Bells of Laysters Church. The Church is dedicated to St. Andrew, and was virtually a chapel to Tenbury, and was appropriated to the Priory of Sheen by Henry V. (Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire, p. 166). Of the three bells two have inscriptions in ancient type, the other in Roman letters:-"I. J. Rudhall fecit, 1804. II. Sante Petre ora pro nobis. III. Sante Paule ora pro nobis." There is a strange tradition that one of the Layster bells was inscribed with the name of Julius Cæsar, and referring to this Mr. Price in his Leominster Guide (p. 326), 1808, says: "In the Church of Laisters, about five miles from Leominster, on the Tenbury road, is suspended a huge bell, having on it the words "Julius Cæsar," which the parishioners boast to be co-equal with the illustrious Roman of that name, who made Britian once ring with the fame of his military achievements. It is, however shrewdly suspected, by those who envy the exclusive possession of a relic of such remote antiquity, that an error has insensibly obtruded itself into the chronological computation of these honest, but unscientific farmers." Had such an inscription been verified, it would have set at rest the question, which is the most ancient bell in England; but after the most careful examination, no trace can be found of such inscription, traditionally said to be on one of the Layster bells. An old dame when told of this Julius Cæsar inscription, well remarked, "He must have been a very old churchwarden."

The Church of Middleton-on-the-hill is dedicated to St. Mary, and, therefore, as might be expected, the inscription on the first bell is :-"Sancte Maria ora pro nobis. II. Missi de celis habeo nomen Gabrielis." III. Eternis annis resonet campana Iohannis." The notes are C (bass), E, G (treble). It will be noticed that the two last inscriptions are Latin hexameters. And here we have a true ring of ancient bells, hanging to a frame which with them may have stood "the battle and the breeze" of five hundred years and more. Shall we not wish that they may still hang on in the old tower of St. Mary's, Middleton, as many years again-and more, still bearing their part with the other Church bells of our land in the joys and sorrows of our "Ringing Island?”

"Melodious tones! continue yet!

Sound on, thou sweet and heavenly strain."

Much more, of course, might be said about ancient Church bells, and I wish a more able hand would undertake the subject. I have read this-I fear very imperfect paper-only with a desire to draw the attention of the members of our Woolhope Club to the study of the Church bells in their several localities. Much has yet to be learned with respect to bells of an early date, as they are connected with a very important portion of English history; and very few parish records of the 15th century remain to assist the investigation. A careful examination of the shapes, inscriptions, forms of letters, ornaments, stops, and other devices of bells, especially shields, which sometimes occur, will help much to elucidate their history. It would be well, too, if members would assist in making a list much needed at present, of the bell inscriptions of Herefordshire.

Leominster bells :-"These bells were recast, and increased from six to eight, A.D. 1756, by a Mr. William Evans, of Chepstow, at a cost of £216 16s."

They bear no inscription beyond the names of the parish officers for the time being; and one of them rings out, "Prosperity to the Church of England." The weight of the tenor bell is 25 cwt., and the key note is E flat. It is four feet across the sound bow.-The Rev. G. F. Townsend's Town and Borough of Leominster, p. 247.*

*From page 46 of the pamphlet published in 1873, at Hereford Times Office by Mr. John Lloyd, being "Papers relating to the Navigation of the Rivers Wye and Lug," we find the interesting fact recorded that "in the year 1750 the bells of the Parish Church at Leominster, on the occasion of their being recast, were conveyed to and from Chepstow the whole way by water along the Lug and Wye, though, it is said, with various mishaps, and in the face of many difficulties."-ED.

MIDDLETON-ON-THE-HILL

CHURCH.

By Rev. P. J. OLIVER MINOS, M. R.A.S., F.E.I.S.

THIS Church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. It is of early foundation, the nave being originally Saxon, with Early Norman restorations and additions. The square chancel is Early Norman of the 11th or 12th century, and the square tower is of 13th century Norman architecture, with additions above of a later period. The nave is forty-five feet long, each side of the square chancel is twenty-two feet, and each side of the square tower twenty-five feet nine inches. The tower is fifty-five feet high. The walls of the chancel are three feet, those of the nave five feet, and those of the tower six feet, thick. The nave is the oldest part of the Church. Evidences of Saxon architecture are exhibited in the south doorway, the font, and perhaps the chancel-arch, and the small narrow, round-headed windows. With reference to the south doorway, the ornaments on the arch are projecting, not carved flat on the surface of the stone. Can such an ornament as here exists be strictly called "zigzag," or would it be Early Norman? In the Science and Art Museum, Edinburgh, a similar ornament is labelled, if I remember correctly, Roman, in the example of a model of a Church in Kent. Observe the absence of hemispherical decorations on the highest rim of the arch; also the absence of continuous decorations under the arch. There are here no triplets separated by broad grooves. The mouldings on the side are unique, and indicate their Saxon origin. This so-called "pellet" moulding is found rarely on pure Saxon (or Saxon Norman) works, and they differ totally from those on the north doorway, which is Early Norman. The font is massive and plain, thirty-six inches high, the bowl having a circumference of ninety inches, and a depth of sixteen inches. It stands on an un-ornamented round pedestal. A line is cut round the upper part of the bowl, a round moulding surrounds its base, above which is a three-fold Saxon ornamentation representing "cloven tongues of fire." Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock, F.S.A., in a letter, says, "The font which you have drawn is probably of Saxon work, although it may be Norman. The form is a very Early one." The double chancel-arch is semi-circular, with a span of eight feet and a height of ten feet eleven inches, and has a narrow, round-headed niche just above the centre. The arch is free from ornament; the piers have carved mouldings, which have not been carried out over the whole length, but terminate abruptly. The following is an extract from a letter from the Hon. Secretary of the British Archæological Association :-"You sketch a very Early chancel-arch. With so much ornament elsewhere, it is curious that none is found on the arch, where ordinarily some amount of decoration was bestowed. This may be portion of an earlier fabric. The little niche once probably contained a statue or basrelief of a single figure." The chancel-arch is double, that is to say, a narrow arch of twenty-four inches within a wider arch of thirty-six inches. Such arches are to be found in Lillebonn Castle, in Normandy, where William the Conqueror decided

upon the invasion of England. This coincidence need not astonish us when we call to mind the person of Edward the Confessor, who had been educated in the Court of Normandy, and who was Norman in all his tastes and predilections. He brought with him to England many natives of Normandy, who undoubtedly leavened all foundations of learning before the Norman Conquest. Churchbuilding received an impetus under him, he being more of the priest than the King; consequently its architecture inclined towards the Norman style owing to the influence of the age and the superintendence of Norman priests. Hence we may account for Saxon arches (before the Conquest) resembling Early Norman arches. The small, narrow, round-headed windows in the nave, with external dimensions of thirty-six inches by eight inches, are at a height of ten feet eight inches from the ground. Internally the jambs splay deeply. Only four of these windows are now to be seen; probably they were originally six in number. The smallest window, twenty-eight inches by six inches, in the chancel, was discovered in 1890. Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock says:-"The small narrow windows with round heads are also usual in Norman works, but I have just come from a Church in Kent, which I am having repaired (in my capacity of architect), where we have found a similar window cut through by an Early Norman arch, showing that the window is of earlier date still." This establishes two things, namely, (1) that small narrow round-headed windows are Saxon, and (2) that these Saxon windows were placed very high in the wall. The north doorway is a beautiful example of architecture, with ornaments clearly Early Norman. Observe the well-finished "zig-zag " lines and grooves, the use of hemispherical ornaments at the upper and lower ends of the arch, the triple zigzag separated by broad grooves, and the design carved under neath the arch. The mouldings are of the well-known and curious "star" pattern, and they correspond in form with the chancel mouldings, with the exception that they are single instead of double. In the chancel the only evidence of Early Norman architecture is in the recently discovered smallest narrow round-headed window. This window is lower than those of the nave, being externally at a height of Sft. 8in. and internally 5ft. 8in. from the ground. Observe the beautiful lotus-shaped double piscina in the south wall, also the rudely-formed oblong opening reesmbling a cabinet, its base and roof each formed by a flat stone slab, and a similar cavity on the opposite wall. With reference to the massive square tower, apparently out of proportion, from the external view, to the nave and chancel, observe that the first and second storeys have lancet windows, and the third storey has broad pointed-arch windows. The interesting parts of the tower are-1, thickness of basement walls, 6 feet; 2, lancet windows, 54 or 60 inches by 6 inches; and 3, inserted figures on the south outside wall of the second storey. Of these two figures one is headless; the other looks like a maneless lion. These may have been targets for the archers. The lancet windows are of the 13th century, temp. Henry III. During this reign civil war between the king and the barons raged fiercely; rivalry of the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester divided the barons, and their partisans took up arms. The Earl of March renewed the war in Wales. Doubtless, these were very troublous times. Being in an exposed part of the country, and between the fires

of contending parties, would it be unreasonable to suppose that the tower was built as a defence? Such things have happened elsewhere. If this view be correct, it would account for its massive proportions and its narrow lancet windows. In more peaceful times the third storey was added for the three pre-Reformation bells. I cannot leave the tower without drawing your attention to the old ivy trunk over ten feet in circumference. Botanists give an average increase of one foot in circumference of an ivy trunk in fifty years; upon this estimate the trunk would be about 500 years old; that is to say, about the age of the older portion of the tower. Lastly, I will ask you to look at the buttresses. Knowing the walls to be thick and strong, these flat buttresses (slightly inclining upwards) would be ornaments. There were no buttresses in Saxon times; only very flat ones in Norman buildings.

Silver Chalice and Paten of 1721, and they were probably made by S. Paulin (information supplied by the Department of Science and Art, S. Kensington, S. W., on 5th Sept., 1892). Weight of Chalice, 94 oz., Paten, 3 oz. Parish Register containing affidavits of burials in wool in compliance with an Act (30 Car. ii., cap. 3) passed in 1679.

Parish Charities of over £30. Now called by "Unknown Donors," but the stone with names of donors is locally said to have been buried by a churchwarden. Since writing the above paper the Rev. P. J. Oliver Minos has supplied the following notes:

Consecration Mark.-On Wednesdays and Fridays, before and after the hours of prayer, I am in the habit of scrutinising the architecture, &c., of the Church. About three weeks ago I accidentally noticed the form of a chalice on the north wall under the chancel arch. I had previously noticed vermillion marks of fresco on the north and south walls under the arch, but these were so imperfect and faint (through hurried removal of plaster in course of restoration) that I never sought for forms or designs. Watching the said form under different lights, I was convinced that it was that of a chalice; however, as a test, I showed it to parishioners and visitors, who unanimously pronounced it "chalice form." Very near it is to be seen another form resembling a sacramental wafer. Knowing that to consecrate a Church without a celebration of the Holy Eucharist is to sacrifice much of the impressiveness and beauty of such a service, the Christians of an earlier day were wont to commemorate the event by either engraving or painting the form of a chalice or of a cross in a circle (representing a sacramental wafer magnified). Such a mark the chalice form discovered in Middleton-on-the-Hill Church probably is. The wafer is more likely to be part of the fresco design than a consecration mark, seeing that it is so near the chalice. The form of the chalice (7in. high) is unique in simplicity.

Originally fresco, now appearing as wall-painting.—In December, 1892, I discovered on the right pier of (or wall under) the Chancel-arch, higher than the consecration mark and on the highest left-hand stone facing the observer, two croziers (pastoral staves) addorsed under one mitre. This I took as an Episcopal Emblem; however, on a subsequent study of the (private) coat-of-arms of the Bishops of Hereford, I find that Bishop Spofford's exactly corresponds to the