In order to preserve the tower from falling, of which it exhibited symptoms, iron bars, with nuts and screws, have been fixed across it, so as to hold its walls together; two of the nuts are on its east side, as shown in the engraving. [14a]
The tower has one window on the east, one on the north, and one on the south side; and it has had a door with a pointed arch on the west, which is now built up. The second floor is singularly furnished with a fireplace, having a chimney formed within the thickness of the wall, and opening outside of the western window of the bell-chamber.
The chancel is used for divine service on the Lord’s day. It is separated from the ruinous nave by a comparatively modern wall. In a vault on the north side of the chancel, is the place of interment of the family of Andrew William Corbet, Esq., of Pimley and Sundorne. A handsome monument to the memory of John Corbet, Esq., is erected in the chancel on its north side, behind which is the arch of a doorway visible from the exterior, now built up, but which has evidently been formerly an entrance into the chancel. A railed enclosure adjoining it, shown in the engraving, [a/][14a] contains the entrance to the vault of the Corbets. On its south side, not far from the altar, are three sedilia, with plain Gothic arches; and the one furthest from the altar is in a great degree filled with a much mutilated and whitewashed oaken image of the Virgin Mary [14b] with a figure in her lap, representing the dead Christ, which seems as if it had been brought there from some other part of the church. Mutilated as the figure of the Virgin now is, there still remains an expression of sorrow in the face.
A large plain piscina is in the wall between the sedilia and the altar, but partly concealed by the wooden back of a seat.
The east or altar window is handsome, and of the Perpendicular Gothic style, and is of five lights below, with a transom; and the handsome tracery of the upper part, will be best understood by a reference to the engraving, which gives a correct view of the east end, and part of the north side of the church. The window has some stained glass, much injured and dilapidated, which contains, amongst other designs, two crowned heads, a male and a female, seemingly of considerable antiquity, but well executed by the artist; and close to them, a human head in a dish, near to which the point of the blade of a scimitar appears, and which are said, and as I believe with truth, to represent the head of John the Baptist brought to Herod and Herodias. Some imperfect escutcheons of arms, with various quarterings, are also there. The stained glass also contains representations of the patera, cup, and wafer; and underneath is a faint representation of the crucifixion; and in another place in the window, a hammer and a nail are exhibited, apparently in allusion to the crucifixion. Underneath is part of a mutilated inscription in old English characters, commencing with the words, “Orate pro animabus Rogeri.” It also contains a monogram, which seems to be a combination of the letters in the name “Maria.”
In the stonework on the outside, immediately before the east or altar window, is a niche surmounted by a Gothic canopy, in which still stands, although a good deal impaired by time or violence, the statue of Henry IV., about half the size of life, in armour, with the remains of a crown on his head, and a dagger hanging on his right side; his right hand once sustained a sword, but it is now gone.
There are two windows on each side of the chancel, of which the mullions and general appearance bear a resemblance, though not quite the same, to those of the nave, and might be thought to be of a more modern date, if the whole of the fabric and the appearance of the stonework did not strongly convey the impression of all having been erected at the same date; in fact the style and appearance of the church, are just what might be expected in one erected early in the fifteenth century.
In the chancel is a handsome large modern stone font, with ornaments in the Gothic style, which supplies the place of the ancient one, of which some stonework lying within the tower, formed part. There is a small cemetery still in use for interments on the south side of the church.
On each side of the exterior of the chancel, and nearest the east end, are dripstones, as if intended for the arch of a window, carried up nearly but not quite to a point, and with the stones ready jointed, as if for the purpose of breaking out an additional window on each side of the chancel, without disturbing the walls; but I think it is quite evident, from the appearance of the stonework, and from the dripstones for the contemplated windows or arches not having been carried up to meet at the top, that no window ever existed in either of those places; and that the intention of so singular a preparation by the architect, may have been, to add at some future time, side chapels, such as are often seen in ancient churches, and are known to have been added subsequently to the erection of the churches.
The ceiling of the chancel is modern, and is plastered and whitewashed, and supported by modern incongruous-looking pillars.