Chancel arch

“ The chancel arch is modern, the carving of its caps being very delicate. On the north side the outline of the doorway, formerly leading to the rood loft, is still visible, and below, on the west side of the chancel wall, is a well-carved statue bracket of floriated character, which was transferred from the chancel, and on the south side a still older one, much plainer.
The east window of the chancel is said to be an enlarged copy of the east window of the neighbouring Haltham Church. ”

“ In the later period they are more richly molded than in the early part of the style: the chancel-arch especially is very much enriched; and the western side, facing the spectator when looking towards the altar, is generally much more ornamented than the eastern side. The chancel-arch at Iffley is one of the richest and best examples: where there is a central tower, as in that instance, both the tower-arches across the church are usually ornamented in the same manner; the side-arches, where there are transepts, are frequently much plainer, and often pointed. ”

“ The chancel arch springs from the massive round piers with cushion capitals (varying somewhat from the common Norm, form so styled) having square abaci. The arch is very lofty, and single, but has another square-edged member above, as a hood moulding, that on the western side being, as usual, the richest, but having been sadly defaced. On the eastern sides of the arch two half-round shafts descend to the pavement. Each of the stones composing this arch extends completely through the wall. In the chancel are a piscina (Dec.?) and a Tudor arch as if for a tomb ”

“ The chancel arch is lofty, the modern side columns having richly carved capitals. Some of the stones of the original arch were found built into the chimney of a cottage near at hand. The sittings in the nave, and the roof timbers, are of pitch pine. The base of the tower forms a roomy vestry. ”

“ The nave was used as the hall, the aisles were the quarters of the inmates, and the chancel was the chapel of the institution. Many of the main arches remain, and the details of the ornamentation and mouldings will repay careful study. At the west end is a very perfect piece of arcading. The large arch, seen above a low wall to the east, was the arch leading to the chapel; in exactly the same position as the chancel arch in a church. At each side of this arch is a lancet never pierced. ”

“ From the arched form of the stone it seems most likely to have been a chancel arch, a feature which would scarcely be expected in Scotland in the eighth century. The primitive church may, however, have been rebuilt, possibly in the tenth century, when a church with a chancel would more probably be erected, having the stone in question for its chancel arch. ”

“ All these openings are splayed outwards as well as inwards. The eastern wall of the tower can be seen from the inside of the present church, with its “long-and-short” quoining perfect to the ground, and with breaks in the masonry where the eastern annexe originally joined it. The arch which pierces it on the ground-floor—the chancel arch of the Saxon church—is very plainly treated with dressed jambs, impost-blocks, and voussoirs, but without any moulding. In the wall above is a single opening of considerable width, with rounded head, rather massive jamb-stones, and thin, flat impost-blocks. ”

“ Shipton church is a building of various dates, and so far has remained untouched by restoration. At its western end rises a weather-boarded bell-turret, while a coating of roughcast of a bright salmon-red tint lends an air of cheerful distinction to the exterior.
A plain Norman chancel arch, having a small arched aperture on each side, gives access to the chancel itself, built, as is recorded in Old English characters on a brass plate let into the wall, in the time of Queen Elizabeth: this . chauncell . was . reedified . and . builded . ”

“ This is said to have been a portion of a “minstrel pillar,” it is apparently Saxon, and is probably a relic from the original fabric. The chancel arch is of red and black bricks, in alternate bands, the capitals nicely carved in stone, supported by small serpentine columns. ”

“ The effect of the chancel, with its side arcade, its groined roof, and beautiful lancet window filled with richly-coloured old glass, seen through these three lofty arches, is very imposing. There is another curious fragment of stained glass, bearing the arms of Queen Anne of Bohemia and of Edward the Confessor and his wife, in the north aisle, and the chancel contains six stone walls{176} and a stone seat with a pointed arch, which were formerly used by the monks and prior of Christ Church, Canterbury. ”

“ The chancel is entered, under a circular cusped window, by a wide round arch, whose outer moulding is curiously carried by shafts with capitals set across the angle as if to carry a vaulting rib; in the chancel itself the walls are double, the outer having the plain square-headed windows seen outside, and the inner very elegant two-light round-headed openings resting on very thin and delicate shafts, with a doubly cusped circle above. The vault, whose wall arches are stilted and slightly pointed, has strong well-moulded ribs springing from the well-wrought capitals of tall angle shafts. ”

“ At North Witham the archway is low and narrow, and the arch is unmoulded; decoration is confined to the impost-blocks from which it springs. A wide space of wall is left on either side of the opening. When in the thirteenth century the chancel was enlarged, these spaces were pierced with wide pointed openings, presumably in order to give a better view of the altar from the body of the church. In north Yorkshire there are a large number of similar chancel arches, the narrowness and plainness of which have sometimes induced antiquaries to class them as Saxon. Saxon in affinity they may well be ”

“ The doors are chiefly in the west ends. Both square and round heads occur. Several have no rebates. (See Birsay.) St. Ola, Deerness, and perhaps Uya have no chancels, but all the rest have decided chancels. There is no instance of a chancel door. Orphir, Egilsey, The Ness, Culbinsbrough, Norwick, Kirkaby, and Colvidale have or had chancel arches equal in width to the chancels. In England this fashion rarely occurs; where it does it is late. It is constructively weak.{160}
Enhallow has a chancel arch with projecting jambs of about the English proportion. ”

“ The arch that supported the tower was forty-five feet in height, but I do not know how high the tower was which it supported. At last the key was found and we were admitted into the church. The chancel is still roofed, and here in these solemn ruins, watched over by the crows and the jackdaws, the few inhabitants still left assemble for mass. There is a rude wooden altar and a few pine benches; the ivy waves from the walls; the jackdaws caw querulously or derisively; the dead of the old race for centuries sleep underneath, and now in a chancel the remnant gather on a Sabbath. ”