WB26 2 8 : 5 i ! ornia lal 7 ■VJwi , ■■M^f'.'v^'■w-■■»M^,.■,>■...^- 'i>:.r,ni;.,'.:,'!-i..:;}rw:;.x';-v.ij( •^!^;-•: ii:';:ij:)^: i THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES u. .' t i:|)e Basilica; OE, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE AND SACRED TEMPLE : ITS NATURE, ORIGIN, AND PURPORT AND A DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE BASILICAN CHURCH OF BRIXWOETH, (Miii) 'EitI)ograpl)ic illustrations. BY THE REV. CHAS. FRED. WATKINS, VICAR OF BEIXWOltTH; AITTHOE OF "THE HUMAN HAND," "TWINS OF FAME," &e. Eoittfon, EIVINGTONS, WATEKLOO PLACE ; HIGH STREET, ©xfortr. TRINITY STREET, CTaintriOgr. 1867. \ •i TO THE EIGHT HON. EAEL SPENCER, E.G. Dear Lord Spencer, The generous and handsome manner in which you supported my endeavours for the Restoration of Brixworth Church induces me to dedicate this Portion of my literary labours for the explication of the Nature, Origin, and Piu-pose of the Basilica in general, to your Lordship, as a tribute of grateful respect from Your Lordship's obliged and faithful Servant, CHAS. FRED. WATKINS. 632328 PREFACE. I HAVE for many years been prepared with data for this Essay on the Basihca ; but reserved the pubh- cation of any matter upon the subject till I could finish the excavations and discoveries pertaining to my own church, that I might bring out the descriptions of both together, as being cognate to each other. Not that I have been altogether silent on either subject. For in the year 1845, at the request of my old friend the Rev. T. Cooke, of St. Peter's, Brighton, I supplied a brief account of the church to my respected friend Canon Argles, for insertion in his well-known publication, the Cot- tager's Monthly Visitor, for which Mr. Cooke pro- vided a south elevation. 13 6 PREFACE. Our Architectural Society desiring a lecture on the subject, and I still declining to treat it till I could do so more fully and certainly, the Rev. G. Ayliff Poole came over for the piirpose, to whom I pointed out all that had been brought to light under my directions ; and he being a profound Archaeologist, and unprejudiced by the opinions of others, produced, with sound judgment, an excel- lent essay, more extensive than the epitome that I had sent for the Cottager's Monthly Visitor, but with some misconceptions, that I foresaw could only be settled by further investigations. This essay is inserted in our Architectural Journal. At the conclusion of his lecture, delivered to a large and intelligent annual meeting at the George Hotel, Northampton, I added, impromptu, a viva voce ac- count of the Basilica, as I knew that the purport of the difierent parts of the church then described would not be clearly seen and fully appreciated without it. Two or three years ago I carefully prepared an essay on the subject, after the investigation and PEEFACE. / study of many years, to be published with one on the church, as soon as I had an opportunity of examining, in all its parts, the construction and elaboration of the walls throughout the building. But having forwarded it for perusal to a gentle- man versed in ecclesiastical and general art, and he having mislaid it beyond recovery in time for publication, I was obliged to recompose it as far as my memory served : and this at 72 years of age, and after a long and severe illness, amidst heavy professional and other labours, can hardly be so full and satisfactory as the original MS. In both Essays I have studied as much brevity as consists with perspicuity, approving the ancient maxim at all times, ^liya ^l^\iov fxeya KaKov, a great book is a great bore ; and especially at the present day, when the very titles of the works published are enough to produce confusion and amazement. Behoving that the early Basilican type exhibits the best and truest principles of legal and ecclesi- astical buildings, and the Church of Brixworth B 2 8 PEEFACE. being the only one in this kingdom preser^^ed from such great antiquity, T\dth the whole ground-plan ascertained, and the main parts of the building still entire, will, I trust, be considered a sufficient warrant for adding these Essays to the multitu- dinous issues of the press. Brixworth, \5th Ajml, 1867. THE BASILICA, Sfc. The Basilica, in its earliest and simplest form, was a rectangular building, apportioned into tliree squares, two undivided at one end, and one dis- tinguislied from them at the other end. Thus in a building ninety feet long, the larger division of two undivided squares would be sixty feet in length, by thirty in breadth ; the smaller division would be thirty feet square. This measurement is of the central building only, exclusive of the peristyle, and requires to be constantly kept in mind ; for every extension of outer works at equal distances from the main building alters the pro- portions and lessens the relations of length to breadth. Before the commencement of the larger division, there was an atrium or square porch. At the .10 THE basilica: other end of the building there was sometimes a semicircular apse or concha, so called from its resembling in shape a shell. The origin and purport of such building would be to hold courts of justice in civil matters, and for the performance of sacred rites in the exercise of religious functions. In either case the necessity for a building of this kind is sufficiently manifest. For, in the administration of justice, the apse would be necessary to contain the bema or tribunal, somewhat raised above the rest of the building, on which the judge might sit, with his assessors near and below him. The square portion nearest to the apse would be required for the advocates and their clients, and the larger portion beyond for the public auditory. This tripartite division is still necessary and prevalent in our present courts of justice, though the separations are not so distinctly marked. To this simple form of the hall of justice there were added lateral chambers opposite to the court of the advocates, into which they might retire for conference and arbitration; and these chambers had their respondents on the outside of the other end of the building for the use of the inferior OE, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE. 11 officers attendant upon tlie court, and corridors of communication were erected between these terminal chambers. If any one will search diligently into the re- motest history of nations, he will find that the royal and sacerdotal offices were generally united in the same person : that he who one day would sit on the tribunal to administer justice, would at another time use it as a sacrarium for the per- formance of religious rites. Amongst the numerous instances which might be adduced of the royal and sacerdotal functions being united in settled governments, is that of Croesus, king of Lydia, who, by sacerdotal authority, expiated Adrastus. Also the Spartan kings, to whom the priesthood of the Lacedaemonian and celestial Jupiter pertained, and the back and skin of the victim as perquisites of the priesthood. Rameses, the sixth king of Egypt, is represented on the monuments of that country in the character of a priest ofiering incense. The custom still prevails in the Grand Lama of Thibet. The case of Melchizedek must present itself to all readers of the Bible ; and He of whom Melchizedek was a proper type, our Great High Priest and Heavenly King. The readers of Virgil will recollect " Rex 12 THE basilica; Anius atque sacerdos." Samuel united in Lis person tlie threefold office of prophet, priest, and king ; and David and Solomon assumed the priestly office in blessing the people. In the exercise of religious worship, the first portion, next to the apse, was used by those who assisted in the performance, whilst the larger area beyond would be occupied by the worshippers at large. And thus it was that when the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity, these Basilicas or Halls of Justice were found so con- venient for Christian worship, — the bema serving'' for the Bishop's throne ; the advocates' chambers serving for vestries ; and the narrow corridors, being widened and enlarged, were converted into aisles, and affi^rded greater accommodation for the increasing congregations. The Tabernacle in the wilderness affords us the earliest instance of the Basilica in its simplest form, being divided into three squares, a twofold and single. The whole length of the Tabernacle, from east to west, was thirty cubits : the sanctum ten cubits, or one-third of the whole, and the width ten cubits : the remainder twenty cubits or two squares. We have this on the testimony of Jose- phus. The three temples at Jerusalem succes- OK, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE. 13 sively exhibited, in the main body, the same divi- sions and proportions as the Tabernacle. In Leviticus vi. 1, we have given us these pro- portions of Solomon's temple. The Basilican church of Brixworth has the same proportions. Mr. Edward Charles Hake- well, in his elaborate work on Ecclesiastical and Civil Architecture, refuses the testimony of Josephus as to the divisions of the Tabernacle : but what better authority could be wished for? and the agreement of its proportions with those of the national temples is strongly in its favour. As their King was not upon earth, but in heaven, there was no occasion for apse or bema ; and the single square was therefore made the sacrarium, or most holy place, where the high priest received the oracles of the Heavenly Monarch ; and, in his vicarious capacity, transacted a sacrificial advocacy on behalf of the people. The holy place, answering to the chancel proper and court of advocates, was occupied by the priests and Levites, and the court without by the people. It is indeed remarkable that some of the earliest of the heathen temples maintained this tripartite division of three squares : — that at Psestum ; the temple of Theseus ; the temple of Jupiter ; the 14 THE basilica; temple of Esculapius, of Jupiter Stator at Rome, and of Neptune therein. In the temple of Peestum, the sanctum was twenty cubits, the nave forty- cubits, the mdth twenty cubits. See the ground- plan of Brixworth Church. The aptitude which this Basilican form pre- sented for the performance of both the civil and religious functions will account for this traditionary repetition from age to age, and will occasion its continuance to the end of time. The human origin of this construction may be reasonably referred to the patriarchal government. For the father of the family was necessarily the ruler and priest of the household : his authority would afterwards merge into the head of the tribe; and he again would be superseded by that of the monarch when the extended tribes should be united under one sovereign. The manner in which the civil authority was thus transferred is circum- stantially related by Herodotus in the case of De'ioces. And Layard discovered in Nineveh the ground- work of a Basilica of the same construction as the church at Brixworth. Additions were made in some of the earliest temples of peristyles, porches, &c. ; and in the Byzantine Basilicas of a late OE, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE. 15 date, accessions were made to the more simple form by galleries, triforia, &c., to tlie lessening of that impressive grandeur which characterizes the earlier type ; and it was remarked by those who had seen the first St. Peter's, that it far ex- celled the more elaborate and ornate production of Bramante in this respect. In the provincial towns the apse and intermediate part were made to answer the purposes of munici- pal government, and the larger portion those of a covered market-house. Beneath the semicircular apse there was fre- quently a crypt. This in the Roman Basilica was used for a prison. The following description of such a subterranean prison is taken from Sallust : " There is a place in the prison, after a small descent to the left, called Tullus's dungeon, sunk about twelve feet underground, with an arch of stone, a dark noisome solitude frightful to behold." In Christian churches they were used for religious services, and as burial-places for sainted persons. SYMBOLISM. And as there was a general adaptation in the form of the structure to the civil and rehgious 16 THE basilica; wants of mankind, so was there a symbolism involved in that structure, which, with respect to the Tabernacle at least, cannot be denied. For Moses was commanded to build the Tabernacle in the following words : — " Look that thou make them after their pattern which was shewed thee in the mount'." And St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews (viii. 5), says of the priests under the law that they serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle : for " See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Thus, therefore, there is not only a symbolism declared, but a symbolical representation of heavenly things expressly stated. And as in the general, so with the particulars is that symbo- lism recorded ; for the innermost of the tripartite di\dsions, or Holy of Holies, or Most Holy Place, is compared to Heaven itself, the entering into which by the high priest once a year, with the atoning blood of the burnt-offering, being declared symbolical of the Saviour entering into the highest heavens, with the all-sufficient virtue of His own ' Exod. XXV. 40. OE, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE. 17 most precious blood. The Tabernacle itself repre- sented His sacred body, tlie veil His flesh. Furthermore, St. Paul himself divides the heavens into three successions, having himself had a vision of the third heaven, wherein he saw what might not be uttered by the tongue of man. The partition wall also was made to represent the line of demarcation between the two covenants, and between their respective worshippers, which was broken down by Christ, when he proclaimed salvation to the Gentiles, and admitted them within the pale of the Christian Church. Josephus, as Jewish writers in general, and some Christian authors likewise, carries symbolism to a great extent; but I go not beyond unquestionable authority. The form and proportions of the early Basilicas having been described, I proceed to explain the dif- ferent materials used in the erection of the build- ing, and indeed of all important edifices. These would greatly — I may say principally — depend upon the geological formation of the place. In all countries where there was an absence of rocky strata, the builders would follow the examples of those of Babel, using "bricks for stone, and slime for mortar;" and thus the 18 THE basilica; Basilica at Nineveh was built : thus the Roman Basilicas. And hence the necessity of the semicircular arch in those buildings and places. But when a rocky stratum was near, large buildings especially would be erected of stone, and the openings be angular or rectangular; because the stones singly would serve for lintels as well as for side-posts. Thus in Egypt and G-reece, the neighbouring mountains supplying them with these materials at hand, the doors and windows generally obtained a rectangular form, or inclined in Egypt to the trapezium ; though the semicircular arch, and the equilateral were sometimes adopted by that people : hence the immense obelisks, colonnades, and statues of that country, from the facilities which the mountains afforded. AVhereas on the banks or the Tiber and the Thames, the buildings are generally of brick from the neighbouring clay; although where expense is not a great object, the stones of far-distant quarries are transported by sea and by land for the purposes of archi- tectural beauty, sculptured illustrations, and permanent duration. Some of the earliest buildings after the Flood were composed of vast glacial, diluvial, or alluvial OB, PALATIAL HALL OF JUSTICE. 19 blocks, wliicli, lying on the ground ready at hand, were first made use of, and especially by immi- grants coming from a distance, not without the knowledge, but destitute of the appliances in the art of building : — thus the Titanian walls, the Druidical and other like erections of large stones, with only mortice and tenon to uphold the transverse layers, but neither hewn nor close- jointed. And where there was a choice of clay for bricks, and loose rubble for walls, the latter was often selected, or both together used, the excellency of the mortar rendering the concrete as hard as iron. Sir Grenville Temple ascertained the cisterns of Carthage to have been composed of this material ; and sometimes walls constructed of small and thin stones were erected with those stones in an oblique and converse manner, called " herring-bone work," as may be seen in the square and round towers of Brixworth Church. The Egyptian semi-trapezium resolved itself into the pointed arch, and the semicircular arch contracted itself into the post-Norman transition arch. The Early EngHsh, as it is called, expanded into the Decorated, the Decorated into the Tudor : and these were all varied in construction and ornamentation . 20 THE "BASILICA. The three pure and simple styles are the semicircular, the rectangular, and the equilateral. All the others are divergencies and modifications. In reviewing the history of those buildings which, whether with " cloud-capped towers, and lofty pinnacles," and pointed spires, or in greater simplicity of structure, have passed away, one can hardly avoid a thought respecting the fate of those, and the communities to which they belong, that now exist. Macaulay's image of the New Zealander, sitting upon London Bridge and soliloquizing on the ruins of the Capital, which has obtained so much currency and ad- miration, may perhaps occur to the reader's mind. It is not by any means an original idea of our florid historian. He gained it from a more imaginative and eloquent writer, Volney, in his dazzling, but deceptive work, " The Ruins of Empires," who places himself amidst the wreck of Palmyra, and sohloquizes on the anticipated ruins of London and Paris. Suuin ciuqiie. Let us hope that the Spirit of Christianity will preserve the Capital of this Christian country from the occasion of any such soliloquies. si I THE BASILICM CHUECH OF BRIXWOETH. Wlii^ lEitfjograpI)^ Illustrations. C TO SIR CHARLES EDMUND ISHAM, BART. The Dedication of this Work on Brixworth Church is clearly due to you, as the Restoration of that ancient and interesting building is more indebted to the kind and generous efforts of Lady Isham and yourself than to any one besides. And I avail myself of this call of Justice, for the expression of other pleasurable, as well as grateful sentiments, to one whom I have known from early youth, in whom I soon discerned the early pursuit of knowledge for a future well- stored mind, and a refined taste for the elegant and useful Arts of Life, with a disposition to those better qualities which have endeaied Lamport Hall and its inmates not to its own neighbourhood only, but far and wide through a great part of the County at large. That health and happiness may ever prevail therein is the sincere prayer and wish of Yours truly, CHAS. FRED. W ATKINS. Brixwoeth Vicabage, March 29, 1867. C 2 INTRODUCTION. I CANNOT do better than reprint my address to the British Archasological Association at their excursion to Brixworth Church : — [Extracted from the Northampton Herald of Saturday, August 16, 1862.] On the Friday morning a special train brought between thirty and forty of the members, including the president, Dr. Lee, the secretaries, J. R. Planche, Esq., E. Roberts, Esq., Messrs. Wright, &c., and some ladies, to the Brixworth station, from which all who desired were brought up in carriages, sent by the vicar and the principal parishioners for their service. They were met at the church by the vicar and several of the county families and their friends, including Sir Charles and Lady Isham, the Hon. and Rev. Arthur and Mrs. Douglas, the Hon. Henry and Lady Mary Douglas, Henry O. Nether- cote, Esq., and Mrs. Nethercote, the Rev. J. L. Roberts, vicar of Spratton ; — Lacon, Esq., and Mrs. Lacon ; and others belonging to the parish and neighboui'hood. On the party being seated in the church. The Rev. C. F. Watkins gave a very interesting viva voce 26 INTRODUCTION. account of the church. He expressed the pleasure he felt iu receiving them within those venerable vpalls, and thought the best course he could pursue, sanctioned as it had been by Mr. Pettigrew, on whom they greatly relied, was to give them a brief and simple statement of the manner in which he had pursued his investigations into the remains of the ancient building, till he had entirely ascertained and developed the whole of the original plan. It is now thirty years (proceeded the reverend gentleman) since I took possession of this living, and I was naturally struck with the singular appearance of this building — its arches formed of Roman bricks, and every subsequent style of architecture interposed up to the time of Henry VI. The only notice that had previously been taken of the church was by Mr. Britton, that energetic and useful pioneer in archaeo- logical matters, and Hickman, the writer on Gothic architecture, both of whom had their attention called to the building by Mr. Baker, the late historian of the county, and his sister. Through the exertions of the latter, some of the brick arches were scraped and laid bare, and part of the foundation of the outer wall to the north aisle ascertained, but nothing was done to develope the original plan of the building, nor was any plan suggested. Mr. Britton concluded it to have been an Anglo- Roman building — Mr. Rickman, a Norman ; it appears, how- ever, as deduced by Mr. Roberts, from the edition of his book in 1835, eleven years after he had visited Brixworth, that he then classed it amongst the Saxon buildings of the country, though not earlier than those of Barton-on-Umber and Earl's liarton. After long careful examination, and mature consideration, 1 concluded it to have been originally built for a Roman Basilica or hall of justice, or rebuilt by the early Saxons after the Roman type. I met with little cnconrageracnt and much opposition in proposing this view. Tlieie was at that time a prevailing projudice against the supposition of the existence INTRODUCTION. 27 of early remains of Saxon architecture of any account, or of any thing prior to the Norman period. A hundred years ago prejudice ran the contrary way. If an arch was discovered with any tracery, especially with any chevron work, it was immediately attributed to the Saxons. When that error was exploded, the prejudice ran in a contrary direction, as is usual with mankind, and the Saxons were reported as incompetent for any considerable work. The late Marquis of Northampton — a man of remarkable sagacity and acumen — and the late rector of Orton Longville, who had examined all the architectural remains in Italy and the rest of the Continent, alone encouraged me in this view. The ftrst thing I did was to take occasion of the burial of a parishioner in the chancel to make excavations there. I observed in the north-western corner of the exterior two sides remaining of a former polygonal structure, and noticed that the interior of that part curved a little. This led me to infer that it was part of an original apse, polygonal without and semi- circular within, and probably with an underground crypt, as in the oldest forms. I therefore made the masons prolong their excavations, till they reached, as I suspected, a subterranean wall, ten feet deep, which I made them lay open in its whole extent, till it came to view a perfect semicircle, and I left it open for public inspection from two to three months. But being obliged to close it up, for the performance of the sacred rites, I determined to work in a different quarter. Having observed an opening at the east end of the subterranean wall, I concluded there must have been also a subterranean chamber or corridor on the outside of the wall, for this source of communication ; and if a corridor, or ambulatory, as it is sometimes called, a descent to it from the east end of the church. Accordingly, I had the wall at the north-east corner pierced and opened ; and, after some labour and risk, succeeded in laying bare a circular-headed doorway, from which I doubted not there had been a descent to the cavity below. A serious 28 INTEODUCTION. ol>stacle presented iteelf to any investigation without, in the form of a solid embankment as high as the present window. But, after removing about 200 loads of earth, I had the satisfaction of revealing the outer wall of the crypt, the door- way and original steps of descent, an outer low subterranean wall encircling the corridor in parallel lines with the interior of the original apse, with a recess in one of the sides, receiving a vaulted roof, which sprung from the string course of the wall of the crypt. My next object was to lay open what I concluded would prove to be the north aisle with its apsides, which the respective arches seemed to indicate as having existed. Another embankment of earth, up nearly to the windows* again proved an obstruction, but I at length succeeded in laying open the whole aisle, coterminous with the nave, sub- divided by foot buttresses, with a terminal square apse at the east end, and a rectangular one at the west, the latter formed by the recess from the nave to the square porch. On the south side, where greater obstructions presented themselves in more I'ecent buildings, I made sufficient investigations to assure myself of corresponding parts to those on the north. Thus, abstracting the circular tower at the west, which, by its straight joint and other features, is proved to have been a later appendage to the building, I at length ascertained and developed, Avhat I had always inferred and suggested to others, a complete Basilican form in the original building, viz., a square porch, with a main west entrance, opening into apsides north and south, and into a nave with four arches of a side, these arches opening into corridors, and with clerestory windows above between each two of the four arches, a compartment at the east of the nave leading into a semicircular apse, and opening into square apsides, or terminals to the aisles, at its commence- ment from the nave. (See ground-plan.) And now with respect to this compartment. It is evident that (he walls on oitlier side were originally without the present openings. The iirs( that was made was the smaller arch on INTRODUCTION. 29 tlie south side, excavated for the purpose of communicating with the present south aisle, which was built in the early part of the 1 4th century, as a chapel for Sir John de Verdun, Lord of the Manor, whose effigy is now enclosed in an arched recess of the south wall of that aisle. Fifty years later the larger arch was opened, and the clerestory window above. In the north wall of this compartment a Decorated and a Tudor window were afterwards inserted ; the latter is now superseded by a Decollated window, substituted at the time of rebuilding the wall in that part. If you look up to the commencement of the large arch which leads from the nave, continued Mr. Watkins, you will perceive the spring of an early brick arch, which was supposed — Hickman suggested this — to have spanned the whole width of the church ; but it is evidently too small for such a compass^ neither is there sufficient pier to support such an arch. I suspected that it was only a small clerestory arch, correspond- ing to the opposite one at the east end, for the purpose of throwing light into the choir from the clerestory of the nave, as those at the east end did from without the building, and that there must have been a central or triumphal arch corresponding to that which leads into the chancel, with side walls and round- headed doors, and clerestory windows over them, in counterpart to the east end. On burying a corpse near to the crossing, I had the excavation continued, till I arrived at the bases of the central piers, thus verifying all that I had inferred respecting this building. When Mr. Poole, several years ago, read a paper on Brixworth Church, before the members of our Architectural Society, at the George Hotel, Northampton, I added vivci voce observations of a supplementary character, and some of them to this purport, that I was convinced that we should some day find the oi-igin not only of the circular brick arch called the Roman, but of the Basilica itself, in the plains of Shinar. Some time afterwards on going to the British Museum to 30 INTRODUCTION. inspect the slabs from Nineveh, I discovered the type of one of our Saxon arches on one of the blocks, and beside it a type of the Norman arch, with its chevron work. And I had the satisfaction of subsequently hearing Mr. Layard describe, at a meeting in the Mechanics' Institute, the foundation of a Basilica in the ruins of Nineveh, corresponding in its several details to that of Brixworth. A Statement of the Restorations in Brixworth Church, submitted to the committee of the architectural Society, at their Annual Meeting on the 11th of December, 1865, by the Rev. C. F. Watkins, Vicar of Brixworth, and a Member of the Committee. [Extracted from the Northampton Herald of Saturday, December 16, 1865.] My dear Colleagues, — In presenting you with a statement of my proceedings and discoveries in the course of I'estoring this venerable church, as preliminary to its being brought be- fore the public, I feel that I am only paying due respect to those who have been appointed the Executive Council of the Architectural Society of this county. You were duly informed by plans and prospectuses, that the work was to be done in sections, as funds might be found, and the work to cease within the limits of those funds. The first section was that of the west end, forming two of the three squares of the nave, sixty feet by thirty feet, and fifty feet high. In this section all the Saxon arcade and clerestory windows are reopened, and re- paired in the most substantial manner, every brick and stone INTRODUCTION. 31 of the original work carefully preserved in loco, and the requi- site repairs done with Boughton stone, which distinguishes the new work from the old, and yet will not unfavourably har- monize with the latter. In scraping the stucco and mortar off the walls, we found a large square block of free-stone built into the west pier of the western arch of the south side of the church, by the early Saxons, having a Roman eagle, of the Assyrian type, fairly sculptured on the exposed side, but very slightly injured, and in good relief. On the upper part of the stone are three mortices, showing that some ensign or other was fixed in above the eagles. On excavating the floor of the square tower, I discovered the bases of two circular coliunns on each side of the original west entrance, with a wall running from one of them towards the nave ; forming the propyleum to an early Roman Temple or Christian Church of the four first centuries : charred wood and burnt stone showed this part to have been bm-nt with fire. These bases had been hacked on the outer side of each, to receive respectively the corpse of a full-grown person, who from being cramped up would appear to have suffex-ed a violent death ; one of them was encased in mortar, and till exposed to the atmosphere, the teeth and bones had an appearance of great comparative freshness. Mr. Roberts, in his pamphlet on Brixworth Church, declares that the present square tower was a later appendage to the western wall of the nave, because, as he argued, the walls were straight-jointed; but this mistake of his arises from two causes : one, an inspec- tion of only a small part of the walls that were then scaled ; the other, fi'om perhaps not knowing the Saxon method of building in this particular. There are, indeed, intervals of straight- jointing in the square tower, but the Saxon method was not always to bond continuously, but at intervals ; and on scaling the whole of the lower part of the tower we find this inter- mediate bonding carried throughout. Besides which, the courses of the stones, foreign to the district, clearly show that the squai'e tower and the nave were built together. 32 INTEODUCTION. Another error arising from imperfect, and perhaps hitherto impossible investigation, is put forward in his pamphlet, which is, that the herring-bone work is confined to the west end of the church ; whereas, on scaling the south wall of the eastern part of the nave, or what was the chancel proper, I find the same herring-bone work in that part. It is also developed on the inside of the crypt wall. Mr. Roberts also argued for the existence of galleries within the nave, but we have carefully probed and examined the whole area of the nave, and not the slightest traces remain to show the existence of any such galleries. Mr. Roberts is a man of genius, of professional and archiBological eminence, and of the greatest industry in explor- ing the records of the past, but this last supposition of his is an inappropriate application of a general custom to a particular case. A further suggestion of his, that the eastern apse itself was encircled by an ambulatoiy as well as the crypt, may or may not be true, as no proof can be offered on either side of the question. From the examinations that we have been enabled to make in the course of our work, it is clearly ascer- tained that the square tower, the whole of the nave, with the destroyed aisles, and their terminals, and the eastern apse, were all built at the same time. Exception has been taken to what are called the buttresses of the apse, as indicating a Norman origin, but it may be clearly shown that what really Avere but slender pilasters were used by the early Saxons ; the projecting parts below, which constitute the buttresses, are simply an addition of my own, as a substitute for the vaulted roof of the ambulatory, by which the slender shafts and walls of the apse were sustained, it being useless to rebuild the ambulatory itself. We have rebuilt this eastern apse on the wall of the crypt, which has been left entire, and having also two sides of the original polygon remaining, we have carefully preserved it, and carried out the building in accordance with them, so that we are certain of having restored this part of the building, both in mode and measure, to its original state. INTRODUCTION. 33 In the eastern part of the nave or chancel proper I have discovered an early Saxon clerestory arch in the south wall, the lower part of which has been removed for the insertion of the pointed arch below; also, the rim of part of a Norman arch, beneath the clerestory arch of the east end of the nave on the south side, and within this Norman rim, a pointed arch, with a glory painted on fresco, which no doubt surmounted an image of the Virgin. All will be carefully developed and preserved. I feel greatly indebted to the landlords and parishioners in general, to the Incorporated and District Church Building Societies, and the whole circle of my neighbours and friends around to a radius of six or seven miles in every direction, for the kind and generous support which they have afforded me in this undertaking, as well as to relatives and dear old personal friends in many and distant parts. My first object — to restore the house of God to a state somewhat worthy of His Majesty and goodness, and to secure ample accommodation for all His worshippers in this place, where order, harmony, and goodwill have long prevailed — is so far accomplished. It would be affectation to deny that the discoveries and developments made by me during my long incumbency (which are something like a material offspring to men), the frequent and continued de- velopments in England and in foreign lands, and especially of late in the Holy Land, confirming all my early views and enunciations respecting this singular building, seem to justify me in the hope that my name will be identified with it through future time. And though this is not my native county, one of its fairest and most eligible parts has afforded me a pleasant residence for the last thirty-three years — a full generation in the history and chronology of man — in my earthly pilgrimage, surrounded by many dear and valuable friends, where all my children have either been born or bred (and in many distant parts have reflected no small credit upon it), and wherein I expect to take my earthly rest in her favoured soil ; I should, therefore, be greatly wanting in proper feeling if I did not look 34 INTRODUCTION. with anticipated pleasure to bequeath to this county so singular aud noble a monument of our remote ancestors in a suitable condition of development and preservation. Your faithful Colleague, CHAS. FRED. WATKINS. Brixwoeth, December l\th, 1865. BRIXWORTH CHURCH. The following is an extract from the Report of the Northamp- tonshire ArchaBological and Architectural Society, read at a meeting of the members of that Society, on Monday, the 5th of November, 1866 : — " Of the churches, the repairs or restoration of which have been completed during the last year, first and foremost in antiquity and interest stands Brixworth. Hardly a church in the whole kingdom has an architectural histoiy extending over a longer period, or containing in its pages stronger marks of the different eras of which it is the record. We have in its construction a large use of Roman material ; Roman brick is employed in the construction of one of the finest early arcades in any of oui- parish churches. Beneath an arch built of such material, and at such a period, are the remnants of a Nonnan arch, and again underneath these was a decorated window of the same character as others further eastward. Then we have later work of more than one period, besides the more modern repairs and restorations. By excavating the surrounding ground, foundations have been laid bare, revealing a form of building differing in many ways, nor all of one period, from ibat which has stood for many generations, and in one im- portant instance furnishing a certain guide to the operations of the present restorer. The great peculiarities of Brixworth INTEODUCTION. 35 Church have been dwelt on at some length in a paper read before this society some years since by Mr. Poole, and to that interesting paper the committee would refer the inquirer. They now make brief allusion to the many styles of architecture existing here, only for the purpose of impressing upon all church restorers the importance of keeping every ancient feature which marks a period, or tells a tale of bygone days. The feature itself may not be one of great beauty, and it might be replaced by one more pleasing to the eye, or more agreeable to harmonious arrangement. But beauty and order in matters of architecture may be sometimes bought too dearly, and the farther any old period of art is receding from us, the greater the reason for our not exchanging * old lamps for new.' Your committee believe that great care has been, for the most part, shown in the restoration of Bi'ixworth Church ; that, with one minor exception, in which the restorers somewhat differed from the opinion of the committee, every mark of ancient work has been retained, great pains have been taken to supply as little new work as possible, and wherever any new masonry has been inserted, either because constructionally necessary, or to replace any obviously modern excrescence, the new is carefully distinguished from the old. Your committee's remarks, there- fore, on the importance of preserving, when practicable, every record of ancient art, are not meant to apply to Brixworth ; to prove, however, the importance of being giiided by this con- servative spirit in all dealings with our ancient ecclesiastical monuments, we need only bring before our mind's eye the church of Brixworth as it exists to us now, and compare it with what it would have been, had the architects of the four- teenth century, who inserted several windows and executed some minor works there, swept away the pre-existing church, and substituted a Decorated building of even the best pro- portions. We should have exchanged a unique page of architectural history for an almost stereotyped form of Decorated church." 36 INTRODUCTION. [Extracted from the Northampton Herald of Nov. 17, 1866.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE "NORTHAMPTON HERALD." ViCAEAGE, Beixwobth, 14tth Nov., 1866. Sir, — I am quite satisfied with the report of the committee of the Architectm-al Society, as published in your last week's number. It entirely vindicates me from a report which had been industriously spread abroad at the commencement of my labours — that I was about to sacrifice all the antiquities of the church, and to spoil the building. This report extended to our Universities, and, I have no doubt, deprived me of receiving aid from archaeological parties, and from all parts of this county, except my immediate neighbourhood, where the facts were easily ascertained and generally known, and where I received, in consequence, a most generous support. The committee report one instance only in which there has been any difference of opinion between us, and I think it due to the county to state my reasons for not yielding to the sug- gestion of the sub-committee in allowing the decorated Avindows in dispute to remain. In the first place, the suggestion came too late, as the plans had passed the ordeal of the Incorporated and Diocesan Societies, the parish vestry, and the ordinary, and the contracts were already signed. This was a sufficient reply, and I stated it as one that would be received as a neces- sity, and prevent any further jarring of opinions. But had it come earlier, I should still have persisted in removing the window, as I had from the first pledged myself to my chief supporters and subscribers, and to the county and archajological world, to restore the church in the full and proper sense of the word — that is, to bring it back to its original state and design, as fixr as possible — well knowing that I could exhibit and preserve to the county a noble and unique specimen of eccle- siastical architecture, a proud monument of our Saxon fore- fathers, and a connecting link with tlic earliest religious and INTRODUCTION. 37 civil buildings of which we have any account, either in sacred or profane history. [I hope to show this connexion, and its important bearing upon civil and religious uses, in a forth- coming treatise on the Basilica, of which there is no satis- factory history in any language, together with a complete history of Brixworth Church, with suitable lithographs.] I could not, therefore, allow a bad specimen of a much later date, as this window was, to mar the consistency and harmony of what the committee justly style " one of the finest early arcades in any of our parish churches." The ruinous state of the wall which the Gothic insertors left around it alone would have rendered it necessary to remove it, and the retention of a better window of the period in another part of the chm^ch, where it is less injurious, should reconcile any one to the removal of this. I am thankful to say that I have been spared to complete this undertaking far beyond my first expectations, at an outlay of about 2500^. ; that all the expenses have been paid as they were incurred ; that an obligation for the balance of 200/. still required has been partly met by a gentleman who has no per- manent interest in the county, and who has already contributed 150/., by offering to give 50/. more, if the remaining 150/. be subscribed. Yours, &c., C. F. WATKINS. P.S. — It is gratifying to me to record that, a fortnight before his accident, my old friend Dr. Whewell came to see my restorations, in company with Mackworth Dolben, Esq., and expressed his approbation to him and me of all that I had done. D 38 INTRODUCTION. EESTORATIONS. With respect to the principles involved in tlie repairs and restitutions of our churches, I do not think the nature of the style in the ai'chitecture of so much consequence, except so far as one may conduce more than another to deeper and more solemn impressions in Divine worship ; nor have I any pre- judice against the Greco-Italian churches of Sir Christopher Wren. The great merit of repairing and restoring our churches consists in this — that it produces and maintains a greater reve- rence for the Supi-eme Being and sacred things, and raises the tone of religious and moral sentiments. For how can man, if duly impressed with feelings of reverence for his Maker, and for things pertaining to His worship, contentedly enter from time to time into His consecrated dwelling, and see it with composure falling into decay, or presenting a meaner appearance than his own stables, whilst he himself has just come out of chambers adorned with "cedar and vermilion?" If it be a question whether the want of reverence and religious feeling on the one hand, or the foi'mer state of our churches on the other, be the cause or effect, they are very certainly correlative and reciprocal. One of the great difficulties was a very wide suspicion and fear of its being a movement in favour of Popery. And this, though utterly unfounded with respect to the persons concerned, Avas nevertheless in itself a holy and patriotic jealousy, excited by the extreme practices of indiscreet zealots, as well as perverts, and fanned, even to the pi-esent moment, by the unworthy insinuations of many whose views of sacred matters are as low as their actions are mean and despicable. INTRODUCTION. 39 It would indeed be a sad disgrace to us if we conceded to the Romanist, to the Mahometan, and tlie heathen, the exchisive performance of the duty, and the sole exercise of the privilege of bringing the first-fruits, the best and choicest of material things, to adorn and beautify the Palace of the " Great King of all the Earth ;" and we, who profess a purer and more favoured religion, should return Him nothing of the greater riches which He has bestowed upon us, but the dregs and refuse of our abundant stores ! A Mahometan coming to this country, and seeing the marvellous structures erected within the last quarter of a centmy for the purposes of commerce, manufactures, art, and domestic enjoyment — their magnitude, costliness, and orna- mentation ; and knowing the dilapidated and unsightly state of most of our churches at the commencement of that period, would necessarily exclaim, " This is a people that worship the creature more than the Creator ;" " They are votaries of Mammon." With regard to the re-seating of ovir churches, nothing could be more obstructive to the true spirit of Christianity, and to an acceptable worship of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, than the elevated or secluded pews which have hitherto encroached upon the areas of our churches, in fostering self-indulgence, listlessness, and both worldly and spiritual pride. But now, where the seats are open and level, and accommodation made for the poorer members of the parochial family, the humblest individual may " enter the courts of the Lord with joy," and say to himself with an honest and grateful exultation, " My Father's House" — "How amiable are Thy dwellings. Thou Lord of Hosts ! " He may now feel with complacency that he is acknowledged by the rich and noble to be one of the children of the same common Father and Lord of all, a brother in Christ, and a fellow-heir of the same heavenly kingdom ; whilst the upper classes are hereby reminded that eventually " the rich and poor will meet together," without respect of persons, in the immediate presence of their Maker, and that the talents p 2 40 INTEODUCTION. entrusted to their care are soon to be withdrawn and accounted for ; and, instead of allowing the clerk to act a vicarial part for them in the response and acts of devotion, all are hereby in- fluenced to personal and united worship, and " with one mind and one mouth to glorify their Maker." Thus sympathy and care will be exercised by the latter on behalf of the humbler membei's of Christ's body, whilst a true feeling of respect and attachment will be engendered in these towards the upper classes. And thus the different classes of society will be united together by the strongest of all bonds, and be enabled to meet and overcome all dangers that may threaten from without, and all the severest trials which can happen within the kingdom. It is satisfactory to find that the highest and oldest of our nobility and gentry ai'e the most ready to relinquish class dis- tinctions in Divine worship, as their longer residence and sympathies with their humbler brethren might lead us to expect. C. F. W. HISTORY OF THE CHUHCH. The time when tliis cliurcli was erected is certified to us by Leland, on the authority of Hugo, the Monk of Peterborough, as having taken place under the rule of the Abbot Saxulphus or Sexwulf of Peterborough, then called Medhamsted, towards the latter end of the seventh century. The particular year is uncertain ; but about 690 it was a dependency of Medhamsted, and accompanied with a monastery, some remains of which were lately discovered by the present Vicar on rebuilding the vicarage-house, consisting of a Saxon arch which fell down with an old wall, and of a transition arch, as well as in the exhumation of decayed cofl&ns and skeletons. This testimony of Hugo is confirmed by suc- cessive alterations of an architectural character, which can be traced in a retrograde order, from the time of Henry VI., through the Decorated, 42 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. the Early Englisli, the Post-Norman transition, the late Norman and the late Saxon, the most ancient and conclusive of which is the round tower appended to the square porch at the west end, loopholed all round for archery, with a wind- ing staircase from top to bottom, — most probably to serve for defence against the incursion of the Danes ; and coeval with this a three-light window with baluster shafts, like those at Earl's Barton, and St. Bonnet's, Cambridge, set in upon an earlier semicircular arch of the same character as the rest of the original structure, the crown of which was cut away to receive that three-light window. The original aisles, too, which were built and bonded in with the arcade, having the piers of their transverse arches locked in between those of the nave, must have been destroyed before the Norman period, for a Norman doorway has been inserted — for an entrance — in one of the original arches of the nave, which could not have been done had the south aisle been standing. And this confirms the account given by Tanner in his *' Notitia," of the aisles having been destroyed by the Danes in 870, and of the round tower having been appended soon after that time to secure the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 43 cliurcli, and perhaps the inhabitants, against any future injury from those fierce invaders. Thus we deduce the erection of the main struc- ture, consisting of the nave, the square tower, the remains of the eastern apse, the destroyed aisles with their double terminals (which I shall hereafter show to be all of the same date), to precede the ninth century, when the alterations first commenced, and therefore corroborate the story of Hugo the Monk. NAMES OF THE PLACE. In the Saxon Chronicle, the name of the place is written Bricklesworthe ; in Domesday, Bricles- worde, but no mention is made therein of the Church. The next intelligence is of the value of the living, — in Pope Nicholas' taxation 21Z. 6s. 8d. for the Rectory, and 4/. 13s. 4d. for the Vicarage, where the name is written Briklesworthe, and afterwards Brikelsworth. The present name is first found in the "Yalor Ecclesiasticus." The original word Bricklesworthe, according to Bridges, denotes its fame for springs ; and truly in a lord- ship of more than 3000 acres there is scarce a field in which you cannot arrive at a spring of moderate 44 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. deptli, and generally one near tlie surface, whicli vindicates the auspicious meaning of the word. In this last dry summer (1865) we had no failure of its springs. Bridges supposes the Eectory to have been given soon after the Conquest (Mr. Lear, Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral and Prebendary of Brix- worth, tells me "in the thirteenth century;" and this agrees with the History which Bridges himself gives of the Successive Prebendaries and Vicars, as commencing only from that time) to Salisbury Cathedral, the Chancellor of the Cathedral Church there holding it as his Prebend till the death of the late Prebendary, the Hon. Hugh Percy, Bishop of Carlisle, at whose decease it was transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who sold the Pre- bendal Estate to Lord Overstone, compensating the lessee, the Eev. W. W. Hume, for his interest in three lives; and the Vicarage which was formed out of the rectorial property at its translation to the Chancellorship of Salisbury Cathedral, and in his patronage, was vested in the Bishop of Peter- borough when the prebendal land was sold. Having given this general sketch of the origin of the church, and its relative dependency, I shall now enter into full particulars respecting its original 1 n II !« 13 II i 111 a O K^ ■« II c- 5 •S ii."<: '--^.^g ■^« 5^ 3 4) o ^ cr o o 00 •do HISTORY OP THE CHURCH. 45 plan ; the materials witli wliich it was built ; the nature and purport of the successive alterations, and the manner in which it is being restored. The ground-plan annexed, and taken from exist- ing remains, shows that it was built after the earliest types of the Basilica, traced through Roman examples to one in Nineveh discovered by Layard : viz., a nave divided into two parts of one and two thirds, of thirty and sixty feet respectively in length, and of the width of thirty feet through- out, as in the earliest examples given by me in the History of the Basilica. A square porch at the west of the nave, and recessed from the outer wall of the nave on either side to the extent of nine feet. An eastern apse, polygonal without, and semi- circular within, surrounded by a corridor or ambulatory, the outward wall of which is parallel to the inner circular wall ; having recesses in some of the sides, and receiving a vaulted ceiling from the string course of the inner circular wall. Con- trary to expectation, I found the original floor of the chancel on a level with that of the church, and unbroken ground beneath : so that there could have been no crypt under the church, but only the ambulatory around it and beneath. North 46 HISTOEY OF THE CHUECH. and south aisles, each terminating at the east end in a square apse ; and at the west end in an ob- long, the recess from the wall of the nave to the square tower being added to the square terminal of the aisle. The whole nave is ninety feet long by thirty in mdth, originally parted at two-thirds its length, or sixty feet, from its west end by a transverse wall — now no more — with a central or triumphal arch in the middle, corresponding to the large arch which leads into the eastern apse. Besides this central arch, the bases of whose piers I de- veloped by excavation some years ago, it had arched openings on either side with clear story windows above, corresponding and opposite to those at the east end. The walls of the nave between the west end and the extinct partition — sixty feet in length — con- sist, on either side, of four bays, the arches semi- circular, built with Roman tiles, or flat bricks of large dimensions, mostly in two courses, resting upon square imposts of the same material, set upon square piers of brick tiles and stone inter- mixed, more Romano. Above, on either side, are three clerestory windows, built in the same form, Init much narrower and smaller, not immediately HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 47 over the lower arches, but in the perpendicular between each two. They are constructed with a mixture of stone and fragments of bricks, as though all the whole bricks taken from a previous building had been exhausted in the construction of the lower arches, and none but these fragments remained to intermix with stone in the clerestory formation. That the Roman tiles used in this church were taken from a pre-existing Roman building is evi- dent, not only from their fragmentary character in the clerestory, and even in the piers and walls beneath, but also from the appearance of Roman mortar, of a different character from the rest, still adhering, and manifest some time ago, to one of the tiles ; but now, I regret to say, pointed over by churchwardens' over-careful direction. It is a reasonable presumption that the Romans had a station here of some importance, as there is a castrametation in the paddock adjoining the churchyard, and it is central in the line of the forts which have been traced on either side, from the Wash on the east to the Severn on the west of the island ; and Roman coins of Antoninus Pius and Carausius, and Roman urns have been dug up in the place. The reasonable conclusion 48 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. is that the Saxons of the 7th century rebuilt after the form of a provincial Basilica, or stationary Pretorium of the earliest and simplest type. Since this was written I discovered within the square tower the bases of circular columns which formed the propyleum to the Roman temple, or early Christian Church, after which this was built. I also discovered in one of the piers of the early Saxon arches a Roman eagle of the Assyrian type, built in by the Saxons, and evidently taken from an earher building, as having mortices in which some standard had been fixed. I at one time supposed that the clerestory was of a later date than the arcade beneath — that it had been either rebuilt or superimposed; and I regret having, I fear, misled Professor Willis to misconceive the dates. But now that the walls are scaled throughout the interior, I find them to have been built at the same time. The materials used, besides the Roman tiles, were principally the stones of the neighbouring beds, which belong to the lias formation. These beds consist of three courses, the upper a thin schale of calcareous and siHceous mixture, used principally in building dry walls and draining; the lower a thick sandy stone, impregnated more HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 49 or less with iron, and at the lowest part of a blue and more calcareous character, hardening more and more as it is exposed to evaporation, yielding, though with difficulty, at its first coming out to the chisel, but not capable of a level surface, or of being finely jointed. The intermediate course is highly ferruginous ; and for the most part perishes either with wet or frost, though some pieces are sufficiently weather-proof to be used in rubble masonry. And the masonry of this church is, for the most part, of a rubbly texture, strengthened at the corners with large rude blocks of granite, sandstone, and clay slate, transported from other strata ; and, as well as the rubbly stones, cemented together by a mortar as hardened as the stones themselves. There is also a kind of tufa or car- bonate of lime used in the upper arch of the square tower, but very sparsely mixed in this local bed. The lower walls are four feet thick, the cleres- tory narrowing from a set-off* on either side by several inches. The square tower is of the same massive charac- ter as the nave, with similar arches on its four sides — the largest to the west forming the original grand entrance to the building; a lesser one leading into the nave; and, on the sides, two 60 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. still smaller ones, leading into tlie western termi- nals, or apsidal chambers of the north and south aisles. Mr. Roberts contends for a later period to this porch than that of the nave, from some straight jointing which he perceived ; but on scaling the walls this is found to be but partial, and in consequence of some alterations in the original work. This running up straight joints, and bonding at intervals only, appears to be a Saxon mode, and answers to their method of bind- ing by wooden frames. Not only is the square tower bonded in with the nave, though at intervals, but the several diverse materials are worked up line for line in the one and in the other. The arches, too, are similar in their form and material, composed of Roman tiles as entire as those of the nave ; whereas, if the tower had been of a later date, there would not have been any whole tiles left for the construction of the arches : they would have had only fragments of tiles, like those re- maining in the clerestory. Moreover, the square tower was subject to the first alterations of which we have any e\ddence, that is in the year 870. For v/hen the round tower was then, or soon after, appended thereto, and pierced for archery, to protect the place against any fresh aggression HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 51 of the Danes, the semicircular arch in the east end of the square tower was shorn of its crown, to receive the three-Hght window with baluster shafts, as a substitute for the window in the west end, which had been closed up by the building of the round tower ; and the grand west entrance of the square tower was, at the same time, filled in, with the exception of a space for a smaller arch of entrance into the round tower, included within the greater arch. The north and south aisles, with their terminal chambers, were also of the same date as the nave, having their piers locked into the walls of the nave, between the piers of the nave arches. The eastern apse also was of the same date and style, with a string course of Roman bricks on the wall of the crypt, upon which the apse itself rested, and from which the vaulting of the ambu- latory sprang: this vaulted roofing resting on a low outer wall built to receive it. The appearance of buttresses to this apse has led some archseologists to suppose it a Norman structure ; but Sir Gardiner Wilkinson has shown that slight shafts pertained to the Saxon period, and the buttresses beneath were placed by me as a sub- stitute for the vaulting to support the walls above. 52 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. The next alteration that took place after the appendage of the round tower, and the insertion of the three-light baluster shafted window in the east end of the square tower, was the introduction of a late Norman doorway in the first arch of the nave on the south side, reckoning from the west, which infers the destruction of the south aisle before this period. I was at a loss to determine where this doorway could come from, till on scaling the wall at the east end of the church I found part of the rim of a late Norman arch, and a wall of the same period, forming part of a chapel, preceding the present Early English aisle ; and hence, no doubt, on the supersession of this chapel, came this door to the other end. Then followed the insertion of a transition arch in the next bay to this, the upper part of which I have preserved to view : for I think it right to preserve one specimen of each style that has been introduced up to the latest period. The present south aisle was next added in the Early English period, as a chapel for the family of Sir John de Verdun, Lord of the Manor, whose effigy I have just rescued from the barbarous treatment to whicli it had been subjected by being removed from its horizontal bed, and violently HISTOEY OP THE CHUECH. 53 thrust with his legs into the ground so as to break them off, and the head into the wall of the arched recess in which it was first laid. For access to this chapel, the smaller arch at the east end was cut out of the south wall of the choir ; and about fifty years afterwards the larger arch was opened, the difierence in the dates being evinced by the style of each. A small window also was inserted above in the same wall of the choir. Above the earliest of these arches I have laid open a Saxon clerestory arch, the lower part of which was cut away to receive the pointed one beneath. It would be about the same period in which this larger arch was made that the partition wall between the nave and choir, with its central triumphal arch, its side openings below, and clerestory windows above, all corresponding to those at the east end of the choir, was removed, and the present wide arch inserted to span the whole width of the nave and choir. Then followed the insertion of three decorated windows, one under the transition window in the second bay of the nave on the south side ; one in the third bay on the north side, and one at the west end of the choir on the same side. This last is preserved : the two former are removed as in- E 54 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. terfering with the restoration of the Saxon arcade, the one in the choir being sufficient to show the progress of alteration which the building has undergone by successive innovations. The de- corated window to the east of this in the same wall of the choir is only of twenty years' date, substituted at the rebuilding of that part of the wall, then in ruin, for a miserable little non- descript of a square form, which had been thrust into the wall at some late period. Then succeeded the insertion of two wretched windows of the perpendicular kind, one on either side of the nave, which have been removed from the arches in which they had been intruded to the regret of no one, and the joy of many. In the reign of Henry VI., the chancel must have been elongated, as the late east window would testify. Whether the original apse had remained entire up to this period, or had undergone previous mutilation, it is impossible to say. Luckily two sides of the outward polygon, with the outward parallel wall, and the corresponding part of the ambulatory, two recesses, and the original steps of descent remain, and the whole circular wall of the crypt upon which the apse was built ; so as to direct us rightly in the restoration HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 55 of tliis interesting portion of tlie original building. I have only to remark on the eastern wall of the nave or choir, that the noble central arch therein remains entire as originally built : but at the in- sertion of the screen the original piers were taken out to widen the entrance into the chancel, and wooden uprights and cross pieces substituted. When I came to reside I found the uprights decaying at the ground, and all in danger of falling. As soon as possible I removed these wooden props, and substituted brick piers, and had the satisfaction of finding the bases of the original piers, on which I erected their present successors. The two clerestory windows above are developed in the eastern wall which served to throw light into the choir ; and two similar clerestory windows in the opposite wall brought a further portion of light into that part of the church from the cleres- tory of the nave. Underneath these clerestory windows were arched doorways, those at the east end leading- down to the ambulatory, and at the west end into the choir from the nave. The only monuments of any interest to the E 2 66 HISTOEY OF THE CHITECH. antiquary, in this cliurcli, are, a stone slab, with an inscription in Norman French, early in the 14th century, to the memory of Adam do Taunton, vicar of the parish. A similar one to the memory of Simon Curteis, of the same period. The brasses have been removed from both, and the inscriptions, preserved in Bridges' History of the County, are wearing out. Another of the same kind and period, only partially decipherable, and I think to one Hugo — Query the Monk ? These three are in the floor of the nave. An e&igj of a Knight Templar — probably Sir John de Verdun — ^in an arched recess. A late altar-tomb to Lord Inverury in a similar arched recess. These two are in the south aisle. There is in the south aisle also a handsome oak screen of the 16th century. The market-cross has long been removed from the base which still remains ; and I have the upright shaft in which I think it was fixed — there are Saxon ornaments upon this shaft. REOPENING OF BRIXWORTH CHURCH. This venerable church, which has an historical authority, in the testimony of Hugo the Monk, as recorded by Dugdale in Iiis " Monasticon," for its origin in the latter part of the 7th century, and this testimony well corroborated by a succession of every style of architecture since imposed upon the building — the Later Saxon, Norman, Transition, Early English, Decorated, and Tudor — was on Wednesday, the 11th July, 1 866, reopened, after a thorough restoration : 247 additional free seats have also hereby been secured. The principal contributors have been Earl Spencer, Sir Charles Isham, Thomas Wood, Esq., of Brixworth Hall ; Joceline Watkins, Esq., of Calcutta ; and the Incorporated and Diocesan Church Building Societies. Special gifts for memorials and other purposes have been made or promised by the Earl of Kintore, General Lawrenson, and the surviving officers of the 14th Light Dragoons, to the memory of Lord Inverury ; Sir C. and Lady Isham, Charles Morris, Esq., Messrs. A. B. Markham, W. Shaw, of Cotton-end ; W. Roberts, of Albion-place ; Joceline Watkins, and the rest of the Vicar's family; and Messrs. Minton, Hollins, and Co. (whose beautiful encaustic tiles, generously presented by them for the floor of the chancel, were exceedingly admired). Very handsome kneeling cushions were worked by the Brixworth ladies for the Communion service, and two richly worked stools presented by Mrs. Attenborough, of Brampton Ash. 58 EEOPENING OF BRIXWOKTH CHURCH. The day for the opening was every thing that couhl be desired, and from 500 to 600 persons were present at either service. The preacher for the morning was the Rev. E. TroUope ; for the afternoon, the Rev. T. Yard — both accom- plished antiquaries and able divines. Their discourses were suitable and excellent, but that of Mr. Yard was imperfectly heard, and he did not appear in good health ; otherwise he is both audible and admirable in his discourses. The prayers were read by the Vicar, assisted by the Rev. H. James, Rev. R. Isham, Rev. G. H. Vyse, Rev. G. A. Poole, and the Hon. and Rev. A. G. Douglas, in reading the Litany and the Lessons. The blessing was given by the Vicar. The two collections amounted to 94/. The parishioners conceded the occupation of the seats to the public on this occasion. After the morning service about 200 of the gentry and clergy retired to the vicarage, and partook of refreshments under an awning on the lawn. — Sir C. Isham proposed the health of the Vicar, and spoke of the restoration as all that could be wished. — Mr. Watkins replied to the compliment with expressions of grateful acknowledgment to the gentry, clergy, and others of the neighbourhood, who had so kindly and generously assisted him in the work ; and particularly for the encouragement he met with from Earl Spencer, his constant friends Sir C. and Lady Isham, Mr. Wood, and his son in India, and concluded with proposing the health of Messrs. Trollope and Yard. — After the second service about 100 of the congregation partook of tea and other refreshments at the vicarage ; and in the evening the choir and others engaged about the church were entertained there to a supper. The principal inhabitants opened their houses and spread their tables witli hospitable entertainment to numerous friends and visitors ; and altogether the day passed over without default of any kind. The restoration reflects the highest credit upon the care and ability of Messrs. Slater and Smith, the architects, who have most assiduously, and with a leal love of their art, carried out the desires of the Vicar. Mr. REOPENING OF BRIXWORTH CHURCH. 59 Thompson, the clerk of the works, has also shown himself thoroughly acquainted with the principles as well as the tech- nicalities of his art. Mr. TroUope kindly took the company round the church between and after the conclusion of the ser- vices, and gave them an instructive lecture upon the building. Amongst the company we noticed Sir C. and Lady Isham and daughters, Sir C. Rous Boughton, Bart., and Lady Boughton, A. Boughton Knight, Esq., and Mrs. B. Knight, J. and H. Nethercote, Esqrs., and the ladies of the family ; — Orlebar, Esq., and Mrs. Orlebar, Capt. and Mrs. Stockdale, James Barry, Esq., Mayor of Northampton ; the Revs. G. H. Vyse, R. Isham, the Hon. G. A. Douglas, A. Bromhead, Kitchens, Montgomery, Poole, Sutton, Sanders, Dr. Gilford, T. C. Thornton, F. C. Alderson, Monkhouse, Houseman, Thos. Bull, Dalton, Rokeby, Roberts, J. Field, Parker, Lawson, Cookson, Casson, Day, Bailey, Harper, Knight, Evans, Newby, Clayton, Burnaby, &c., with ladies and children ; Messrs. Terry, T. Scriven, T. Butlin, &c. SPECIAL HYMNS, Composed b// the Rev. C. F. Watkms, for the Reopening of Brixworth Church. MORNING SERVICE. PROCESSIONAL HYMN. O Thou ! who art enthroned above. Where myriads serve with zeal and love. Look down on this our festal day ; While songs of joy, and hymns of praise To Thee in grateful strains we raise. And for Thy Blessing humbly pray. 60 EEOPENING OF BRIXWORTH CHURCH. Behold the portals, opened wide, Invite within the floAving tide Of eager votaries, hastening past To meet within this ancient fane, Worthy to be Thy House again, And for Thy Service meet at last. Do Thou a gracious hearing lend. While every voice is tuned to blend Devotion framed in harmony : Within their Common Father's hall. Noble and gentle, great and small, United wait to worship Thee. If we this new-raised temple mourn Of pristine glory robbed and shorn, Do Thou a greater lustre shed By coming now within her gates. That every soul on Thee that waits To Thy Salvation may be led. Amen. INVOCATIONAL HYMN. Great God ! who from Eternity's dark womb Didst birth and progress upon Time bestow, And bade it all material things consume By the strong action of its ceaseless flow : In favour Thou didst graciously ordain That on these walls his course should lightly press, Twelve centuries spare this aged hallowed fane. Respecting still where Thou still deign'st to bless. While we each outward waste of time repair, And, what man's hand had marred, will skill restore, Do Thou our inward souls preserve with care, Our hearts renew, and strengthen more and more : EEOPENING OF BRIXWORTH CHURCH. 61 That when this house of stone, and ours of clay, At length, by Time, in earth and dust are laid, We thence may rise to where there's no decay, And purer worship ever shall be made. Amen. ADMONITORY HYMN. Within this consecrated fane The voice of God and Nature hear ! With you they plead, and plead again From age to age, from year to year. Near forty generations, gone. Unto her holy font were brought, God's own adopted made anon. Whom Christ's own precious blood had bought. Near forty generations, too, Before the Altar here have gained His Blessing — sure to all who woo For that sweet love which He ordained. And all of that once infant race, And all of those thus wedded pairs Were brought again within this place Beyond their own and others' prayers. The thousand and two hundred years Like yesterday have passed and fled, Nor of those races one appears ; But all are vanished, all are dead ! Within and round about us lie Their bones and dust which, year by year, Still raise the soil, till, rising high. And higher still the mounds appear. 62 EEOPENING OF BRIXWOllTH CHURCH. But where are noAV the spirits found That once informed those heaps of clay ? They are not in that rising ground, But far in other worlds away. They Avho were deaf to God's blest word, And Nature's urgent plea refused, In wailing misery now are heard, And warn of mercies long abused. \ And they who here were timely wise, J And listened, and in faith obeyed, j Are now in that sweet Paradise j Which Christ hath for His people made. ' And we are hastening, like them all, j To join their dust and spirits too ; i Then list to God and Nature's call — ; The road the wise have gone pursue. Amen. EVENING SERVICE. ' INTRODUCTORY HYMN. ' i The gracious mandate hear ! It issues from above : The Bridegroom's voice is loud and clear, I And calls to thee in love. - Arise ! and shine again ! I Thy faded garb renew ! Rub off the rust, wash out the stain ! Assume a brighter hue ! No more in dust to lie With garment soiled and torn, To grieve the stranger passing by And bid thy children mourn. EEOPENING OF BRIXWORTH CHURCH. 63 An aged mother now — In youth of beauty rare — Right grand in fonn and face wert thou, With every feature fair. And though of some bereft, Thy stately form remains, And thou in Queen-like guise art left And reverence still pertains. Now all thy children bring ! To God their voices raise ! This day the Bridegroom and the King Should hear their joy and praise. Amen. THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHUECH. O Thou ! who earnest on earth to save. And built Thy Church to stem the wave ; Through tempest, storm, and time t'endure, Her strong foundations laid so sure. See ! beauteous stones by Prophets brought, More beauteous still the Apostles -vvi'ought ; That all the building raised on high Secure might rest, and force defy. Thy holy Word effulgence pours, And lighteneth all within her doors : From earliest dawn inspired, and still With clearer rays, to show Thy will, Till latest inspiration given, It opens wide the view of heaven. And leaves no mist to dull the sight Of blissful hope and glory bright ; 64 REOPENING OF BllIXWOHTn CHURCH. Thine own commissioned Pastors there Thy people lead in humble prayer ; And teach their tongues on high to raise The grateful strains of thanks and praise. Amen. Second Part. With promised pardon, firmly sealed, By the blest sign to man revealed Of that which bore Thy bleeding frame, They give Thy children place and name. And lead them on, from day to day, Beneath that banner, to the fray, Till fuller grace and greater strength Are, with Thy presence, gained at length, Where Thou dost of Thyself impart A share to every faithful heart, That those who here for Thee woiild die Conjoined with Thee, might reign on high. O blest communion, firm and sure To him who eats in faith, secure — Secure of grace and bliss divine — So rich is this repast of Thine. The strongest walls on earth will shake, Whene'er the earth may rock and quake, And human hands that build the wall May cause its stones to rend and fall. But none this Heaven-built house can shock, So built — so founded on the rock : Wide as the world, and unconfined To hold and shelter all mankind. Amen. SUBSCRIBERS TO THE RESTOEATION OF BRIXWOrJII CnilECE. Andrew, Rev. W. W. Attenborough, Mrs., and the Misses Weston Architects, the . . . Attenborough, Jas. Esq. Adnitt, Messrs. J. and S Argles, Rev. Canon Annand, Mrs. . . Ayres, Mr. . . . Atterbury, Mr. H. Archer, Mr. . . Archer, Miss . . Abel, Mr. . . . Allen, Mr. Thos. . Bishop, the late . Bishop, the . . . Brawn, Mr. . . Bateman, Lord Bevan, R. L. Esq. Beynon, Rev. E. F. Burghley, Lord Bigge, Rev. H. Bouverie, General Blencowp, J. Esq. Barkell, Mrs. (cards) Butlin, Mr. W. . Butlin, Rev. W. . Boyd, Captain . . Bull, two Misses . Bromhead, Rev. A. Biddies, .lacob, Esq. Barber, Mr., Hannin Barber, Mr., Moulton Birch, Rev. E. Bates, Mrs. gton £ *. d. £ s. d. 30 Church Building Society, Incorporated . . . 150 30 Ditto, Diocesan . . 100 10 Cave, Lewis, Esq. . . . 10 5 Cave, Mrs. L 10 5 Cox, Rev. R. H. . . . 2 2 5 Compton, Lord Alwyn . 2 1 Cleaver, Mr. and Mrs. . 2 2 2 2 Couchman, Rev. J. . . 5 1 Clarke, Mr. G. . . . 3 1 1 Concert, 1st . . • . 9 12 5 Concert, 2nd . . . IG 7 9 1 1 Crawley, Rev. H. . , . 5 2 2 Crawley, Miss Susan . . 2 Crowe, Rev. E. . . 5 20 Callis, Mrs. J 6 10 Curtis, Mr 1 lo Carpet, Old . . . 1 10 Casson, Rev. G. . . 3 3 CO Concert, 3rd . . . . 3 5 Commercial Traveller 5 5 1 Douglas, Hon. and Rev 5 G. A 5 3 3 Durant, Captain . . 5 2 2 Dolben, Mackworth,Esq 5 2 2 Dickenson, Mrs. . . 1 1 5 Dennis, Mr. . . . 1 1 2 Davys, Archdeacon . 5 5 Davis, Rev. J. . . . 1 1 2 Davis, H. Esq. . . 1 1 5 Digby, G. O. W. Esq. 5 1 Day, Mr., Old . . . 2 1 Davis, Mr:=. . . . . b 2 2 2 Elworthy, Mr. . . . . 20 (» 66 LIST OF SUBSCRIBEKS. Eady, Mr. F. Faux, J. Esq. . Flood, :Mr. . . Fisher, E. K. Esq Fitzhu;(li, Mr. . Fife, Captain . Friend , A . . Field, Rev. J. . Field, Rev. J. jun. Glasgow, Earl of Green, jNIiss Goode, ^lessrs. Goode, Mr. E. . Glover, Rev. J. II Gaylor, Mr. Gall, Rev. F. H. Goodday, Rev. S. Gage, Mr. S. . Gates, Brook, Esq Grant, W. Esq, Gubbings, Ann Gray, Mr.,Courtenhall Goodday, A. Esq. . Harper, F. L. E-q. Hewitt, Henry, Esq. Higgins, Messrs. J. K. Higgins, W. Higgins, H. Herrick,Mrs.,Beaunianor Hope, A. Beresford, Esq Harrison, W. Esq Howard, — , Esq. Hoey, Mr. . . Huntsman, Mrs. Hanbury, — , Esq. Howes, J. Esq. Hill, Mr., Commercial Isliam, Sir Chas. Bart. Isham, Lady . Isham, Dowager Lady Irby, Hon. and Rev. P. A Irby, Hon. Mrs Irby, Rev. G. Isham, Rev. R Interest . Ditto . . Ditto . . £ s. 1 2 1 10 25 15 15 2 1 2 2 10 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 10 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 10 5 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 5 150 15 5 5 5 1 1 :i 5 4 1 19 (I. 6 r, Ireland, Mr. , . . Judge, Spencer, Esq. Jones, Rev. Jonathan Jones. Mr Jeyes, P. Esq. . Jeyes, Mr. Frank . James, Miss £ s. d. :i 1 II a 1 10 2 Knightley, R. Esq.,M.P. 5 Kingsdown, Lord ... 10 Kintore, Earl of . . . 10 Kinsey, !Miss .... 2 Knight, Rev. R. . . . 1 Knight, Rev. J. . . . 2 Locock, the Family . . 6(? Lowe, — , Esq., Calcutta 10 Langham, Herbert, Esq. 10 Lawrenson, General, and Officers of 14th Lan- cers Lamport Charity Land . Lindsay, Siiencer, Esq. . Lovell, Isaac, Esq. Lovell, Isaac Edward, Esq Lovell, Thos. Esq. . . Lear, Rev. F Lynes, G. B. Esq. , . Markham, the Misses, Bessel Green, Kent . 8 Markham, E. Esq., Lon don Markham, Arthur, Esq. Markham, Henry, Esq. Marriot, G. P. Esq. . Montgomery, Rev. R. Montgomery, Wm. Esq Morris, Charles, Esq. Morris, the Misses . Nethercote, J. Esq. . Nethercote, II. O. Esq. Overstone, Lord . Offertory, the . Osborne, Thos. Esq. Opening, the . 21 15 I 2 ■ 2 1 1 1 1 Parker, Rev. E. 1 G 1 (► 3 13 G 5 3 10 5 10 00 5 03 5 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 67 Pell, Albert, Esq. . . Phipps and Son, Messrs J Phipps, Pickering, Esq. Pickering, IMr. J. . Pickering, Mr. B. . . Pownall, Rev. J. . Payne, Mr. Clia?. . . Peil, Mr. S., Ecton Loclgt Pierce, Mr. J. W. Robarts,A. R.Esq.,M.P Randolph, Admiral . Robarts, Mrs. . . . Revis, J. Esq. . Reeve, Mr., Guilsboroug Spencer, Earl, K.G. . Shaw, W. Esq., Cotton End Scrimgeour, J. Esq. . Sevmour, E. W. E^q. Smith, Mr. J. U. . . Sawbridge, Mrs. . . Sutton, Rev. F. . . Smyth, W. Esq. . . Stockilale, Capt. . Strickland, "Walter, Ksq Sanders, Rev. T. . Scott, G. G. Esq. Sharpe, Mrs. . . . Skipwith, Rev. R. Smith,Mrs.,Northanipto Stevens, Mr. W. . . Turnell, Mrs. . . . Thornton, Rev. J. C. Trotman, W. Esq. . Thompson, Mr. W. M. Tomaiin, Mr. jun. Tresslar, Mr. J. . . £ .?. d. 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 3 1 1 5 5 5 1 10 3 00 10 10 10 6 G 5 5 5 5 4 1 2 2 1 5 2 2 15 10 5 1 I I I 1 Vyse, Rev. G. H. . . Vyse, Col. E. H. . . Whewell, Dr. . . . Watkins, Joceline, Esq. Watkins, Rev. C. F. Watkins, Justinian, Esq Watkins, Miss E. Watkins, Rear-Admiral Watkins, Miss . . Windows, Tlie Family for Wood, T. Esq. . . Wood, ]\Ir. Charles . Walter, Mr. C. . . Wales, Rev. Chancellor Watson. Mr. , Harborough Woolcomb, Rev. W. Wilson, Miss . . Wallis, Owen, Esq. Watson, Hon. Mrs. Wickes, Rev. J. . Wright, J. W. Esq. Watts, Mr., Naseby Miss Watkins, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Flood, Miss Bates, Mrs. Harper, &c., by cards Loan from Public Works Loan Office . . . . £ s. d. 5 I 5 loO 50 10 10 2 53 210 5 2 5 2 3 1 5 1 1 1 2 2 1 35 191 18 10 Total £2,4 7(> Expended . . . £2,434 Memorial Windows . 53 £2,487 E.xpected further to receive about 70/. THE END. GILBEKT AND BIVINGTON, PBINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUAEE, LONDON. SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. M^ 7 J-, ^ « f\r^ 0iC2' --' zm' m NOM J^ 1 filRL 1 •lit L/ Form L9-4 THE LIBRARY tJNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA * r^n A XTr^ITT ira UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 3 1158 00906 087 A A 000 285 017 m m i; e^ !;{i "a m m ftt '(I «i! 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