143 AN ACCOUNT OF THE Church of Biddeston St. Nicholas, Wilts. By E. W. GODWIN, ESQ., Architect. HE village of Biddeston although comprising the rectory of St. Peter with the vicarage of St. Nicholas, possesses only one Church, the older foundation, (that of St. Peter,) having been destroyed some years since, so completely, that now not one stone stands upon another, and indeed, not one relic of it I believe exists except the turret, which, slightly altered, stands in the garden attached to Mr. Scrope's house at Castle Combe. The Church of St. Nicholas consists of a Nave, Chancel, and South Porch, with a bell turret over the Chancel Arch. A second Chancel was added some years since, which has at first sight an ancient appearance, from being built of old materials. It is evident that a Church was erected here in the 12th century. All that now remains of it is the inner doorway of the Porch, the Font, and the lower part of the bell Turret. It is this latter feature which attaches such peculiar interest to the little Church at Biddeston. For being of that picturesque form which, to use the words of the Rev. J. L. Petit, "has at first sight the appearance of steeples, whose substructure affects the ground plan of the building," of which examples are to be seen at Leigh Delamere, Corston, Acton Turville, and West Littleton; and, being also of a date far anterior to any existing specimen, it cannot fail to be of more than ordinary value. The method of its construction proves on examination to be remarkably simple. The wall is first crossed by a block of masonry projecting, in the form of a corbel, east and west; upon these two corbels and upon the tabling of the wall rest (oblong planned) piers, with a kind of nook shafts or moulded angles, which piers give support to the cardinal sides of an octagonal spire or conical roof, the diagonal faces being supported by small convex corbels which spring from each side of the four piers. The whole is then strengthened by being divided by a stone partition running east and west. I would remark here that the spire is of much later date than the other part of the turret, probably of the 15th century. The Doorway (plate II.) with its simple square head and arched tympanum, upon which is carved in low relief the well known form of the Norman cross, is unfortunately deprived of its shafts, and is so completely coated with whitewash that the carving on the capitals, which still exist, and on the circle surrounding the cross can with difficulty be determined. The last example of Norman work, the Font-is equally simple in its character. It is of an inverted conical form, with a single chevron surrounding the upper part, and is painted in imitation of granite. The Chancel has an "Early English" lancet window north and south, a two-light "Decorated" low side window in the south-west corner, and a blocked up lancet window of the same date in the north wall; the latter has had an ogee trefoiled head, but the cusps have unfortunately been cut off. The west window of the Nave, which now answers the purpose of a doorway to a gallery, has a returned hood-moulding of a sectional form indicative of "Decorated" work. It appears to have consisted of three lights, but the jambs and arch are all that now remain. The reparation of this window, and the removal of the unsightly screen and steps before it would, at a very little cost, annihilate the only egregious barbarism the exterior of the Church presents. The interior of the Church possesses nothing of interest beyond the Font already noticed, a north doorway partially blocked up (having a very bold "Early English" hood-moulding with the returns broken off), and the Chancel Arch. This, though of a semicircular form and of a thickness equal to that of the wall which supports the turret, is moulded in the style of the 15th century, which circumstance would seem to indicate that either the old Norman arch has been soffit-cased, or that the wall has been carefully shored up for the insertion of this later arch in the exact position of the old one which from decay or defective workmanship |