Produced by David Wilson ECCLESIASTICAL CURIOSITIES. [Illustration: _From a Photo by A. H. Pitcher, Gloucester._ PORCH, GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.] Ecclesiastical Curiosities Edited by William Andrews LONDON: WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.C. 1899. [Illustration: William Andrews & Co The Hull Press] Preface. This volume is on similar lines to some of my previously published works, and I trust it will be equally well received by the public and the press. William Andrews. The Hull Press, _December 1st, 1898._ Contents. PAGE The Church Door. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 1 Sacrificial Foundations. By England Howlett 30 The Building of the English Cathedrals. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 46 Ye Chappell of Oure Ladye. By the Rev. J. H. Stamp 76 Some Famous Spires. By John T. Page 101 The Five of Spades and the Church of Ashton-under-Lyne. By John Eglington Bailey, F.S.A. 113 Bells and their Messages. By Edward Bradbury 119 Stories about Bells. By J. Potter Briscoe, F.R.H.S. 133 Concerning Font-Lore. By the Rev. P. Oakley Hill 145 Watching-Chambers in Churches. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 153 Church Chests. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 161 An Antiquarian Problem: The Leper Window. By William White, F.S.A. 183 Mazes. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. 186 Churchyard Superstitions. By the Rev. Theodore Johnson 206 Curious Announcements in the Church. By the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees 216 Big Bones Preserved in Churches. By the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees 230 Samuel Pepys at Church. 244 Ecclesiastical Curiosities. The Church Door. By the Rev. Geo. S. Tyack, B.A. That first impressions have no small influence in moulding the opinions of most people can scarcely be denied; and therefore in our estimate of the architectural value of a church the door is an element of some importance. A shabby and undignified entrance raises no expectations of a lofty and solemn interior; and that interior must be emphatically fine, if we are not to read into it some of the meanness of its portal. On the other hand, though the church be but plain and simple--so that it lack not a measure of the dignity which may well accompany simplicity--our thoughts will be raised and fitted to find in it something worthy of its high purpose, if we have been prepared by passing through a noble porch, and beneath a doorway that speaks itself the entrance to no ordinary dwelling.