The Churches of Coventry: A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains

Both historic and structural evidence agree that there was an existing smaller church when the tower was built in the last quarter of the fourteenth century, that the choir and apse were either contemporary, or begun a few years earlier, and that the nave was built between 1434 and 1450. The south porch and the west crypt (beneath the original Lady Chapel) are almost contemporary (p. 34), belonging to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Now the axis of the tower is parallel to the axis and walls of the nave, while the centre line of the choir is deflected towards the north about 7°. Notwithstanding this, however, owing to the tower not being central with the nave, the axis of the choir, if prolonged, runs directly to the centre of the tower arch, as may easily be seen by anyone who stands there and looks along the ridge of the choir roof. (See dotted line on Plan.)

Next we see above the tower arch the mark of the old nave roof and the old north wall of the nave. These show that the south wall stood where the present one does, and the low-pitched fourteenth century roof-line suggests incidentally this alternative: either a clearstory had been added to the nave before the building of the new chancel or tower was in contemplation, or, when the huge tower was built it was felt necessary to raise the nave roof so as to lessen the disproportion. But, if we adopt the latter alternative we must accept too the improbability that this expense should have been incurred when the inadequacy of the old narrow nave of 15½ feet compared with a chancel of 33 feet must have been so obvious. This is one of the difficult questions.

Then it is held by some that the axis of the old nave and chancel was in line with that of the present choir; but the south porch, built more than one hundred years before the new nave, is at right angles with it which would hardly have been the case had the two naves not been on the same lines.

Needless to say the old east end could scarcely have extended beyond the present nave, so that the new chancel was probably built without disturbing the old church. The position of the older Lady Chapel supports this view, while its bearing towards the north, as already pointed out, indicates that the deflection of the new chancel is simply copied from the older one.

The position of the south porch proves also that the south aisle was as wide as the present one, while the fact that it was wider than the nave shows that it was almost certainly not designed at the same time.

The nave is of six bays and is 54 feet high at the centre, while each arch is 20 feet wide in the clear. The piers are slender, but, owing to the depth of the panelling above the arches and the large size of the windows, the weight upon them is reduced to a minimum. Shafts carried up from the ground support the roof brackets, and there are intermediate ones over the centre of each arch. The clearstory windows of four lights each are in pairs, and the mullions are carried down to form panelling and finish on the backs of the arches, which recede in two sloping faces and form a somewhat unusual feature in the treatment of the wall surface. The detail of the piers and arches is rather weak, even for Perpendicular work.

The chancel is about 93 feet long, and in height and width is 4 or 5 feet less than the corresponding nave measurements. Its width further diminishes by about 3½ feet in the length of the three bays. The omission of a chancel arch is a step towards the ideal simplicity of the late Perpendicular churches (e.g., St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich), running from east to west without break, but the large rood piers and reduced width and height of chancel make the pause demanded in so long a church. The step at this point is of oak, and is probably the original sill of the rood screen. The large figures of SS. Peter and Paul were placed on the piers in 1861. Of the three arches which open on either hand the centre one is widest, having four-light windows, instead of three-light, over it. The panelling beneath the clearstory is richer than that in the nave. The five four-light windows of the apse are lofty and divided by two transoms, but the design is somewhat commonplace. The glass of the middle three is a memorial to Queen Adelaide, dated 1853. The other two are filled with fragments of the ancient stained glass of the church (p. 56).

The roof is very similar to that of the nave. Both are of very low pitch, with tie-beams supported by curved brackets. There are two longitudinal beams (purlins) on each side, and each division of the roof made by these main timbers is sub-divided by mouldings into panels, all the intersections and angles being decorated by carved bosses or pateræ, with angels upon the tie-beams. Where the roofs of nave and chancel join there is a cove to connect the two levels; and on the tie-beam above this was found a Latin inscription, giving the attributes and powers of the nine choirs of angels forming the hierarchy of Heaven. Translated it is as follows:

SERAPHIMS burn in love of God.
CHERUBIMS possess all knowledge.
THRONES, of them is judgement.
DOMINIONS preside over angelic spirits.
VIRTUES effect miracles.
POWERS have rule over demons.
PRINCIPALITIES protect good men.
ARCHANGELS are set over states.
ANGELS are the messengers of the Lord.

Bare and shorn as it is of its ancient magnificence, St. Michael's is in its structure a monument of the importance and wealth of the Gilds. Many of them built or maintained chapels and altars, adding largely to the already spacious proportions given to the main structure by the munificence of a few rich citizens. That in 1491 there were eleven altars we know from the will of Thomas Bradmedow, directing that eleven torches, price 2s. 4d., be given every Good Friday, one to every altar. Besides the High Altar there were those of Our Lady, Jesus, Holy Trinity, St. John, St. Anne, St. Katherine, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, All Saints.

The application to the Lady Chapel of the present name, the "Drapers' Chapel," is probably subsequent to 1518, when John Haddon, a draper, provided by will for the support of a priest, "to singe in the Chapell of our Ladye in the Church of Saint Mychell." But long ere this, by an instrument dated from St. John Lateran, A.D. 1300, eighth year of Pope Boniface, Indulgences for forty days were granted for all persons coming to confess before her altar in St. Michael's Church on the Nativity, Conception, Annunciation and Assumption of the glorious Virgin Mary. Also 700 Indulgences for 720 days were granted for building "the Chapple and Charnell house of St. Michaell, Coventry." The Drapers' Company was responsible for other things than the priest's stipend as this extract from their Rules shows: "1534. Ev'y mastur shall pay toward ye makyng clene of oure Lady Chapell in saynt Mychell's churche and strawyng ye setus [seats] wt rusches in somer and pease strawe in wyntur, everyone yerely 2d."

The piers at the chancel entrance contain the staircases leading to the roofs and formerly to the rood loft. The screen on the west side of the chapel was put together from fragments brought together from various parts of the church. Against it, and on the south side, are fifteen of the ancient stalls. Several admirable ends and elbows remain, and some of the twelve ancient Misereres are of special interest. Three represent scenes from the popular mediæval allegory of "the Dance of Death."

The centre groups are: (1) a death bed, (2) a kneeling man being deprived of his shirt and a cripple waiting to receive it (?), and (3) a very well-expressed burial scene. The side groups in each show Death leading by the hand personages of various ranks, including a pope. Of the others, Satan in chains, the General Resurrection, and a delicately executed Tree of Jesse are the best.

Several monuments formerly in this chapel are now elsewhere in the church. A memorial to the Hon. F.W. Hood, killed in battle in 1814, is by Chantrey. On the north wall is a brass plate bearing the following inscription:

The Communion Table is a fine example of early seventeenth century work, and outside the screen is a very beautiful oak chest, believed to date from the time of Henry VII. From the Lady Chapel we pass into that of St. Laurence. Its two windows are filled with glass to the memory of past mayors. The dates, 1860 and 1862, sufficiently suggest their artistic merit. Several old monuments are upon the north wall, one of 1648 with an extravagant inscription to Thomas Purefoy, a boy of nine; another to Mrs. Bathona Frodsham, a daughter of the John Hales who bought so much monastic property, and founded the Grammar School. The tomb of his first wife, Frideswede, near which he was buried, may be seen in the Dugdale view near the north porch.

The outer north aisle contained the Girdlers' Chapel. The arcade which divides the aisles shows the consummation of the process which converted columns into piers by the omission of capitals and bases and the continuation of the mouldings from pier into arch.

The altar was below the eastern window, the piscina (restored) stands on the south side.

The Company has been long extinct and no documents exist. We know, however, that Haye's Chantry was founded by a Girdler in 1390, for a Mass to be sung daily at All Saints' altar, and may therefore conclude that it was in this chapel.

In the two western bays of the same aisle was St. Andrew's Chapel, supported and probably founded by the Smiths' Company. The first notice of its existence occurs in 1449, but as this part was not built until 1500 it was perhaps originally in the adjoining aisle. The window tracery is modern. The panelling within the internal arches and between the windows should be noted. The floor near the wall is partly paved with much worn ancient tiles.

Several large monuments have been brought hither from the Drapers' Chapel. An altar tomb of black marble is to the memory of Sir Thomas Berkeley, only son of Henry, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1611; another of 1640, to William Stanley, Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company of London and a benefactor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and of his native city, Coventry. While these are ponderous and unlovely that of Julian Nethermyl, at the west end of the principal north aisle, is a work of interest and much beauty. It is an altar tomb with a sculptured panel on one end and one side, the other end and side having been next to walls. It is of interest as an early example of the Italian style then finding its way into England, and an example so free from Gothic influence that there can be little doubt that a foreign craftsman was employed upon it. On the centre of the long panel is a mutilated crucifix, and a brief inscription with a shield of arms beneath. On either hand kneel Julian Nethermyl and his wife, with five sons behind him and five daughters behind her. A cherub at each end pushes aside a curtain. The group of sons is well treated, the variations in pose and dress show the hand of one who was accustomed to study composition, and the result is very different from the formal repetition of equal or lessening figures usual on mediæval brasses and Elizabethan tombs. The Latin inscription is partly illegible, translated it runs:

A small brass on the wall to the memory of Mary Hinton, wife of a vicar, who died in 1594, represents her kneeling at a faldstool, and facing a row of four swaddled infants laid upon the floor.

Near by is the old Purbeck marble font, said to have been given by John Cross, Mayor, in 1394.

As, however, the form, material, and shallow decoration are all quite consistent with a thirteenth-century date there can be little doubt that this one is the predecessor of that given by John Cross, which was condemned and removed by the Puritans as superstitious. A small brass, bearing a shield with four crosses, the ancient merchant mark, is fixed upon it.

Beyond the west door is the north-east buttress of the tower, strengthened by a mass of masonry, part of which formed part of the old nave wall. The tower arch is high and very narrow, owing to the narrowness of the old nave. The interior of the tower is very effective, both from the height, which is almost 100 feet to the crown of the vault, and the beautiful lighting of the upper stages. Each of the large windows of the ground story is set in a recessed arch, and between the two lantern stages is a range of panelling. The vertical lines of the various stages are not continuous, a want of regularity, which would probably not have occurred had it been built a century later. Upon the floor of the tower are two small brasses, which mark respectively the centre of the tower and the point below the apex of the spire, showing that the spire has an inclination of 3 feet 6 inches towards the north-west. On the walls of the tower two very large brasses record the names of the Vicars of the church since 1242, and of the Bishops in whose Dioceses Coventry has been included from the earliest times. Of the latter, four were Bishops of Mercia, twenty-seven of Lichfield, six of Coventry, thirty-three of Coventry and Lichfield, thirteen of Lichfield and Coventry, four of Worcester, and two Bishops-Suffragan of Coventry.

The south aisle is 6 feet narrower than the north at the west end, but its want of parallelism adds 7 feet to its width at its far eastern end.

The south-west doorway has its original doors, though these have been subjected to restoration. The first chapel on the south side belonged to the Dyers' Company. When the principal trade of Coventry was the manufacture of woollen and worsted stuffs and the production of a special blue thread, so excellent that it gave rise to a proverbial expression, "he is true Coventry Blue", the Dyers were an important Company.[6] A chantry known as Tale's was probably attached to this chapel, as the salary of the priest, £5 6s. 8d., was paid by the Dyers' Company of London. An upper chamber for the priest existed as late as 1607; the floor corbels still remain. A large marble monument (removed hither from the chancel) has medallion portraits of two ladies—Dame Mary Bridgeman and Mrs. Eliza Samwell. The former with her husband, Sir Orlando (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles II), both died in 1701. The latter, dying in 1724, "ordered this monument to be erected as a remembrance of their great and loving friendship."

The Chapel is now the Baptistery. A large eighteenth-century marble font was removed to the Lady Chapel and a new Gothic one put in its place, so that there are now three in the church.

The south porch (1300) is the earliest part of the existing church. The inner doors appear to be of the early sixteenth century, the outer, though old, are of much later date and are not part of the original scheme. On the wall on each side of the inner doors are brasses of some interest. That on the right hand has a curious epitaph which runs thus:

The other brass, of 1609, has a portrait of Ann Sewell in Jacobean costume, kneeling, with an epitaph in which she is described as "a worthy stirrer up of others to all holy virtues."

A doorway leads to a priest's chamber over the porch, sometimes incorrectly spoken of as the Cappers' Chapel. It is still used for the annual meeting of the Company, but is inaccessible to the public.

The next chapel eastwards is St. Thomas', belonging until 1629 to the Cappers' and Feltmakers' Company. In 1531 they were associated in its maintenance with the Woollen Cardmakers who had founded it in 1467 and had after declined in importance. Leland, as we have seen records also the decay of the Cappers' industry. A large eighteenth-century monument conceals the original doorway from the porch. The eastern part of the south aisle as far as the screen formed another chapel as the dilapidated piscina in the south wall shows. The organ is now placed in the first bay of the chancel aisle, the whole aisle having once formed the Mercers' Chapel.

Where the altar once stood are now steps descending to the sacristies. On the right of the window is the statue of St. Michael brought hither from the tower (p. 32). The finely carved corbel on which it stands was discovered among rubbish in the recess below. Three altar tombs now stand against the south wall. The eastern has the recumbent effigies of Elizabeth Swillington and her two husbands. The inscription (translated) runs: "Pray for the soul of Elizabeth Swillington, widow, late the wife of Ralph Swillington, Attorney General of our Lord King Henry VIII, Recorder of the city of Coventry, formerly the wife of Thomas Essex Esq: which said Elizabeth died A.D. 15..." She died after 1543. The side and ends have arcaded panelling containing shields of arms. At the west end is a realistic representation of the Five Wounds. The effigy of Thomas Essex is in armour, that of the Recorder in official robe and chain. The head of each rests on a helmet, and the lady wears the "pedimental" headdress of Tudor fashion. The arcading is purely Renaissance in detail though the general treatment is mediæval. The figures are in dignified repose, wholly free from the later affectations of the Elizabethan school yet evidently individual portraits. The second tomb dates from 1640. The top is far too heavy for the little Ionic pilasters below.

The third, traditionally called Wade's tomb, probably belongs to John Wayd, a Mercer, who lived in Coventry in 1557, but no inscription remains.

There are seven shields of arms on the side, nearly all defaced, a motto "Ryen saunce travayle," and nine images in low relief which present quaint studies of early sixteenth-century costume.

The matrices of brasses are still visible in several parts of the church. Sir James Harrington, writing in the reign of James I, tells a curious story of their loss:

The last monument that need be mentioned is upon the wall over "Wade's tomb." Twenty-six verses of eulogy follow these opening lines:

The present organ was built by Henry Willis and erected in 1887. It is a four-manual and pedal instrument and has fifty-three stops.

The old organ on which Handel played more than once, stood on a raised platform at the west end. It was the work of Thomas Swarbrick of Warwick, a German by birth, in 1733. He also built those of Trinity Church, St. Mary, Warwick, Lichfield, St. Saviour Southwark, Stratford-on-Avon, and Amsterdam.

The best of the ancient glass now remaining has been collected into two windows, one on either side of the apse. Much was brought from the clearstory where six windows on the south and all save one on the north side still have panels made up of a mosaic of fragments with portions here and there of which the subject is intelligible. From what remains in the tracery we may gather that there was a row of eight angel figures filling the spaces immediately over the lights. Some of these or similar ones, are now in the apse. They are represented as covered with feathers and standing on wheels and each holds a scroll over the head with inscriptions in very contracted Latin. A few less fragmentary pieces may be found, e.g., in the north window, Judas giving the traitor's kiss, in the north clearstory the arms of Trenton and Stafford, mentioned and figured by Dugdale, in the south, the figure of a man in a red gown kneeling with a scroll inscribed "deo gracias" and over his head "groc(er) de london"—doubtless a donor. Of modern glass there is a great amount but little worth mentioning save on account of the persons commemorated. One window in the Lady Chapel is a memorial of the Prince Consort and one in the Mercers' Chapel is of interest as a deserved memorial to Thomas Sharp the Antiquary to whose labours all later historians of the city are so deeply indebted. He died in 1841.

The pulpit is of brass and wrought iron, the work of Frank Skidmore a native of Coventry who made also the choir screen of Hereford Cathedral and the metal work of the Albert Memorial at Kensington. It was placed here in 1869. The bells, ten in number, now hang in the octagon. They were cast in 1774 and weigh nearly seven tons. The first peal was hung in 1429 and a clock existed in 1467. In 1496 an Order of Leet ordained that "all manner of persons that will have the bells to ring after the decease of any of their friends, shall pay for a peal ringing with all the bells, 2s. and with four bells, 16d., and three bells 4d."

The six bells were cast into eight in 1674 and the present tenth has the same inscription as the heaviest of the old peal:

The chimes, which existed as early as 1465, were restored in 1895, after a silence of ten years, in memory of Lieut.-Col. Francis William Newdigate. Electric lighting has been introduced throughout the church.

FOOTNOTES:

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH

CHAPTER IToC

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

Although the first mention of this church which the indefatigable Dugdale could find was its appropriation to the priory in 1259-1260, it is tolerably certain that its foundation was much earlier. As before said, it is reputed to be older than St. Michael's and its position close to the monastery suggests that it had been built, as often happened, for the parishioners by the monks who disliked their intrusion within the priory church. The appropriation at this time may have been rather of the nature of a confirmation of the rights of the priory than the institution of a new condition of things. As, in 1391, the chancel had to be rebuilt being "ruinated and decayed" we may conclude that it was probably older than the present north porch which is certainly not later than 1259. It was at the same time lengthened by twenty-four feet, the convent giving one hundred shillings per annum for eight years and six trees, the parishioners finding all other material and workmanship. The convent and parish also agreed to support and keep it in repair at their joint charges.

From 1298, when Henry de Harenhale was appointed, the list of vicars is complete, but in a cartulary of the priory mention is made of Ralph de Sowe, vicar of Trinity, as giving a tenement in Well Street, for the celebration of his anniversary.

There are but few landmarks in its history, and dates affecting the structure can generally be assigned by internal evidence alone. The nave arcades had already been rebuilt before the chancel was touched, and a piece of work of the same period is to be seen in the five-light Decorated window, in the Consistory Court which now opens into the large chamber over the porch. We have no record of the building of the clearstory and roof of the nave. The resemblances between this clearstory, and that of St. John's chancel, raise the question of priority. The fuller development at St. John's of the peculiar treatment of the angles points to its being a little later but probably both fall within the second and third quarters of the fifteenth century.

For a church of this size the chapels, altars and chantries were very numerous, there being probably fifteen altars in all. In 1522 the establishment of clergy consisted of a vicar, eleven parochial priests and two chantry priests. Dugdale enumerates six chantries so that it is evident that here as often elsewhere some of the parochial priests derived the whole or a part of their support from their performance of the duties of chantry priests.

Many chantry priests on the other hand had other duties and took part in other services than the daily mass for which the chantry was founded.

So much that is of interest in the religious life of the period is connected with the chantries that it is worth while recording some of the scattered notices that have come down to us.

To begin with the Chapel of Our Lady, the earliest mention we have of it is in 1364 while in 1392 the Corpus Christi Gild endowed a priest there to sing mass for the good estate of Richard II, Anne his queen, and the whole realm of England, to be called St. Mary's priest. The indenture sets forth that "he is to be at Divine service on Sundays and double Feasts in the chancel and at Matins, Hours, Masses, Evensong, Compline and other offices used in the said church and also daily at Salve in our Lady's Chapel unless hindered by reasonable cause." The records of the Dissolution of the Chantries show how much town property must have been held by them, while from these and other sources we learn the extent of their belongings in tenements, messuages, rent charges and the like. Thus in 1454 Emot Dowte gave several tenements to this altar and in 1492 Richard Clyff "late parson of St. George in London," left a house in Well St. to the church "to the intent that the mass of Our Lady may be observed the better." In 1558 (the year of Elizabeth's accession) William Hyndeman, alderman and butcher, directs that his body be buried in the Lady Chapel "as aldermen are wont to be buried, towards the charges whereof I give twenty nobles to be levied of my quick cattle and if it be too little then I will that Sybil my wife shall lay down 20s. more." He also orders an obit to be kept after the death of his wife "yearly for ever;" a form of words that must surely have sounded unreal after the changes of the last two reigns.

Perceye's chantry again, which Dugdale considered the oldest (though he does not give the date) was endowed in 1350 with six messuages, one shop, six acres of land and 40s. rent, all lying in Coventry, to which in 1407 William Botoner and others, added a messuage and twenty-four acres of land in the city for another priest.

Then the chantry of the Holy Cross (1357) founded for two priests to sing daily a mass for the good estate before death and for the souls after of the royal family, and for the founders and the members of the Fraternity of the Holy Cross, was endowed with seven messuages, fourteen shops and sixteen acres of land in the city.

Dugdale enumerates also four others, Cellet's, Corpus Christi, Lodynton's and Allesley's, to which should probably be added Marler's, assigned by him to St. Michael's. The first two are doubtless the same foundation, for in 1329 land and tenements were granted to the priest of Corpus Christi Chapel for the health of the soul of William Celet and others.

It was almost certainly situated in the south transept, on the upper level over the vaulted passage. The position of Lodynton's chantry (1393) is not known; Allesley's, founded in the reign of Edward I, was sung at St. Thomas's altar.

Richard Marler stipulates in his will that his priest is to have the "stypend or wagis of nyne marks by yere so long as he shall be of good and prestly conversacyon and demeanor, wt' a p'vyso that yf the seyde prest be ffounde otherwyse, after monyc'on and reasonable warnyng to hym geven, he to be removed."

Much of the later history of the church relates to the destruction of its fittings and furniture or to restorations almost as grievous. In 1560 2s. 6d. was paid for taking down the carving about the high altar, while the Mayor bought the panelling of the altar for 33s. 4d., the vail for 5s., the "thing that the sacrament was in over the altar 1s.," the "peyre [pair of candlesticks?] that was upon the altar 5d." Perhaps he thought that all these things would be wanted again ere long. In 1547 a quantity of costly vestments and banners had been sold and we find in the accounts a number of such items as these: "Sold the 6 day of Jennery 5 copps of red teyssew to Mr. Roghers, now mayre (and 4 other persons) pryce of the sayd copps, 10l. To Bawden Desseld one cope of red velvet, 5l. Mr. Schewyll a grene velvet cope, 30s."

But before Mary's death we have a lengthy inventory of copes, vestments, albs, banners and the like, some of which may have come back to the church from the buyers at the sale eleven years before.

The church must have looked like a builder's yard in 1643 when the Committee and Council of War pulled down divers houses outside Bishop's and Spon Gates and stacked the materials here, while the changes of government are indicated by the payment in 1647 of 3s. 6d. "to Hopes for defacing the King's Arms" and in 1660 of 6s. to "Hope for the King's Arms."

Five years after this the spire, which had caused much anxiety and expense for many years, was blown down in a gale, falling across the chancel and causing much destruction. All was restored and the spire rebuilt in three years. Reference has been made to the existence of a vaulted passage through the south transept. This was made necessary by the position of an ancient building known as Jesus Hall which adjoined the transept and thus blocked the way from "the Butchery" in this direction. The Hall had probably been long used as the residence of the priests attached to the church but nothing is known of its origin. It was destroyed in 1742. Only in 1834, when the exterior of the church was recased was the passage blocked and the floor of the upper chapel removed.

The Register records the marriage of Sarah Kemble with William Siddons on 25th November, 1773.

CHAPTER IIToC

THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH

The church of Holy Trinity loses much, in popular estimation at least, by its nearness to St. Michael's. It invites comparison of the most obvious sort. It is not nearly so large and its spire is not so high, these facts alone are sufficient to account for the popular view. Fuller, in his "Worthies" says of the two churches, "How clearly would they have shined if set at competent distance! Whereas now, such their Vicinity, that the Archangel eclipseth the Trinity."

The plan is quite unlike that of its neighbour, being cruciform, with a central tower, a short nave, and a chancel distinctly longer than the nave. On the south both nave and chancel have a single aisle, the transept projecting beyond it and there is a vestry at the east end. On the north there is a similar aisle with a Lady Chapel at the east corresponding to the Vestry, but a large porch and several chapels fill up the spaces so that the transept does not in plan project.

Looking at the exterior as a whole it may be said that the more moderate length (194 feet), the central spire, 230 feet high, and the transepts unite in forming a more satisfactory composition than the long body and immense western steeple of St. Michael's. There however, the superiority ceases for the frequent "recasings" and restorations have left hardly a stone of the exterior that has not been renewed again and again, and the dates of these operations, 1786, 1826, 1843, sufficiently suggest the degree of knowledge and feeling likely to be manifested in the work.

Probably most of the structure was first built of the same friable red sandstone as its greater neighbour. Much of the recasing has been executed in a rather harder gray sandstone, but the tower and spire are still red.

The tower above the roofs, is of two stages, the upper, or bell chamber, and the lower or lantern opening into the church. Below this are small windows with the lines of the old high-pitched roof visible above the present transept roofs, but in the nave and chancel the lines of the old roofs are now within the church, the clearstory having since been added. Each face of the tower is divided, apart from the narrow angle buttresses, into six vertical divisions separated by thin projections of buttress form. On the south and west the stair turret absorbs one of the outer divisions. Each division is curved in plan in a curious way, which may be the perpetuation of a feature of the original design, but was more probably introduced or modified by the person who recased the tower in 1826. That there was sculpture we know, for in 1709 ten shillings was paid for taking the images down from the steeple. The smallness of the sum indicates that they were few in number, and if they occupied similar positions to those on the belfry stage of St. Michael's, and the structure was as decayed as was the tower of that church it is probable that the cutting away of the niches may have suggested the curving of the surfaces especially as the tower would be thereby lightened. As it is we cannot be certain of much else than that there were vertical divisions serving to emphasize the impression of height and that the openings were in the same positions as now.

The spire blown down in 1665 had been in the previous ninety years five times repaired and repointed. We cannot now say whether the original design was at all closely followed in the rebuilding, but its present likeness to St. Michael's suggests doubts. The lowest stage which takes the place of the octagon and may be an intentional imitation of it, has almost upright sides with two-light windows on the cardinal faces and panelled ones on the oblique sides, while the remaining stages correspond in number and partly in design with those of St. Michael's.

In 1855 it was considered that the bells endangered the safety of the tower, and after recasting by Mears of London they were rehung in a timber campanile in the north churchyard. Even now they cannot be pealed.

The deplorable refacings have left few features of interest on the outside. Were Gothic architecture still a living and not merely imitative and academic art, one would welcome a complete renewal of all outside work—not an imagined harking back to the work of the fifteenth century but showing the lapse of the centuries from the fifteenth to the twentieth as clearly as does the north porch the change from the thirteenth to the fifteenth.