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inspection of the exterior of the north aisle wall will shew, by the alteration in the courses of the stones, and by their size and materials, how far the existing walls date from the Decorated period, and where the late Perpendicular work commences. The plinth from the tower eastward was seemingly spared by the Perpendicular rebuilders, who either raised their walls upon it, or reset it upon a new foundation. The corner buttress eastward is Decorated, the next very recent, the next fifteenth century work, the next two modern, and the western corner one late fifteenth century. The parapet and flat roof are also of the same date.

Modern builders and restorers only are generally credited with a destructive vandalism, but a slight examination will shew that here the fifteenth century masons shared the same failing. A filleted fragment, probably of a mullion, and of Early English character, is built into the cill of the second window of the north aisle; while another fragment of tracery, taken either from a window or, possibly, from the canopy of a niche, is embedded in the south aisle, in the cill of the third window. The destruction of the body of the Decorated church was complete, and the builders of the existing nave and chancel utilized its stones in their rising walls. A portion of a window label, identical in shape with the label of the windows of the topmost stage of the tower, appears upon the exterior of the western wall of the north aisle, probably in its original position; but the window itself has been replaced by one of far later date, not quite in the same position. The stone-work of this window had become so decayed, that it was found needful to insert an exact replica in new stone, in 1895. The western window of the tower, although of the Decorated period, may yet not be the original one, as the tracery, carved out of a

single stone, which fills its head, has not been planned to fit the mullion with which it is connected.

A square recess is to be found in the western wall of the tower. This may have been an aumbrey or cupboard, intended to receive the requisites for the administration of baptism. Two other recesses -the one in the northern, the other in the southern wall-extend within the thickness of the wall for some distance eastward beyond their openings. These recesses have been grooved, as if to receive a shelf, but no satisfactory explanation has ever been brought forward, either of their peculiar formation or of the purpose which they were intended to serve. In the present clock room, where some massive corbels support the belfry floor, a curious funnel-shaped opening, of square section, pierces the eastern wall. This, now blocked up, would, if open, command a view of the chancel, and may have been intended to enable an occupant of the chamber to observe the celebration of the Mass, so that he might sound one of the bells at the fitting moment. On the southern side of the tower, between the tower arch and the recess, some faint vestiges were found, on the removal of the whitewash, of a flowing foliage pattern executed with some red material, and may yet be indistinctly traced. At some recent period a sloping mass of stone has been raised against the whole width of the south side of the tower, apparently as a buttress. A portion of the spire was blown down in the year 1802, and rebuilt. Its eyelet holes, and the initials of the churchwardens at the time, graven in a lofty position, may be referred to the same date. On the northern side of the tower is a gurgoyle, one of the grotesque imaginings in which the old masons occasionally indulged with a free hand.

SEPHTON CHURCH: THE TOWER ARCH.

H. S. OF L. AND C., VOL. XLVII.

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The north aisle, in the eastern and Decorated portion of its interior, contains in its eastern wall a piscina, or water drain, into which the ablutions of the vessels employed in the Mass were poured. This possesses two peculiarities; the one that its basins are not pierced nor connected with any drainage, the other that it presents the unusual feature of having two basins instead of one. It possibly had a shelf at the back, which has disappeared. Two holes in the wall above it-the one plugged with the remains of a piece of oak, the other with a stone-suggest the existence at one time of a bracket, possibly supporting the image of a saint. A few faint lines, scarcely visible, still remain upon a thin coat of plaster on the wall above the piscina, and indicate the former existence of a fresco painting. They suggest the folds of a trailing robe, but nothing further is decipherable.

Immediately below the eastern window cill, two other holes appear to have received the supports of an altar slab or shelf. On the removal of the whitewash, two loose stones were found to conceal a cavity hewn out of the thickness of the eastern wall on its northern side. This cavity, which was filled with loose fragments of clay, may have had a wooden aumbrey inserted in it. A recess in the northern wall contains the effigy of a knight, but the connection between the two is evidently accidental; the effigy is of far earlier date than the arch, which has been cut into in order to admit the figure. This recess, which has some peculiar mouldings, may have been intended either to cover a founder's tomb, or to serve as an Easter sepulchre, in which the Host was deposited from Good Friday until Easter Morning.

It is questionable whether the small doorway in the north aisle occupied its present place when

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