Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/206

158 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. ing arms : Quarterly, 1 and 4, a chevron between 3 escallops ; 2 and 3, a chevron between 3 castles, and a crescent for difference, (? Bromwich, of Wilts.) The same two bearings occur impaled, on and in the chapel, with the following : a chevron between three demi-horses, or some like animal dimidiated per pale ; and on scutcheons supi^orted by angels, at the returns of the hood-mouldings of the Avindows, appear bars and escallops, much decayed and scarcely distinguishable. This chantry belongs to the lord of the manor, and is repaired by him : it had an altar, and the trefoiled piscina still remains. The architecture is debased Perpendicular, with square windows, the heads cinquefoiled : the masonry badly executed. On each side of the altar in the church of Charlton there is a bold moulding, of Perpendicular character, forming a sort of shelf or bracket, measuring about 4ft. Sin. in length, and 7 f in. in width. That on the north side has the top-stone pierced, as if for serges, with eight holes, (four and four,) the biacket on the south side has one less, (four and three.) These projections are 3 ft. 6 in. above the floor of the chancel, and the principal hollow of the moulding is enriched with roses, the Tudor flower, foliage, &c. Between these brackets there is a space measuring 6ft. 8 in.; they appear evidently to have been additions to the older fabric, as was also the piscina on the south side of the altar, the mouldings and ornaments being similar to those of the brackets. This church had already been brought under the notice of our readers, as supplying an example of the curious perforations technically termed squints^. In reference to the remark then made "that the squints would appear to have been originally carried across an external space," Mr. Wilton states that this could not have been the case. " The chapel and tower are of the same date, though the church is older ; the same masoniy, the mould- ings continued from the chapel to the tower-door, the same arms in the spandrils of the porch door as in and on the Chancey chapel ; the squint therefore was only made about the year 1524. It appears meant to enable a person in the porch, which is under the belfry, to see the elevation of the host, and know when to ring the sacring-bell. There was another entrance to the church at the west end ; and, as the nave and chancel are of equal , width, the high altar was visible from all parts ; the inner squint through the wall dividing the Chancey chapel from the nave was alone necessary to open the view of the high altar from that chapel ; whilst the communica- tion with the belfry-porch appears clearly to have had reference to ringing of bells. Are not the uses of squints defined to be twofold, by examples like these, either to open communication and give facility for ringing the bell at the elevation of the host, or to render the high altar visible to persons otherwise excluded ? If the one use is unnecessary, as at Charlton, from the form of the church, the second purpose is answered; or, where there is no connexion between the squint and the bell-tower, its use to some part of the congregation is apparent: perhaps also the other purpose may be found combined therewith, if search be made for the place where a bell-cot, d Archaeological Journal, vol. iii. p. 308.