
S. Enurchus. A dove lighting on his head.
S. Martin. Giving half of his cloak to a beggar.
S. Britius. With a young child in his arms.
S. Cecilia. With her organ.
S. Catherine. With her wheel, and a sword.
S. Clement. With an anchor.
. S. Nicolas. With three naked children in a tub, in wliich

rests the end of his pastoral staff.
S. Faith. With a bundle of rods.

It is to be observed generally that Virgins, not Martyrs, hold
lamps ; if Martyrs, roses and lUies : that Martyrs have palm
branches ; that Confessors have lilies : Prophets, wheels : and when
the four Evangelists occur together, the two first have closed, the
two last, open, books.

55. It may not be out of place to say a few words
on the subject of bells. You surely would not wish
that instruments, consecrated like these to tlae praise of God, should
be profaned by the foolish, profane, or self-laudatory inscriptions
so often found on them. They, as all other parts of church furni-
ture, are holy. The following are examples of ancient inscriptions
on bells:

Defunctos ploro, vivos voco, fulgura frango.
Nos jungat thronis vere thronus Salomonis.
Agnus Sancte Dei, due ad loca me i-equiei.
Nomen Sancte Jesu, me serva mortis ab esu.
Sanguis Xpi, salva me ! Passio Xpi, conforta me !

29

Te laudamus, et rogamus \ First bell,

Nomen Jesu Christi I Second bell, ;

Ut attendas et defendas | Third bell,

Nos a morte tristi. ) Fourth bell,

56. Before concludina:, a word or two on monu-

Monuments. . . . ,

ments, as eventually exereismg great influence, tor good

or for ill, on the beauty of a church. l"o learn what hann they
may produce, we need only refer to Westminster or Bath Abbey
churches, or the Ladye Chapel at Ely.

But let us imagine a church, like that we have been endeavouring
to describe, filled with monuments befitting a Christian temple ; what
appearance would it in the course of years present ? Between each
of the piers in the Nave, but of course not touching them, would
be seen a low altar tomb, the sides gorgeously panelled, the edges
of the upper part indented with the brass legend, commemorating
not the virtues or alliances or genealogy of the deceased except
in the mute language of heraldry, but Ms name and his humble
prayer for mercy ; and on the top his effigy might be wrought in
brass, or carved on stone. And why do we not, in the position
of the figure, return to the constant practice of our ancestors?
Why are the warrior and the orator to be represented as still
occupied with the cares and excitement of their earthly pro-
fessions, instead of resting, with clasped hands, in the holy repose
of our earlier effigies? Till the great rebellion, the majority of
figures, whether recumbent or not, were in the attitude of prayer,
even when those whom they represent lived and died puritans. But
to proceed : on the north side of the Chancel would probably be
placed one or two canopied altar tombs, of still richer design than
the last; these would commemorate the benefactors to, or joint-
founders of, the church. And the poorer portion of the flock would
be kept in remembrance by the simple brass legend, or sculptured
Cross, scattered here and there on the church pavement. Some
visible reference to the Death and Passion of our Redeemer were
surely not amiss, and what supplies it so beautifully as these Crosses ?
Where the church abounds with them, we could not enter it without
thinking " These all died in faith."

.57. Again, every eff'ort should be made to prevent
The church- ^^^ intmsion of "headstones," " footstones," " breast-
^ ' stones," "tablet-boards," and the like, into the church-
yard. These came in with the revolution, and were not common
till many years later. And no small service would be rendered to
our churches if an order could be taken to prevent the adoption of
any more; and those at present existuig, with their hour-glasses,
weeping willows, death's heads, cherubims, scythes, and inscriptions

30

of " afflictions sore/' would quietly, and from their perishable nature,
soon moulder away, A stone with a Lombardick Cross, or dosd'^ne,
is the fittest monument for those who can afford it; they who
cannot might content themselves with a cross formed by sowing
box in that shape. A yew should be planted south of the church,
that at Easter, 'WTiitsuntide, and Christmas, its boughs may be used
to ornament the interior. Before the rebellion there was always a
Cross of stone, either in the village or churchyard. AVould there
now be any impiety or superstition or profaneness in erecting such
"A deare remembrance of our dying Lord?"

58, Thus then imperfectly, but not I hope
quite uselessly, have we completed our survey of a
church and its ornaments. If every thing else is forgotten, and two
points only remembered. The absolute necessity of a distinct
AND spacious Chancel, aud The absolute inadmissibility of
puEs AND GALLERIES in auy shapc whatever, I shall be more than
rewarded, I have been writing in the name of a society, physically
it may be weak in numbers and pecuniary resources, but morally
strong in the zeal of its members and the goodness of its cause. It
may indeed be years before the great truth is learnt, which that
Society hopes to be one of the instruments of teaching — the in-
trinsic holiness of a church, and the duty of building temples to
God in some sort worthy of His presence. But learnt sooner or
later it will be ; and to be allowed in any way to help forward so
good a work, is a high privilege. This the society has already done
by the little Tract to Churchwardens, the success of which has gone
beyond its warmest hopes. There is scarcelj' a diocese from which
accounts of its usefulness have not been received ; and it has been
distributed by more than one Archdeacon to the Churchwardens
at his visitation.

In the present tract, touching as it does on so many controverted
points, it can hardly be hoped that no mistake has been made, and
no offence given. If anything contained in it can be shewn to be
contrary to the Rubrick or the Canons of the Holy Anglican
Church, the writer will be thankful to be told of it and the first
to expunge it. These are matters " wherein" (to quote Hooker)
"he may haply err, as others have done before him, but an
heretick by the grace of Almighty God he will never be."

The above scheme of ChurchhuUding may, and probably will, he
called visionary : and some parts of it, not involving essential prin-
ciples, may and probably do admit of difference of opinion , even among
those under whose name and sanction it comes forth. — Page on page
might be devoted to ]yrove that as a whole the scheme is practicable,

31

and ougJU to be adopted: and the reader, however his reason might
be convinced, might yet scarcely be a convert to the principles here
advocated.

Another method of proof is in contemplation by the Cajubridge
Camden Society. Further notices and more detailed accounts will be
issued in due course of time: at present we may state that it is
intended, in a church to be dedicated in honour of S. Alban the
Protomartyr of England, to exhibit, in the Decorated as the most
beautiful style, a perfect model of a Christian temple.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY.

The Report for 1841, with the President's Anniversary Addresses, Lists

of Latvs, Members, <|-c. 1*. 6d.
Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Antiquities, 2nd Edit. Is. dd.
Church Schemes, Ninth Edition, 4to. 2*. 6rf. per score.
Illustrations of Momimental Brasses. Parts I. and II. 5s., Part III. Qs,
Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society. Imperial 4to. Part I. bs. Qd.
An Argument for the Greek origin of the Monogram IHS. \s. 6d.
A Few Words to Churchivardens on Churches and Church Ornaments.-

Part I. Suited to Country Parishes. Ninth Edition.

A Feio Words to Churchicardens on Churches and Church Ornaments,
Part II. Suited to Town and Manufacturing Parishes. Second
Edition. Price of each Part, 3c?; or 25 copies for bs; 50 for 8*j
100 for 10s.

Nearly Ready,
Ax Account of Stow CHriic^, Lincolnshire.

In the Press,

Illustrations of Monumental Brasses. Imperial 4to. Part IV.

Dr Haufurd, from Christ's College Chapel, Cambridge.

John Tame, Esq. Fairford, Gloucestershire .

Prior Nelond, Cowfold, Sussex.

Sir Andrew Luttrell, Irnham, Lincolnshire.

32

Plate I. is intended to illustrate the Catholick arrangement of a
church. The ground plan is that of a village church in Sussex ;
the arrangement, however, adopted in the original is sadly at vai'iance
with the principles inculcated in this Tract

.S*. The Chancel.
TT. The Transepts.

N. The Nave.
0 0. The Aisles.

P. The Porch.

A. The stone Altar.
a. The sedilia.

B. The three flights of three steps.

CC. Misereres. A double row on each side.

D. Roodscreen.

Z. Priest's door. [This might equally well have been on

the other side.]
T. The founder's tomb.

E. The steps to the Chancel. Two are perhaps better

than three.
ffff. Lantern piers. These support a light Decorated spire.

F. Font.
KK. Piers.

H. Pulpit.

/. Eagle desk. Facing west.

G. Faldstool. Facing east. A better position — at least on

Litany days — would be on the east side of the Rood-
screen.

W. Transept door.

K. S. western door.

VV. Wooden seats.

The whole of O O. T T. are, if necessary, to be filled with chairs.

Plate IL Fig. B. The modern chapel has four doors on the
"gi'ound floor" — one at each corner; and four in the gallery, in
the same position. And the Tower stands over the Chancel, which
otherwise would probably have been smaller.

Plate IIL Two Early English splays:

Fig. L From Chailey, Sussex. The entire breadth is 4ft. 2 in.
Fig. 2. From a modern Early English church in Sussex.

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