ybung women of the parifli, reputed to have died virgins; and
recoiled to have feen the clerk’s wife cutting, in white paper, the
refemblances of gloves, and ribbons to be twilled into knots and
rofes to decorate thefe memorials of chaftity. In the church of
Faringdon, which is the next parifli, many garlands of this fort
Hill remain.
The north aile is narrow and low, with a Hoping ceiling, reaching
within eight or nine feet of the floor. It had originally a flat
roof covered with' lead, till, within a century paft, a churchwarden
ftripping off the lead, in order, as he faid, to have it mended,
fold it to a plumber, and ran away with the money. This aile
has no door, for an obvious reafon; becaufe the north-fide of the
church-yard, being furroundcd by the vicarage-garden, affords no
path to that fide of the church. Nothing can be more irregular
than the pews' of this church, which are of all dimenfions and
heights, being patched up according to the fancy of the owners :
but whoever nicely examines them will find that the middle
aile had, on each fide, a regular row of benches of folid oak,
all alike, with a low back-board to each. Thefe we fhould not
hefitate to fay are coeval with the prefent church : and efpecially
as it is to be obferved that, at their ends, they are ornamented
with carved blunt gothic niches, exa&ly correfpondent to the
arches of the church, and to a niche in the fouth wall. The
fouth aile alfo has a row of thefe benches; but fome are decayed
through age, and the reft much difguifed by modern alterations.
At the upper end of this aile, and running out to the north,
ftands a tranfept, known by the name of the North Chancel, mea-
furing twenty-one feet from fouth to north, and nineteen feet
from eaft to weft: this was intended, Ho doubt, as a private
chantry; and was alfo, till of late, divided off by' a gothic framework
work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt gothic arch,
lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the Ihape
of its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of the
reign of Henry VII. The, tomb was examined fome years ago,
but contained nothing except the fcull and thigh-bones of a large
tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a very
irregular manner, without any elcutcheon or other token to afcer-
tain the names or rank of the deceafed. The grave was very
(hallow, and lined with ftone at the bottom and on the fides.
From the eaft wall project four ftone brackets, which I conclude
fupported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilafter,
jutting out between this tranfept and the chancel, there is a very
Iharp gothic niche, of older date than the prefent chantry or
church. But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow ftone
coffin-lids, which compofe part of the floor, and lie from weft to
eaft, with the very narrow ends eaftward : thefe belong to remote
times; and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, mull have
been part of the pavement of an older tranfept. At prefent there
are no coffins under them, whence I conclude they have been
removed to this place from fome part of a former church. One
of thefe lids is fo eaten by time, that no fculpture can be dif-
covered upon it; or, perhaps, it may be the wrong fide upper-
moft; but on the other, which feems to, be of ftone of a clofet
and harder texture, is to be difcerned a difcus, with a c-rofs on it,
at the end of a ftaff or rod, the well-known fymbol of a Knight
Femplarq, .
This order was diftinguifhed by a red crofs on the left Ihoulder
of their cloak, and by this attribute in their hand. -Now, if tliefe
. 0 See DWgdate,' Monajticon Angluanum, Vol. II. where there is a fine engraving of a
Knigbt-’Templar, by Hollar.
itones