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LETTER III.

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ROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it has been supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record was taken; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one: hence we may conclude that this place was in no abject state, even at that very distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each other since the days of Radfredrus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to a description of the present edifice, in which we shall be circumstantial.

Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length by forty-seven in breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The present building has no pretensions to antiquity; and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date than the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. It is perfectly plain and unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculpture, or tracery. But when I say it has no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be understood of the fabric in general; for the pillars which support the roof are undoubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a former church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, because their strength had preserved them from the injuries of time.1 Upon these rest blunt Gothic arches, such as prevailed in the reign above-men

1 In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when he new built the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walkelin's church, by blending Saxon and Gothic architecture together.-Sce Lowth's "Life of Wykeham."-G. W.

tioned, and by which, as a criterion, we would prove the date of the building.1

At the bottom of the south aisle, between the west and south doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and consists of three massy round stones, piled one on another, without the least ornament or sculpture: the cavity at the top is lined with lead, and has a pipe at bottom to convey off the water after the sacred ceremony is performed.

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The east end of the south aisle is called the South Chancel,

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and, till within these thirty years, was divided off by an old carved Gothic frame work of timber, [the line of which may still be traced in a beam of partition between the pews,] having been a private chantry. In this opinion we are more confirmed by observing two Gothic niches within the space, the one in the east wall and the other in the south, near which there probably stood images and altars: [but

1 The churches in some of the adjoining parishes are of very ancient date, and well worth the attention of the antiquary. Those of Empshot and Hartley in particular are very old structures, and probably referable to a period anterior to the Norman Conquest.-ED.

these niches are in a different style of arch, and were probably not formed at the same time.]

In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable; but I remember when its beams were hung with garlands in honour of young women of the parish, reputed to have died virgins,' and recollect to have seen the clerk's wife cutting, in white paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to be twisted into knots and roses, to decorate these memorials of chastity. In the church of Faringdon, which is the next parish, many garlands of this sort still remain. [The pulpit is placed at the eastern end of the middle aisle. At the western end is an organ loft and organ: the latter being a gift of the Rev. William Cobbold, a former vicar, to his parishioners.]

The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, reaching within nine or ten feet of the floor. It had originally a flat roof covered with lead, till, within a century past, a churchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason; because the north side of the churchyard, being surrounded by the vicarage garden, affords no path to that side of the church. Nothing can be more irregular than the pews of this church, which are of all dimensions and heights, being patched up according to the fancy of the owners; but whoever nicely examines them will find that the middle aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of solid oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present church; and especially as it is to be observed that, at their ends, they are ornamented with carved blunt Gothic niches, exactly correspondent to the arches of the church, and to a niche in the south wall. The south aisle also has a row of

1 Virgin garlands were originally formed of real flowers, and garlands so made are often alluded to by our old dramatists. We believe that the custom referred to still prevails amongst the peasantry in some parts of Yorkshire and Westmoreland.-ED.

these benches; but some are decayed through age, and the rest much disguised by modern alterations.'

At the upper end of this aisle and running out to the north stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen feet from east to west: this was intended, no doubt, as a private chantry; and was also, till of late, divided off by a Gothic frame work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt Gothic arch, lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the shape of its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of the reign of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years ago, but contained nothing except the skull and thigh bones of a large tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a very irregular manner, without any escutcheon or other token to ascertain the names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very shallow, and lined with stone at the bottom and on the sides.2

From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I conclude supported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilaster, jutting out between this transept and the chancel, there is a very sharp Gothic niche, of older date. than the present chantry or church. But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow stone coffin lids, which compose part of the floor, and lie from west to east, with the very uarrow ends eastward: these belong to remote times; and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, must have been part of the pavement of an older transept. At present there are no coffins under them, whence I conclude they have been removed to this place from some part of a former church. One of these lids is so eaten by time, that no sculpture can be discovered upon it; or, perhaps, it may be the wrong side uppermost: but on the other, which seems.

1 Since this description was penned, considerable alterations have naturally been effected in the interior of the church.-ED.

2 There is no longer any vestige of a tomb in the north wall of the north chancel.-ED.

to be of stone of a closer and harder texture, is to be discerned a discus, with a cross on it, at the end of a staff or rod, the well known symbol of a Knight Templar.1

This order was distinguished by a red cross on the left shoulder of their cloak, and by this attribute in their hand. Now, if these stones belonged to Knights Templars, they must have lain here many centuries; for this order came into England early in the reign of King Stephen, in 1113; and was dissolved in the time of Edward II. in 1312, having subsisted only 199 years. Why I should suppose that Knights Templars were occasionally buried at this church, will appear in some future letter, when we come to treat more particularly concerning the property they possessed here, and the intercourse that subsisted between them and the priors of Selborne.

We must now proceed to the chancel, properly so called, which seems to be coeval with the church, and is in the same plain unadorned style, though neatly kept. This room measures thirty-one feet in length, and sixteen feet and a half in breadth, and is wainscoted all round, as high as to the bottom of the windows. [It is raised one step above the body of the church.] The space for the communion table is raised two steps above the rest of the floor, and railed in with oaken balusters. [Over the communion table is a painting in three compartments of the Offering of the Wise Men, presented by Benjamin White, Esq. It is attributed to John de Maubeuge.]

Here I shall say somewhat of the windows of the chancel in particular, and of the whole fabric in general. They are mostly of that simple and unadorned sort called Lancet, some single, some double, and some in triplets. At the east end of the chancel are two of a moderate size, near each other; and in the north wall two very distant small ones, unequal in length and height: and in the south wall are two, one on each side of the chancel door, that are broad and squat, and of a different order. At the east end of the

'See Dugdale, "Monasticon Anglicanum," vol. ii. where there is a fine engraving of a Knight-Templar, by Hollar.-G. W

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