THE CHURCH.
The church being occupied by the parliamentary forces when they stormed the castle, was almost entirely demolished by the cannon of that fortress.
The part now remaining, is situated a short distance north of the scite of the castle, and consists of a tower, and a part appropriated for public worship, which was once the southern aisle of the original edifice. It is built of sand stone, and if the delicate tracery of its windows be excepted, it contains but little architectural beauty. These windows were once ornamented with richly stained glass of which not a fragment is now remaining. [73]
There is yet preserved in this church the mutilated remains of an embroidered cloth for the communion table, said to have been wrought by one of the Duchesses of Lancaster.
Two chantries, which formerly were attached to this church, were suppressed at the dissolution of religious houses, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Henry the eighth.
The rectory is in the presentation of Lady Eyre of Mortlake, in Surrey.