MILTON.

THIS magnificent edifice has been passed by and only noticed by a few members of the Kent Archæological Society on the railway journey to the Isle of Sheppey, both in 1870 and 1896. From whatever point viewed, whether on the summit of the chalk range or from the marshes in which it is situated, the grandeur of its mass is remarkable. Like all the early churches round Sittingbourne, there existed a single transept added very soon, and in most cases, with the exception of St. Michael's, this became eventually absorbed in an aisle, the end wall now alone remaining. It is evident at Milton that the lofty nave and part of the chancel belong to a class of church contemporary with Sheppey Minster and a few others.

The following characteristics are noteworthy :—

There are lofty walls, containing regularly-laid Roman bricks from a large building known to have existed further north, for the excavation of which, however, permission was not granted when the churchyard was enlarged: also square-headed windows with wooden lintels and shutters, and a total absence of any distinct Romanesque-Norman features, although diligently searched for by trenching and other methods during 1889. The wooden lintels were all removed in the fifteenth century. The plan consists of nave and chancel, which may be the Saxon church, a south aisle and chancel divided from the older part by a range of pillars of middle-pointed design in the nave, and a pair of arches with an unusually lofty pillar of the same character between the chancels; a little sacristy, added on the north side evidently just before the fourteenth-century enlargement of the old church, is curious as still having preserved lintels and shutters to its pointed windows, and a singular window with a bracket in its gable, which was uncovered partially by the writer. But the glory of the whole is the western tower of the nave, begun with good footings (which are absent in the old early walls) in the time of

Edward III., and completed in about twenty years. The openings throughout are all thirteenth-century work re-used and fresh worked, as with the exception of the western portal and window the architect entirely depended upon his sets-off at the various stages and great size for distant and near effect. This is the largest parochial tower in the county, and now makes a fine galilee to the nave. The portal is well recessed and possesses a traceried canopy, a cast of which can be seen in the Crystal Palace, but tacked on to an arch of different character to its own, which is misleading.

The northern windows of the nave and chancel are all now four-light internally segmented headed fifteenth century, but it is quite evident that they are simple enlargements of squareheaded openings with oak lintels. The windows of the south aisle are all fourteenth century; those in the Norwood chancel are all mis-restored, prior to 1889. The large window in the nave aisle is mongrel-Gothic; it replaced a sixteenth-century opening; but there can still be seen the rear arch of the fourteenth-century window in the centre of the old transept wall, which shews itself within and without by breaks in the line of the masonry, and having a lead flat over it instead of a plain tiled gable roof. The west window of the aisle is reticulated, and was very carefully mended in situ by Mr. Grant of Sittingbourne, who in 1889 acted as Architect, and redeemed the whole building from the decrepitude and filth of two centuries. Two low side windows were at the same time fully exposed by the writer; they lighted little chantry chapels enclosed by screens in connection with the great roodscreen; traces of painting exist, and a little piscina and the hinges for the usual shutter remain in the southern example.

The chancel roof is open, and of fourteenth-century date. The nave roof is also of about the same date, and has crossed struts over the collar-beams, which, when seen open from end to end, are very fine. Unfortunately, proper treatment was not allowed to be carried out in the roofs in 1889. The Norwood chapel roof is modern, and without interest. The gable has been heightened in brick. The history of the division between the chancel and nave is interesting, and bears