Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/18

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
2
TONG CHURCH, SALOP.

range of pier-arches in the nave, which will presently be noticed, should lead us to suppose that the architect of the new edifice took advantage of as much of the old work as suited his purpose.

The ground on which the building stands is not perfectly level; and it is terraced up by a wall to the north and west; that this was done at the time of its erection, or previously, appears from the ruins of a part of the college, which stand below the terrace to the westward, and very close to it; the highest part of these, which are the full height of the ground story, would scarcely reach the level of the church floor.


South east Pinnacles of the Chancel.
The church consists of a fine chancel, a central tower, and a nave; with aisles extending from the western front of the building to the eastward face of the tower; a south porch, and a vestry attached to the north side of the chancel. The nave and chancel are of about the same height, that is, their roofs are nearly on the same level; but the base-moulding, which runs round the whole, is varied in its level by several breaks, being considerably lower in the west than in the east front. This, as well as the string-course under the windows, is uniform throughout, except in the additional chapel. Both ends are finished with an embattled parapet, instead of a gable, the central battlement being raised in two stages, so as to suit the pitch of the roof, which accordingly is very low. In fact the only gable in the church is that of the vestry, which has almost as low a pitch as it is possible to give. The parapet of both chancel and nave is embattled, and has pinnacles of a square section, with delicately embattled horizontal strings, (instead of gables or canopies,) their faces being set cardinally. They are not crocheted but have a well-executed finial. This kind of pinnacle is in excellent character, and well suited to the building. The nave has no clerestory, the roof of the aisles rising up to the string-course under the parapet. The aisles themselves have no parapets, and their coping at the end is finished in the usual manner, viz., by a plain slope corresponding with the roof; but there has been a large pinnacle at each of the western angles. The