But his most singular fancy was with respect to the chevron ornamentation on the arcade. When first I visited the church, I exclaimed at the beauty of the zigzag moulding.
“Zigzag! zigzag!” echoed the vicar scornfully. “Do you not see that it is near the font that this ornament occurs? It is the ripple of the lake of Genesareth, the Spirit breathing upon the waters of baptism. Look without the Church—there is the restless old ocean thundering with all his waves: you can hear the roar even here. Look within—all is calm: here plays over the baptismal pool only the Dove who fans it into ripples with His healing wings.”
The font is remarkably rude, an uncouth, misshapen block of stone from the shore, scooped out, its only ornamentation being a cable twisted round it, rudely carved. The font is probably of the tenth century.
The entrance door to the nave is of very fine Norman work in three orders, but defaced by the removal of the outer order, which has been converted into the door of the porch. Mr. Hawker, observing that the porch door was Norman, concluded that his church possessed a unique specimen of a Norman porch; but it was pointed out to him that his door was nothing but the outer order of that into the church, removed from its place; and then he determined, as soon as he could collect sufficient money, to restore the church, to pull down the porch, and replace the Norman doorway in its original condition.
The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. A little stream runs through the graveyard, and rushes down the hill to the porch door, where it is diverted, and carried off to water the glebe. This, he thought, was brought through the churchyard for symbolic reasons, to typify Jordan, near which the Baptist ministered. The descent into the church is by three steps. “Every church dedicated to John the Baptiser,” he said in one of his sermons, “is thus arranged. We go down into them, as those who were about to be baptised of John went down into the water. The Spirit that appeared when Christ descended into Jordan hovers here, over that font, over you, over me, and ever will hover here as long as a stone of Morwenna’s church stands on this green slope, and a priest of God ministers in it.” The south arcade of the nave is much posterior to that on the north side. One of the capitals bears the inscription:—
THIS WAS MADE ANNO MVCLX4 (1564).
Another capital bears:—
THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.
It has been put up inverted. The arcade is rich and good for the date.
Of the same date are the carved oak benches. A few only are earlier, and bear the symbols of the transfixed heart on the spear, the nails and cross. These Mr. Hawker found laid as flooring under the pews, their faces planed. The rest bear, on shields, sea-monsters. There was a fine oak screen very much earlier in style than the benches. When Mr. Hawker arrived at Morwenstow, the clerk said to him: “Please, your honor, I have done you a very gude turn. I’ve just been and cut down and burned a rubbishing old screen that hid the chancel.”