The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed.

BASED ENG

ommence, and how long di

tinued to about the middle of the seventeenth century; but it is difficu

s style calle

nd clumsy execution of sculptured and other ornamental work, from the intermixture of detail foun

ered as one great cau

clesiastical architecture, (which had been much followed by the members of the conventual foundations, who were now dispersed, in the

ld this be

the monasteries, which at their suppression were granted away by the crown, and others by the private munificence of individuals who frequently built an aisle, with a chantry chapel at the east end, partly inclosed by screen-work, or annexed to a church, a transept,

uses may also be assi

is very apparent in the costly though in many respects inelegant monuments of this age, and in which details of ancient classic architectur

characteristic

cting each other in the head, or filled with tracery miserably designed, and an almost total absence of ornamental mouldings. Indications of this style may be found in many country churches which have been repaired or partly rebuilt since the Reformation. In the interior of churches specimens of the wood-work of this style are very common, and may be perceived by the shallow and flat carved panelling, with round arches, arabesques, scroll-work, and other

bes

noted in the alterations

rmed by three plain mullions curving and intersecting each other in the head, which is filled with nearly lozenge-shaped lights, but all without foliations,) is a stone bearing the date of 1640. In the south wall of the tower of the same church (which is low, heavy, and clumsily built, without any pretension to architect

e of this style of late or

e above the other, all of which are round-headed and trefoiled, fill the head of the window, the composition of which, though comparatively rude, is illustrative of the taste of the age. On each side of the window, on the exterior, is a kind of semi-classic niche. In Stowe Church, Northamptonshire, are a number of windows inserted at a general reparation of the church in 1639; these are square-headed, and have a label or hood moulding over, and are mostly divided into three obtusely pointed-arched lights, without foliations. Under the windows of the south aisle is a string-course, more of a semi-classic contour than Gothic. On the south side is a plain round-headed doorway, inserted at the same period. The tower and south aisle of Yarnton Church, Oxfordshire, erected by Sir Thomas Spencer, A. D. 1611, have the sa

rook Church,

or, Oakham Chur

DING C

RANGEMENT AND DECO

eir internal arrangement, certain appendages designed with architectonic skill,

ded, some of such appendages were destroyed; whilst others, though suffered to exist, more or less in a mutil

cred edifice. The custom of aspersion at the church door appears to have been derived from an ancient usage of the heathens, amongst whom, according to Sozomen154-*, the priest was accustomed to sprinkle such as entered into a temple with moist branches of olive. The stoup is sometimes found inside the church, close by the door; but the stone appendage appears to have been by no means general, and probably in most cases a movable vessel

rmation considerable portions of the marriage and baptismal services, and also much of that relating to the churching of women, were here performed, being commenced "ante ostium eccl

m could be administered156-?; and it was, as Lyndwood informs us, to be capacious enough for total immersion. Some ancient fonts are of lead, as that in Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire, and that in Childrey Church, Berkshire; both of these are cylindrical in shape, and of the Norman era, encircled with figures in relief; those on the font at Dorchester representing the twelve apostles, whilst those on that of Childrey are of bishops. Leaden fonts are also to be met with in the churches of Brookland, Kent; Wareham, Dorsetshire; and Walmsford, Northamptonshire. Square and cylindrical or truncated cone-like shaped fonts, of Norman design, supported on a basement by one or more shafts, and either plain or sculptured, are numerous; we sometimes find on them figures of the twelve apostles, sculptured in low relief; the baptism of our Saviour also was no uncommon representation. Fonts subsequent to the Norman

churches of an earlier date than the seventeenth century, since the commencement of which century most of our present church bells have been cast. Towers were also occasionally used, up to the fourteenth century, as parochial fortresses, to which in time of sudden and unforeseen danger the inhabitants of the parish resorted for awhile. The tower of Rugby Church, Warwickshire, a very singular structure built in the reign of Henry the Third, appears to have been erected for this purpose; it is of a square form, very lofty, and plain in construction, and is without a single buttress to support it; the lower windows are very narrow, and at a considerable distance from the ground; some of them are, in fact, mere loop-holes; the belfry windows are square-headed, of two lights, simply trefoiled in the head, and divided by a plain mullion; the only entrance was through the church; it has also a fire-place, the funnel for the conveyance of smoke being carried up through the thickness of the wall to a perforated battlement, and it altogether seems well calculated to resist a sudden attack. Other church towers of early date appea

m Church Tow

orth Church, No

derable remains of the ancient open seats of the fifteenth century. At Finedon, in Northamptonshire, the body of the church and aisles are almost entirely filled with low open seats, with carved tracery at the ends, disposed in four distinct rows; so that the whole of the congregation might sit facing the east. Similar seats occur in Culworth Church, in the same county, and these are likewise of the fifteenth century. The pulpit was anciently disposed towards the eastern part of the body of the church, but not in the centre of the aisle. Pulpits are now rarely to be found of an earlier date than the fifteenth century, when they appear to have been introduced into many churches, though not to have become a general appendage. Ancient pulpits of that era, whether of wood or stone, are covered with panel-work tracery and mouldings; and some exhibit signs of having been once elaborately painted and gilt. Mention, however, is made of pulpits at a much earlier period; for in the year 1187 one was set up in the abbey church, Bu

than the fifteenth century; and it appears probable that wooden screen-work before that period was not common, and that in most instances a curtain or veil was used for the purpose of division. The rood-loft generally projected in front, so as to form a kind of groined cove, the ribs of which sprang or diverged from the principal uprights of the screen beneath. In Long Sutton Church, Somersetshire, is a splendid wooden rood-loft, elaborately carved, painted, and gilt, which extends across the whole breadth of the church, and is approached by means of a staircase turret on the south side of the church. In the churches of Great Handborough, Enstone, Great Rollwright, and Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, are considerable remains of the ancient rood-loft, and numerous other instances where it is still retained could be adduced. Sometimes this gallery was so small as to admit of the rood and two attendant images only, and had no apparent access to it, as that in Wormleighton Church, Warwickshire. Hardly a rood-loft is, however, remaining of earlier date than the fifteenth century; prior to that period, and in ma

rne Church,

a mutilated condition. On the outside of the west wall of the south transept of Romsey Church, Hants, and close to the entrance from the cloisters into the church, is a large stone rood or crucifix sculptured in relief, with a hand above emerging from a cloud169-*: this is apparently of the twelfth cen

ng Compton Churc

h the arch remains on the gable of the nave of many churches, the bell thus suspended is retained in few; amongst which may be mentioned those of Long Compton, Whichford, and Brailes, in Warwickshire, where this bell is still preserved hung in an arch at the apex of the nave, with the rope hanging down between the chancel and nave171-?. Mention of this bell is thus made in the Survey of the Priory of Sandwell, in the county of Stafford, taken at the time of the Reformation: "Itm the belframe standyng betw: the chauncell and the church, wt. a litle sanctm bell in the same." Generally, however, a small

us Bell, foun

lattice-work (cancelli) of stone or wood by which it was separated from the nave, and whi

St. Margaret's

exhibit the carved work on the under-part, furnished a small kind of seat or ledge, constructed for the purpose of inclining against rather than sitting on; and this was called the misericorde or miserere. The formul? or forms when down, and the misericordes when the forms were turned up, were used as the season required for penitential inclinations174-*. In front of these stalls was a desk, ornamented on the exterior with panelled tracery; and over the stalls, especially of those of cathedral churches, canopies of tabernacle work rich

All Souls' Co

sk, Merton Colle

specimens are preserved in Redcliffe Church, Bristol, of the date 1638; in Croydon Church, Surrey; and in the church of the Holy Trinity at Coventry; other instances might also be enumerated. Sometimes we meet with ancient brass reading-desks which have not the eagle in front, but both the sides are sloped so as to form a double desk: of these, examples of the fifteenth century may be found in Yeovil Church, Somersetshire, and in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford. Ancient wooden reading-desks, either single or double, are also occasionally found; some of these are richly carved, others are comparatively plain, but all partake more or less of the architectonic style of the age in which they were severally constructed, and from which their probable dates may be ascertained. In Bury Church, Huntingdonshire, is a wooden desk with a single slope, and the vertical face presented in front is covered with arches and other carved ornaments: th

wards they were constructed of stone; those of the primitive British churches are spoken of by St. Chrysostom. By a decree of the council of Paris, held A. D. 509, no altar was to be built but of stone. Amongst the excerptions of Ecgbert, archbishop of York A. D. 750, was one that no altars should be consecrated with chrism but such as were made of stone; and by the council of Winchester, he

Ashmolean M

y before the host was received in communion; a stoup or stok, of metal, with a sprinkle for holy water; a censer or thurible181-*, and a ship, (a vessel so called,) to hold frankincense; a chrismatory181-?, an offering basin, a basin which was used when the priest washed his hands, and a chalice and paten. Costly specimens of the ancient pix, containing small patens for the reception of the host, are preserved amongst the plate belonging to New College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A pix of a much plainer description, but without its cover, of the metal called latten, was until recently preserved in the church of Enstone, Oxfordshire: the body of this was of

k Church, Nor

ed into graduating seats by double cylindrical piers with sculptured capitals, and the recessed arches they support are enriched on the face with a profusion of the zigzag moulding. In the south wall of the choir of Broadwater Church, Sussex, is a stone bench beneath a large semicircular Norman arch, the face of which is enriched with the chevron or zigzag moulding. In Avington Church, Berkshire, is a stone beneath a plain segmental arch. Norman sedilia also occur in the churches of Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, and of Wellingore, Lincolnshire. From the commencement of the thirteenth century up to the Reformation sedilia became a common appendage to a church, and the styles are easily distinguished by their peculiar architectonic features. Some are without canopies, and are excessively plain. On the south side of the chancel of Minster Lovel Church, Oxfordshire, is a stone bench without a canopy or division, and plain stone benches thus disposed are found in the chancel of Bloxham Church, Oxfordshire, and of Rowington

na, Salisbur

sis187-*; we do not, however, find the piscina in our churches of an era earlier than the twelfth century, and even then it was of uncommon occurrence; but in the thirteenth century the general introduction is observable. In Romsey Church, Hampshire, is the shaft and basin (the latter cushion-shaped) of a curious Norman piscina: this is now lying loose, in a dilapidated state. In the south apsis of the same church is another Norman piscina, consisting of a quadrangular-shaped basin projecting from the south wall; and on the south side of the chancel of Avington Church, Berkshire, is a plain Norman piscina within a simple semicircular arched recess. The churches of Kilpeck, Herefordshire, Keelby, Lincolnshire, and Bapchild, Kent,

nham Regis,

he chancel, but also in the south walls at the east end of the north and south aisles, and in mortuary chap

ther for the reception of the water with which the chalice was rinsed after the communion189-*. In Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire, on the so

f readiness on a clean linen cloth; and this originated from the πρ?θεσι?, or side table of preparation, used in the early church; a recurrence to which ancient and primitive custom by some of the divines of the Anglican church, after the Reformation, occasioned great offence to be tak

, Chaddesden Chu

doors formerly affixed to these ambries have for the most part either fallen into decay or been removed, but traces of the hinges may be frequently perceived; and a locker in the north wall of the chancel of Aston Church, Northamptonshire, still retains the two-leaved wooden door. Sometimes shelve

for on Good Friday the crucifix and host were here deposited, and watched the following day and nights; and early on Easter morning they were removed from thence with great ceremony, and replaced on the altar by the priest. In the accounts of churchwardens of the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth century we meet with fre

bove have been destroyed; rarely, however, in a perfect state. In the seventeenth century the rich tabernacle-work was sometimes plastered over, probably to preserve it from iconoclastic violence. In many of our cathedrals, as at Gloucester, Bristol, Wells, and Worcester, and in some of the chantries attached to Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster, specimens of the chantry reredos screen, which appear to have abounded more or less with sculptured and architectural detail, are to be met with; and remains of the painting and gilding with which they were anciently covered may in some instances be traced. In a Survey of the

d crowned heads, each clad in a vest and mantle of two different colours. In the fourteenth century single figures under rich canopies are common, but we begin to lose sight of the mosaic pattern as a back-ground. The stained glass in the windows of the choir of Merton College Chapel, Oxford, is either very early in this, or of a late period in the preceding century, and exhibits single figures under rich canopies: over the head of one of these, (the kneeling figure of a monk in his cowl,) is a scroll inscribed "Magister Henricus de Mammesfeld me fecit." In the windows of Tewkesbury Abbey Church are several single figures of this period, some of knights in armour. In the chancel of Stanford Church, Northamptonshire, are single figures of the apostles in painted glass, each appearing within an ogee-headed canopy, cinquefoiled within the head and crocketed externally, and the sides of the canopy are flanked by pinnacled buttresses in stages. Specimens of stained glass of the fifteenth century are numerous in comparison with those of an earlier period; we find such in the east window of Langport Church, Somersetshire, where single figures occur of St. Clemens, St. Catherine, St. Elizabeth, and of many other saints. Some splendid remains of painted glass of the fifteenth century are likewise preserved in the windows of the

, whereon the arms of founders and benefactors, interspersed with figures, flowers, and emblematic de

all over the chancel arch, Trinity Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon, was some years back found to be thus covered; but this painting, with others in the same chapel, was afterwards again obliterated199-*. A curious fresco painting of the last judgment, discovered a few years ago on the west face of the wall over the chancel arch, Trinity Church, Coventry, has, however, been very carefully preserved, and the coat of whitewash which tended to conceal it probably ever since the Reformation has been judiciously removed. The legend of St. Christopher, represented by a colossal figure with a beam-like walking-staff, carrying the infant Christ on his shoulders through the water, was generally painted on the north wall of the nave or body of the church. A fresco painting of this subject, half obliterated, is still apparent on the north wall of the nave of Burford Church, Oxfordshire; and other instances might be adduced. The murder of Archbishop Becket was also a

or Shrine, Brixworth C

d early specimen, in very fair preservation. In the north aisle of the abbey church, Shrewsbury, are some remains of a stone shrine, which from the workmanship may be considered as a production of the early part of the fifteenth century: this is much mutilated: but the shrine of St. Frideswide, in Oxford Cathedral, the lower part of which is composed of a stone tomb, the upper part of rich tabernacle-work of wood, is still tolerably perfect: this is

ent

xposed. The phrase "a pair of organs," so frequently met with in old inventories and church accounts, may probably have answered to the great and choir organ of a subsequent period-one instru

e or less richly with carved tracery, panel-work, and other detail in the style prevalent at the period of their construction. In Clemping Church, Sussex, is an early chest of the thirteenth century, the front of which exhibits a series of plain pointed arches trefoiled in the head, and other carved work. In Haconby Church, Lincolnshire, and in Chevington Church, Suffolk, are very rich chests covered with tracery and detail in the decorated style of the fourteent

and the space thus enclosed was converted into or became a private chapel or chantry; for it was anciently the custom, especially during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, for lords of manors and persons of wealth and local importance to build or annex small chapels or side aisles to their parish churches, and these were endowed by license from the crown with land sufficient for the maintenance, either wholly or in part, of one or more priests, who were to celebrate private masses daily or otherwise, as the endowment expressed, at the altar erected therein, and

h by screen-work of stone may be found in the churches of Bradford Abbas, Dorsetshire; and Aldbury, Hertfordshire; in which latter church is a very perfect specimen

brackets or trusses built into and projecting from the wall, as in a chantry chapel in Warmington Church, Warwickshire; or partly on brackets and partly sustained on shafts or slender piers, as in a chantry chapel, Chipping-Norton Church, Oxfordshire. Sometimes a chamber containing a fire-place was constructed over a chantry, apparently for the residence, either occasional or permanent, of a priest: such a chamber occurs o

Warmington Chur

t the east end of each aisle. In general, these apertures are mere narrow oblong slits; sometimes, however, they partake of a more ornamental character, as in a chantry chapel on the south side of Irthlingborough Church, Northamptonshire, where the head of an aperture of this kind is arched, cinquefoiled within, and finished above with an embattled

try chapel; and on these, lamps or lights were formerly set, and kept continually burning in honour of the Virgin or of some other saint;

s not been correctly ascertained; it has, however, been conjectured to have served for the purpose of a confessional; and on minute examination indications of its formerly having had a wooden shutter, wh

asionally, though not often, to be met with in the south walls of side aisles or chantry

ere painted so as to correspond in tone with the colours displayed on the walls; the pavement of encaustic tiles, of different devices, was interspersed with sepulchral slabs and inlaid brasses; and screen-work, niches for statuary, mouldings, and sculpture of different degrees of excellence, abounded. Suspended from aloft hung the funeral achievement; at a later period, even more common, the banner, helme, crest, gauntlets, spurs, sword, targe, and cote armour.210-* In addition to these were, in some churches, shrines and reliquaries, enriched by th

altar plate and furniture, and shrines enriched with silver, gold, and jewels, but many of them were entirely dismantled, and the sites with the materials granted to individuals by whom they were soon reduced to a state of ruin. Some were even, eithe

et before any image or picture, "but onelie the light that commonlie goeth about the crosse of the church by the rood-loft, the light afore the sacrament of the altar, and the light about the sepulchre;" which, for the adorning of the church and divine service, were for the present suffered to rema

e thenceforth suffered to be set before any image or picture, "but only two lights upon the high altar before the sacrament, which, for the signification that Christ is the very true light of the world, they shall suffer to remain still." And as to such images which had not been abused, and which as yet were suffered to remain, the parishioners were to be admonished by the clergy that they served for no other purpose but to be a remembrance. The Bible in English, and the Paraphrases of Erasmus upon the Gospels, also in English, were ordered to be provided and set up in every church for the use of the parishioners. It was also enjoined that at every high mass the gospel and epistle should be read in English, and not in Latin, in the pulpit or in some other convenient place, so that the people might hear the same. Processions about the church and churchyard were now ordered to be disused, and the priests and clerks were to k

ur churches. But as much contention arose respecting the taking down of images, also as to whether they had been idolatrously

table, and some as an altar, exhorted the curates, churchwardens, and questmen to erect and set up the Lord's board after the form of an honest table, decently covered, in such place of the quire or chancel as should be thought most meet, so that the ministers with the communicants might have their place separated from the rest of the people; and to take down and abolish all other by-altars or tables. Soon after this, orders of council were sent to the bishops, in which, after noticing that the altars in most churches of the realm had been taken down, but that there yet remained altars standing in divers other churches, by occasion whereof much variance and contention arose, they were commanded, for the av

e they were so constructed, not merely that they might be moved from one part of the church to another, but the slab, board, or table, properly so called, was purposely not fastened or fixed to the frame-work or stand on which it was supported, but left loose, so as to be set on or taken off;

, by a mandate issued to his diocese in 1554, after noticing that some had procured certain scriptures wrongly applied to be painted on chur

hes be sufficiently garnished and adorned with all ornaments and books necessary; and whether they have a rood in their church of a decent

ny parts of the realm the altars of the churches had been removed, and tables placed for the administration of the holy sacrament; that in some other places the altars had not yet been removed: in the order whereof, as the injunctions express, save for an uniformity, there seemed to be no matter of great moment, so that the sacrament was duly and reverently ministered; and it was so ordered that no altar should be taken down but by oversight of

Table, Sunningwell

legs, are preserved in the churches of Lapworth, Rowington, and Knowle, Warwickshire; in St. Thomas's Church, Oxford; and in many other churches. Sometimes the bulging pillar-legs are turned plain, and are not covered with carving: such occur in Broadwas Church, Worcestershire; in the churches of St. Nicholas and St. Helen, at Abingdon; and in the north aisle of Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire. The table or slab of the communion-table in Knowle Church is not fixed or fastened to the frame or stand on which it is placed, but lies l

ice, as prayer, preaching, and ministration of the sacraments be used, there is such negligence and lacke of convenient reverence used towardes the comelye keeping and order of the said churches, and especially of the upper parte called the chauncels, that it breedeth no small offence and slaunder to see and consider on the one part the curiositie and costes bestowed by all sortes of men upon there private houses, and the other part, the unclean or negligent order or sparekeeping of the house of prayer, by permitting open decaies, and ruines of coveringes, walls, and wyndowes, and by appointing unmeet and unseemly tables, with fowle cl

ed on panel, but in language somewhat abbreviated, is still hung up ag

the communion-table; this was to be decently covered with carpet, silk, or other decent covering, and with a fair linen cloth (at the time of the ministration); the

cent table for the holy communion, covered decently and set in the place prescribed; and whether the altars had been taken down; also whether images and all other monuments of idolatr

d-lofts in many churches were taken down, the screens beneath t

all altars were ordered to be pulled down to the ground, and

ordington Church, Dorsetshire, of the latter period, is of stone, the upper part worked in plain oblong panels; and a k

e Dean Church, Gloucestershire, the covering for the reading desk is formed out of an ancient sacerdotal vestment, probably a cope, of velvet, embroidered with portraits of saints. The cushion of the pulpit of East Langdon Church, near Dover, is made out

*. At the Reformation, however, they were first required to be set up in churches. The ancient poor-box in Trinity Church, Coventry, is an excellent specimen of the Elizabethan era, a

-box, Trinity C

about the pulpit, and for makeinge a thing for the hower glasse, 9d." In Shawell Church, Isle of Wight, the old iron stand for the hour-glass still remains affixed to a pier adjoining the pulpit; it is composed of two flat circular hoops or rings, one at some distance above the other, annexed or attached and kept in position by four vertical bars of iron, and the lower ring has cross-bars to sustain the glass. In Cassington Church, Oxfordshire, projecting from the wall by the side of the pulpit, is an iron stand for the hour-glass, consisting of two circular hoops or rings of iron, connected by four wrought iron bars, worked in the middle; and across the lower ring

, Shawell Church

ch seat. In Cowley Church, near Oxford, are open seats of the date of 1632, which have at the ends finials carved in the shallow angular designs of that period. All these seats are appropriately placed, or disposed facing the east, and none are turned with the backs towards the altar230-*. About the commencement of the seventeenth century our churches began to be disfigured by the introduction of high pews, an innovation which did not escape censure; for, as Weaver observes, "Many monuments of the dead in churches in and about this citie of London, as also in some places in the countrey, are covered with seates or pewes, made high and easie for the parishioners to sit or sleepe in; a fashion of no long continuance, and worthy of reformation231-*." The high pews set up in the earl

ides the pulpit a fitting or convenient seat should be constructed for the minister to read service in; and in allusion to the reading desk, Bishop Sparrow, in his Rationale of the Book of Common Prayer, observes, "This was the ancient custom of the church of England, that the priest who did officiate in all those parts of the service which were directed to the people turned himself towards them, as in the absolution; but in those parts of the office which were directed to God immediately, as prayers, hymns, lauds, confessio

minister's reading desk should not stand with the bac

st or south. In Priors Salford Church, Warwickshire, is an old carved reading pew bearing the date of its construction, 1616; and in St. Peter's Church, Dorchester, Dorsetshire, and in Sherbo

Norfolk, by rails, about the year 1622, is noticed by Weaver, who states th

under the east wall of the chancel, the ends thereof north and south, and that the rail should be made before it, reach

gn and unfitting usages by little and little to creep in, yet in the royal chapels and many other churches most of them had been ever constantly used and observed) it was declared that the standing of the communion table sideway under the east window of every chancel was in its own nature indifferent235-*; yet as it had been ordered by the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth that the holy tables should stand in the places where the altars stood, it was judged fit and convenient that all churches should conform themselves in this particular to the example of the cathedral and mother churches; and it was declared that this situation of the holy table did not imply that it was

of St. Cross, near Winchester; in the choir of Worcester Cathedral; and in Andover Church, Hants: in which last instance the rails are composed of open semicircular arches, supported on baluster column

re to be seemly kept for the preaching of God's word. Carved pulpits set up between the years 1603 and 1640 are numerous, and the sides are more or less embellished wit

of a circular flight of steps; the sides are panelled and ornamented wi

omersetshire, is a pul

s a fine carved wooden pulpit and soundi

it, the sides of which are covered with semicircular-

y carved; the panels are curiously ornamented with figures in relief, and it is supported on a stand composed of a square and four detach

with circular-arched panel and scroll-work, with the date 1640, and a

commonly placed at the north or south-east angle of the nave, but never in

end of every church, where the people might best see and read the same; and other ch

e like also occur at Astley Church, in the same county; and on the walls of Bradford Abbas Church, Dorsetsh

thereof, having three keys, of which one was to remain in the custody of the minister, and the other two in the custody of the churchwardens; which

, are the remains of a poor-box of the same period. In Clapham Church, in the same county, is an old poor-box, the cover of which is gone, on which are the initials I. W., and the date 1626: this is fixed on a plain woode

general the pillar-legs were plain and not so bulging; but the frieze or upper part of the frame-work, on which the table re

hom it was given. In Cerne Abbas Church, Dorsetshire, is a carved communion table, bearing the date of 1638. The communion table in Godshill Churc

ward Britwel, Churchwa

ain bulging pillar-legs; and on the frieze round the ledge is carve

and call upon the name of the Lor

munion table for consecration, was observed in some churches in the latter part of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth century. Such table appears to have been introduced in the reign of Elizabeth, by Andrews, bishop of Norwich, whose model Archbishop Lau

I.,) Chipping-Warden C

pparently of the reign of Charles the First, standing on a frame supported by three plain pillar-legs, like those of the communion t

tly set up after the Restoration, still continues to be used as such in St. M

f Lords in 1641, we find the following usages complained of: the turning of the holy table altarwise, and most commonly calling it an altar; the bowing towards it or towards the east many times; advancing candlesticks in many churches upon the altar, so called; the making of canopies over the altar, so called, with traverses and curtains on each side and before it; the compelling all communicants to come up to the rails, and there to receive; the advancing crucifixes and images upon the parafront or altar cloth, so called; the read

ommunion table, should be likewise taken away; and that the chancel-ground which had been raised within twenty years then last past, for any altar or communion table to stand on, should be laid down and levelled, as the same had formerly been; and that all tapers, candlesticks, and basins should be removed and taken away from the communion table, and not again used about the same; and that all crucifixes, crosses, and all images and pictures of any one or more Perso

ly water fonts should be any more used in any church; and that all organs, and the frames

and ornaments of churches within the county of Suffolk, who kept a journal, with the particulars of his transactions, in the years 1643 and 1644: these were chiefly comprised in the demolition of numerous windows filled with painted glass, in the breaking down of altar rails and organ cases, in levelling the steps in the chancels, in removing crucifixes, in taking down the stone crosses from the exterior of the churches, in defacing crosses on the fonts, and in the taking up (under the pretence of their being superstitious) of numerous sepulchral inscriptions in brass. Nor d

d no stated forms of prayer, but general instructions only for extemporaneous praying and preaching, and for the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; the former of which was to be administered in the place of public worship and in the face of the congregation, but "not," as the Directory expresses, "in the place

xed to the wall on each side; an innovation made at this period, in order that the communicants might receive the sacrament sitting. The communion table in Wooten Wawen Church, Warw

, without regard to that uniformity of arrangement which had hitherto been observed; and many seats were now so constructed that those who occupied them necessarily turned their backs on the east during the mi

yn's Diary for 1661-2, we find the change of position in his parish church thus noticed: "6 April. Being of the vestry in the after

ip evince. In the church accounts of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, for 1662, we find a "memorandum that this year the rayles about the communion table wer new sett up, and the surplic

find objections stated to the bowing to the altar and to the east, to the preaching by book, to the railing in of the altar, to the candl

We seldom, however, find the royal arms of earlier date than the Restoration, in the twenty years previous to which they appear to have been generally taken down. In Brixton Church, Isle of Wight, on some plain wooden panelling between the tower and a gallery at the west end are the remains of the royal arms, which, from the style in which they have been painted with the rose and thistle, appear coeval with the reign of James the First; they are surmounted by a crown, below which is an open six

f Worstead Church, Norfolk, over the west door, is a gallery erected in 1550, at the cost of the candle called the Bachelor's Light. At the west end of the nave

pulpit and reading-pew in the middle aisle, in front of the communion table; so that during the whole of the service the back of the minist

Edward the Sixth, together also with an offertory dish; of reading the lessons from the eagle desk, and of saying the Litany at the litany-stool. These practice

earts, but also outwardly with our bodies, must needs be pious in itself, profitable unto us, and edifying unto others: we therefore think it meet and behoveful, and heartily commend it to all good and well-affected people, members of this church, that they be ready to tender unto the Lord t

perform the said gesture in the celebration of the holy eucharist, upon any opinion of a corporal presence of the body of Jesus Christ on the holy table or in the mystical elements, but only for the advancement of God's majesty, and to give him alone that honour and glory that is du

odie cross

embrance of h

sake that glori

living, eve

d the like was

a different origin. "In veteri testamento non nisi lotus tem

si?,"-Ordo ad Faciendu

chbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 12

t is provided that "Curabunt (?ditui) ut in singulis ecclesiis sit sacer fons, non pelvis, in quo baptismus ministretur, isque ut decenter et munde conservetur." And in the canons of 1603, after alluding to the foregoing constitution, and observing that it was too much neglected in many places, it is appointed "That there shall be a font of stone in

Wirtzburgh, held A. D. 1278, prohibits the fortifyin

Norfolchie ... unde et pulpitum jussit fieri in ecclesia et ad utilitatem au

MS. Titus D. x

s imagines Stigandus archiepiscopus magno pondere auri et argenti orna

qu? crucem grandem et duo cherubin et imagines Sanct? Mari? et Sa

ens indicet: Qu? procul dubio omnipotentis Dei dexteram d

utriusque squilla pulsatur.

an item, "In una cordul empt p le salsyngbelle i

on of William Staunton, esq., o

d triplex genus veli suspenditur in ecclesia videlicet quod sacra operit, quod sanctuarium a clero dividit, et q

are donec ad misericordias vel super formulas prout tempu

ve been practised in the churches of this country; at least I have not m

semi-globular or domical form, from which issues an embattled turret or lantern in the form of a pentagon, which is finished by a quadran

ew years discovered in the castle ditch, Pulford, Cheshire: this curious little relic is not more than two inches high; the body is semi-globular, or bulges in front, with a plain

, mentions "the monstrance or pixe" as if one and th

aratis se recipiant et expectent usque ad orationem dicendam vel

d sub-deacon: "In missa item solemni celebrans medius inter diaconum et sub-diaconum sedere potest a cornu epistol? juxta altare cum cantatur Kyrie eleison, Gloria in excelsis, et Credo."-Missale Romanum, A

c. In ancient church contracts the term Lavatorie was sometimes used for the Piscina, as in that for

e priest washing his hands in the vestry before the administra

canaux, pour faire écouler l'eau, l'un pour recevoir l'eau qui avoit servi au lavement des mains, l'autre pour celle qu

d an exposition of the rites and ceremonies,) amongst appendages to an altar is enumerated "une credance ou niche dans le mur a poser les burettes et le bassin," p. 536. And in a

pelvicula et manutergio mundo in fenestella seu in parva me

entur in credentia cooperta linteo, an

e yet met with occurs in an inventory of church furniture, A. D. 1

ny sculptured basso relievo, more especial

of this chapel, which were evidently executed at the close of the fi

ecket shall not be esteemed, named, reputed, and called a saint, but Bishop Becket; and that his images and pictures tho

confessiones excipiebant;" whilst according to De la Croix, in his remarks on those of the Gallican churches in the middle of the seventeenth century, "Les confessionaux doiuent estre à l'entrée des Eglises, et non pas a

rn over the body armour, and still w

et on their heads, precious pearls hanging about their necks; their fingers shine with rings set with precious

that the minister in the time of the communion, immediately after the offertory, shall monish the communicants, saying t

her with the form of words addressed to the communicants, were designed to represent a sacrifice, and appeared to undiscriminating minds to denote the sacrifice of the mass. Numerous, therefore, and urgent were the objections against this portion of the service. Combined with a large class of objectors, whose theology

x's Mart

the following directions were sent by the com

e thought good to direct these our lr?e?s unto you, and to require youe to cause the said tabernacles to be defaced & hewen downe, and afterwards to be made a playne walle, wth morter, plastr, or otherways, & some scriptures to be written in the places, & namely that upon the walle on the east end of the quier wheare the com?n? table usually doth stande, the table of the

shire, is a table of the commandments, with the lette

nd, from the general style and mouldings, appear to have b

who remarks, "As to the doctrines and preachings which are preserved in the church, we have some of them from the written doctrine; others we have received as delivered from the tradition of the apostles in a mystery. For, to begin with the mention of what is first and most common, who has taught us by writing that those that hope in the name of our Lord shou

Monuments, A.

ces, in others standing in the chancel; in some places standing altarwise, distant from the wall a yard, in others in the middle of the chan

eucharist, and was therefore treated as a question of conscience and an article of faith."-Cardwell's Documentary

ng fallen into disuse in most churches; but within the last few years charity-boxes have b

ry of the Puritans

ll's Confere

s Ceremony-Monger,

Combe, Printer to the

y J. H. Par

D EDI

ith many additi

LIM

T

TAL ARC

N

OF GREAT

PERIOD TO THE EI

W HOLBECH

ITION, E

. 8vo.

SARY O

ED

ROMAN,

N

ARCHI

y Seven Hundr

y J. H. Par

G FOR PU

ON TO THE

ITEC

ENGRAVED BY

ples, with descriptive Letter-Press, a

PUBLICATION, I

ACC

T

RCHITECTUR

N CONQUEST TO

. HUSSE

gravings, from original dr

l. 18s. 3 Vols

ALS OF

S INGRA

of Trini

INGS BY JO

riber'

and inconsistencies

ds and typogra

e E

has an extra .

χθυ? should

should re

should r

s should r

in chapter was

ismo should have an ope

The word "of" did not print in the origina

rds had inconsis

ork /

ag /

ords had incons

ph /

rars / Hig

rne / S

wen / Wot