NOTES ON

THE CHURCH OF ST. MARGARET, BUXTED.

BY THE REV. HENRY ROSEHURST HOARE.

THIS Venerable building occupies a sheltered nook in Buxted Park, in the shade of surrounding trees. In the olden time, when the parishioners were few, their habitations probably were scattered, in spaces reclaimed from the forest or the moor, so that their church found a place for itself in the immediate vicinity of the manor-house; and still it stands alone, unapproached by any dwelling save the adjacent hall. Like many of its sister buildings, it presents traces only of its former beauty; but these may be noted before they pass away, possessing as they do somewhat of historical interest.

The Church of Buxted, dedicated to St. Margaret, was till lately a peculiar of the diocese of Canterbury, but is now in the archdeaconry of Lewes, and in the deanery of South Malling. The patronage of the rectory still belongs to the archbishop. To this was appended the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Uckfield ("Buckstede cum Capellâ de Okingfield," according to the Lambeth Register); but some years ago this was detached and made a distinct parish.

Ground Plan.-This building consists of nave, north and south aisles, chancel, north transept, west tower, north and south porches. Excepting the chancel, it is mainly in the Early-English style of the date 1250; but, as many of the ancient features have been destroyed, it is more difficult to judge accurately of the period of erection.

Dimensions.

Nave. The nave is divided into four bays: on the north the piers are alternately circular and octagonal; those on the south all circular. The capitals are moulded, and the arches worked with plain chamfers. On the north is a clerestory of three square-headed windows of three lights. The roof is of high pitch externally within it is partially ceiled, and has moulded tie-beams carried on braces and wall-pieces. The entrance to the tower is by an arch with semi-octagonal jamb-shafts.

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North Aisle.-The original windows are gone; those now inserted are of the square-headed Tudor style, of two lights cinquefoiled, one on each side of the porch, and one at the west end. The roof slopes to the nave-wall.

Font.-The font is in the north aisle between the entrance

and the west window: it consists of a square bowl carried on four detached shafts and a central stem, upon a low plinth.

South Aisle.-The windows are similar to those on the north; at the west end is a small cinquefoiled light for the vestry. The doorway is of later date than the wall. The roof is a separate span, coved internally, and divided by purlines and moulded ribs.

North Transept.-The north aisle opens by an arch into the transept: the north window is large and of good proportions, but the mullions and tracery have been destroyed: the date is of the Early Decorated period, judging by the label moulding outside and inside. Of the east window there are traces on the outside. This transept has been used as a family

chapel, for in the east wall is a trefoil-headed piscina, well moulded, with a shelf in the upper part. The inner moulding is a roll with a square fillet, and the trefoil curves outwards: the label is pedimented, and the basin channelled in six grooves, now mutilated.

The transept has double buttresses at the angles, and a chamfered stringcourse, joining that of the chancel: the gable is coped, with a socket at the top for the cross.

Chancel. The chancel is large and of good proportions, and doubtless had a fine appearance in the days of its perfection. The north side is lighted by three windows: two of them are of three lights, trefoiled, the centre light reaching to the top of the arch. The window between these is a single light, unfoiled; within the sill on the inside rises the arch of the priest's door. On the south side are two windows, each a single light; that to the eastward is cinquefoiled, the other plain.

The east window is large, and a fine specimen of the Early Decorated period. It is of five lights, trefoiled; above each light is a pointed trefoil, and above these, ten quatrefoils, four, three, two, and one; those in the two lower rows are elongated in the lower foil. The mouldings are of two orders. The window is low in proportion to its width, and has, as also the others, the label moulding of the scroll form both on the exterior and interior.

There are no remnants of stained glass, excepting two or three quarries with leaves outlined.

In the south wall is a handsome piscina, 6 ft. 6 in. high, 3 ft. 2 in. wide; it has jamb-shafts, with moulded caps and bases; these latter are carried on bunches of flowers, with leaves spreading on each side.

The arch is cinquefoiled, with a label of the roll and fillet, pedimented.

Adjacent to the piscina is a wide depressed arch, formerly the canopy of the sedilia: at first sight it seems like a recessed tomb, but recent repairs have brought out traces of three seats, graduated. It is unusual to find a canopy thus embracing three seats without division. The altar steps abut upon the

1 This canopy is noticed in the Handbook of English Ecclesiology, p. 59.

eastern jamb: the jambs and arch are of the scroll moulding; the arch is crocketed like the piscina, and within, it is sevenfoiled by broad cusps with round finials.

A stringcourse of the scroll shape is carried along the chancel on each side, cut away from the east wall: a chamfered string undercut runs round the exterior. The coping of the gable is carried on hip-knobs of figure-heads, and ends with a finial in place of the cross.

The date of this chancel marks the rise of the Decorated style; for it is recorded that the builder was Sir John de Lewes, rector of the parish, in the year 1292.

My authority is Sir William Burrell's MSS., probably from the Lambeth Register, particularly that of Archbishop Peckham, to whose primacy the date in question belongs.

It is important to note the details of those buildings the dates of which are known, as they are guides by which we may judge in cases of uncertainty.

The original internal framework of the roof does not remain: it is coved in stucco, ornamented with panelling of squares, enclosing circles with central bosses; fleurs-de-lis occupy the angles. Along the cornice, in each panel is an urn, from which run festoons of leaves and bunches of fruit; tradition tells that these are intended to represent the hop-plant, and

that this stucco work was a thank-offering of Dr. Saunders, rector in the reign of Queen Anne, in consideration of an abundant yield of hops.

Here is an old miserere, or litany-desk, with a seat. The uprights of the desk are finished with poppy-heads.

South Chantry.-At the east end of the south aisle is a modern building containing the seats belonging to the hall. The east window, pointed, and of three lights, is filled with a picture in stained glass, of the Ascension, as a memorial of the late Earl of Liverpool, who died in 1852. On a scroll of brass beneath: "In vitro supra picto in memoriam optimi Patris Caroli Cecilii Cope, Comitis Liverpool, Monumentum piæ recordationis et luctus fieri fecerunt liberi ejus. A.D. 1853."

North Porch. The label of the outer doorway rests on mutilated figures of angels, holding shields curved inwards: that on the east side of the arch (and perhaps the other) formerly held a plate of metal, of which the outline and rivetholes only remain; the plate was doubtless graven with an inscription or coat of arms. The cornice of the roof is embattled, with a stringcourse below, at the angles of which are heads pierced for spouts, and in the centre a curious piece of carving-the half length of a woman, holding a churn in the left hand, and the handle in the right; this is evidently intended as the Rebus of the Alchorne Family, of whom pre

sently. Though it does not quite fulfil the conditions of the rebus, which require that all the syllables of the name should