stitutions were not very numerous, and it contained but few of any consequence; and nowhere, with the glorious exception of the cathedral church, have they more utterly vanished from the earth. That, however, hardly belongs to Northamptonshire; it is but a stone's throw from the border, and belongs to that grand series of splendid abbeys, extending throughout the fen country, of which no other is within the limits of the county. Nor can its architecture be said to have greatly influenced that of the smaller churches. For this reason, among others, this magnificent fabric will form no part of our consideration this evening. Its history and its architecture, the solemn majesty of its interior, the pride of Northern Romanesque, the surpassing splendour of its portico, the very noblest achievement of human art, form in themselves a theme of far too great dignity and interest to allow me to dishonour them by an incidental and imperfect examination on the present occasion.

Of the other religious houses scarcely any traces remain: Northampton contained several, but they are completely destroyed and well nigh forgotten; and others in other parts of the county have shared the same fate. They are utterly gone: there remain neither parochialised abbey churches, nor even ruins. The only considerable monastic fragment that I have seen or heard of is the west front and a small part of the nave at the priory church at Canons Ashby, and this can hardly be called distinctively conventual in its architecture. And the collegiate churches, of which there are several in the county, are in no important respect different from the simply parochial edifices, being themselves parish churches, with colleges attached at a later period. Even when the fabric has received important changes at the time of, or later than, the addition of the collegiate body, they are indeed often to be traced in increased size and magnificence, but not in anything imparting the peculiar character of a minster. Thus Higham Ferrers, well known as one of the finest churches in the county, received no alteration of importance when made collegiate by Archbishop Chichele; and the more remarkably so as it has, in its superb western doorway, a thoroughly cathedral feature of two centuries earlier. Irthlingborough received large and interesting alterations simultaneously with the foundation of the college, but, unless we so consider the addition of a clerestory to the choir, a rare feature in Northamptonshire, none that at all impart a collegiate character to the church itself. At Cotterstock the erection of a college or chantry was indeed marked by the reconstruction of the choir on a scale of surpassing grandeur, throwing into utter insignificance the diminutive nave to which it is attached; but even this stately structure is but a common parochial chancel of unusual size and beauty, without even the degree of pretension given by the addition of aisles. All these were foundations of no great riches or celebrity; but the remark applies equally to the existing portions of the church belonging to the wealthy and royal establishment at Fotheringhay; the nave is the finest of its own date and style in the whole county, but it is still merely a fine parish church, and is surpassed by many parish churches in Somerset. And though the choir, where a collegiate character would be most naturally looked for, is utterly destroyed, the

weather-moulding remains to attest its height, which was so much inferior to that of the nave, that it could not have been, architecturally, the most dignified portion of the building.

Our present studies, then, are confined to parish churches, and those most strictly preserving that character; they are genuine parish churches, neither swelling into minsters, nor sinking into chapels. They have not even that slight approximation to the former character which is bestowed by the cross form and the predominant central tower. We have no such series of cruciform churches as this neighbourhood supplies at Witney, Bampton, Thame, Kidlington, Cuddesden, and Stanton Harcourt. And though the churches are often of considerable dimensions, several, especially in the north, reaching to a length of from a hundred to a hundred-and-fifty feet, there are none which exhibit the common parochial form on the exaggerated scale of Boston or Coventry. On the other hand, while almost every collection of houses has its church, that church is almost always a genuine church, with nave, aisles, chancel, and tower; the mere chapel or the humble aisleless church are objects of rare occurrence.

On the merits of these buildings in an architectural point of view, I need not enlarge: the claim of Northamptonshire to a place in the very highest rank in an ecclesiological map of England has never been disputed. Open any architectural work, you will find no district more frequently alluded to, none supplying more numerous examples both of singularities and beauties, from the incipient Romanesque of Brixworth to the expiring Gothic of Whiston; from the most ancient church in England still applied to sacred uses, to the last that was erected before ecclesiastical architecture became thoroughly debased. Some of the most interesting parts of the county have already been illustrated in a work in which I have myself had a share, and which I trust may one day be brought to a conclusion. That the churches of Northamptonshire have deficiencies cannot be denied; some of the local peculiarities, as we shall soon see, are far from graceful; in picturesque effect they are far surpassed by many of much less real merit, and for the truest and most purely architectural excellence they must yield to the unrivalled glories of the west; but in one feature at least they are unrivalled: the tall spires clustering in the distance have more effect on the landscape than any other architectural feature whatever; and none is more truly graceful on a nearer approach. If any one would know what art can do for nature, I should recommend a visit to the superb group of churches which surround the station at Higham Ferrers. In comparing the scene of my present investigations with those whose fruits I now lay before you, I often think what a prospect it would be, if Gloucestershire provided churches which we might contemplate from the hills, or if Northamptonshire provided hills from which we might contemplate the churches. If Higham and Oundle, with their neighbouring villages, could occupy the sites of Dursley and Stroud, I can conceive no nearer approach to that terrestrial paradise of which Sir John Mandeville informs us that he could give no account, adding the very sufficient reason that he never was there.

But as the component parts are only to be enjoyed at a distance of

more than a hundred miles from each other, we will return to that one of its elements which forms our present subject for inquiry. In examining the churches of Northamptonshire, I intend first to give a general description of those features of outline and general character which will be found running through them all, alluding only incidentally to questions of style and date; and secondly, to introduce the latter subject directly, and to point out the peculiar character which was assumed by each style in this district. For it is clear that there are localisms of two kinds; those of outline, which are sometimes connected with extensive architectural operations going on through a whole district about the same time, so as to render the outline belonging to a particular period more common than any other, sometimes are found to prevail at all periods, entirely irrespective of style; and secondly, as was just observed, certain peculiarities assumed by the styles themselves.

I said above that the churches of Northamptonshire are eminently parochial; the usual type is the most ordinary type of a parish church; nave and aisles, almost always with a clerestory and low roof, a chancel, with or without aisles or chapels, often also with a low roof, but generally very strongly distinguished from the nave both within and without; a tower almost always occupying the centre of the west end. It will be at once seen that mere picturesque effect is well nigh excluded; there is little scope for that secondary merit which we often accept, in a building of no great pretensions, as a fair substitute for real excellence of architecture. Thus a cross church, with a central tower, must be bad indeed to be altogether void of beauty; and variety of outline and the use of high gables, will impart a pleasing effect to really very mean structures, as is proved by numberless buildings in Gloucestershire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Kent, the Isle of Wight, and Jersey. I never saw an ugly church in either of those islands, though they are often poor in their original architecture, and hideously disfigured by subsequent alterations. The Northamptonshire buildings attempt much more of architectural design, and are consequently in greater peril of failing; a badly designed door or window will ruin a regular architectural range, while it passes unnoticed in a structure of less pretensions; common-place in the one case does very well, in the other we require positive excellence; and here the naves and chancels of Northamptonshire often fail, being continually very mediocre, unlike the really artistic piles of Somerset; their claim rests chiefly on individual features of surpassing excellence, and on those superb steeples, which are so magnificent considered in themselves, and which add so much grace and beauty to fabrics otherwise insignificant.

By far the greater number of churches have two aisles to the nave ; a few are without any, as Weston Favell, near Northampton, which in the two high roofs of its nave and chancel quite recalls many of the churches of this neighbourhood; a few have only one; and several have had one or both destroyed; but all these examples are among the smaller and ruder structures, and mostly in the southern part of the county; all the important churches have two; there is no counter

part to Dorchester and Kidlington with single aisles, and Stanton Harcourt and Shottesbrooke, without any.

There is almost always a clerestory and low roof; and here the localism of the district shows itself most apparently. In many parts of England the clerestory never came into general use, and in others, when it occurs, it is invariably of late construction. So it is not unfrequently in Northamptonshire also; but there is sufficient evidence of its having been in at least occasional use from the very first, and having gradually gained ground till it became universal. At Brixworth we have a Saxon example; at S. Peter's, Northampton, a Norman ; in the choir at Rothwell, one of Romanesque character, though, the arches below being pointed, of Transitional date. Continuing the series, we have a clerestory of lancets at Chelveston; two admirable examples, with Geometrical tracery, at Warmington and Barnwell S. Andrew's. When we arrive at the period of Flowing tracery, its triumph is complete; from hence till the last days of Perpendicular, its use is almost universal, though it is strange that it is absent at Whiston and Castle Ashby, though the former is well known as a gem of Perpendicular architecture, and the latter, though chiefly famous for features of earlier date, contains more of that style than of any other.

The clerestory windows most commonly in use are of two kinds; a square-headed Decorated, and an obtusely pointed Perpendicular one; the former generally of two lights, the latter of three, but both with nothing deserving the name of tracery. The former is most frequent in the south, the latter in the north, which probably shows that the confirmed use of the clerestory prevailed earlier in the southern district. But the southern window is often found in the north, while I remember only one or two instances of the reverse. Perpendicular clerestory windows, with arched heads, do indeed occur at Chipping Wardon, Crick, and Middleton Cheney, but they are of altogether different character, and with distinct tracery, But the two usual forms are by no means exhaustive; there are of course here, as everywhere else, plenty of Perpendicular and Debased square-headed windows; and other Decorated types occur. The churches of Oundle and Kingscliffe have the two finest late Decorated clerestories I know of in any parochial structures; both being of considerable height, with well proportioned windows and good tracery. And with these we may class the very beautiful clerestory of the little church of Rotherby, in Leicestershire. Other Decorated examples, with arched heads, occur at Finedon and Everdon, but of less merit, and the latter a substitute for an earlier high roof; at Raunds and Piddington are examples of transition from Decorated to Perpendicular. A square-headed Decorated clerestory, apparently of the Geometrical period, occurs at Aldwinkle All Saints. Other types also are not excluded; at Stoke Bruern we have large unfoliated circles; smaller ones foliated occur at Rothersthorpe, Litchborough, Chacombe, and Duston; at Barton Segrave, (a church I have not myself seen,) the spherical tri angle is employed. At Etton, a church I shall have to mention again, is a very striking clerestory of large quatrefoils, but their scale is disproportionate to the size of the building. But in all we generally

find the clerestory windows kept at a considerable distance from each other, and kept single. This is decidedly a gain, as pilasters or pinnacles between them are rare. At Fotheringhay, where the pinnacles and flying-buttresses render it allowable, they are nearer together than usual; at Badby is the only example I remember of a range of clerestory windows placed quite close together, and these are squareheaded and poor. At Polebrook, and perhaps in one or two cases of inferior moment, we find a low range not pierced with windows.

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I have enlarged with more minuteness on this point, because here is the only serious inaccuracy which I have found in the HandBook," which states, that in Northamptonshire "the clerestory is almost always a Third-Pointed addition or substitution; but those of S. Mary, Finedon, and Barnwell S. Andrew, are Middle-Pointed;" the only reference to the subject which it contains. I cannot understand how such a statement could have found its way into an account otherwise so masterly. I feel sure that at least a third-I am inclined to think more of the clerestories in Northamptonshire are Decorated, and we have seen that there is an unbroken chain of occasional examples up to the very earliest times.

And not only the clerestory, but the low roof, in most cases its almost necessary concomitant, was in use from at least the very beginning of the Decorated style. At Chelveston the tower is not western, so that we have no means of judging whether the roof has ever been higher or not. The two admirable Geometrical clerestories at Warmington and Barnwell are surer examples. The former every one knows, on account of the timber-vault over the nave; this roof and the clerestory may probably be a little later than the arcades and lancet windows below; but I should think it more likely that they were the last finish of the original structure, than that they supplanted either a preceding roof or a preceding clerestory. Neither here nor at Barnwell is there the slightest trace of any higher roof than the present. And I believe I may say the same of Etton, almost a model Early English church, with lancets in the nave, and simple Geometrical windows in the chancel, but as I am less familiar with this instance, I will not be positive. In all these cases, besides the general proportion, which would hardly have allowed so great an addition to the height, the main reason for the use of the low roof was, not to interfere with the belfry-stage of the tower, which comes down immediately above it; and there is not the slightest trace of any high roof ever having cut through the windows. We may not unprofitably compare these examples with two other fine instances of early clerestories somewhat differently treated. Every one knows Trumpington, near Cambridge; here the tower rises two stages above the nave, consequently there was room for a high roof without interfering with the belfry windows; and accordingly a weather-moulding attests the former existence of such a roof, though it has since been destroyed. In the very remarkable church of Gaddesby, in Leicestershire, we have a clerestory of about the same date and character as those at Barnwell and Warmington, which has been added to earlier arcades. But here, however, though the proportions of the tower were much the same as