VII.
MURAL PAINTINGS FORMERLY EXISTING IN LINGEIELD CHURCH.
My dear Sir,—In sending you the tracings of some mural paintings from the fine church of Lingfield, in Surrey, I regret that my very limited knowledge of archæology does not enable me to offer any observations of interest.
All I can record is, that in the year 1845 I was employed on the partial restoration of the fabric, when the roof, the walls, and the decayed tracery and glazing of some of the windows were restored and repaired under my professional superintendence.
The church was built in the reign of Henry VI., and being a collegiate church, is much beyond the usual size of parish churches in this part of England: it is all of the same period, and consists of a nave and two aisles, with a tower on the south side; and contains in the interior several fine tombs and brasses.
In restoring the plastering on the walls, I found in all parts of the church traces of mural decoration, and evidently of two or three distinct periods, overlying each other, the more recent consisting of texts of Scripture surrounded by scroll borders, so far as I could judge, not earlier than the end of the seventeenth century; but they were nearly all mere fragments, and the only examples which appeared to me of interest, were those
