endeavouring to be more unconventional than his neighbour, and to
Poulson they appeared to be in ‘ill accord with the fastidious delicacy
of the present age.’ The interior of the church is seen at its loveliest
on those afternoons when that rich yellow light Mr. Dean Howells so
aptly compares with the colour of the daffodil is flooding the nave and
aisles, and glowing on the clustered columns. A good point of view is
from the north porch, where you look into the south transept through
four arcades of pillars, or from the south transept, looking towards the
mellow light at the west end.
In the eastern aisles of each arm of the transept there were three
chantry chapels, whose piscinæ remain. The central chapel in the south
transept is a most interesting and beautiful object, having a recess for
the altar, with three richly ornamented niches above. In the groined
roof above, the central boss is formed into a hollow pendant of
considerable interest. On the three sides are carvings representing the
Annunciation, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. John the Baptist, and
on the under side is a Tudor rose. Sir Henry Dryden, in the
_Archæological Journal_, states that this pendant was used for a lamp to
light the altar below, but he points out, at the same time, that the
sacrist would have required a ladder to reach it. An alternative
suggestion made by others is that this niche contained a relic where it
would have been safe even if visible. I cannot help wondering if the
staircase outside the south transept, already mentioned, which makes the
roof of this chapel very accessible, has any connexion with this pendant
niche. Also in this transept there is a very curious staircase,
zigzagging over the tower arch and giving access to the belfry and the
space above the vaulting of the aisles, and, therefore, to the top of
the chantry; in the centre there is a grotesque dragon-headed corbel,
and others at each end of the steps. In the north transept a hoary
ladder is bracketed out above the tower arch on enormous corbels.
The fact that the east window belongs to a slightly later period than
the rest of the church does not in any way minimize its beauty--it
appears to me rather to be a crowning glory; and its glass has a
medieval richness produced only with soft colours restful and satisfying
to the eye. The screen is considered to be coeval with the church, and
has been restored with all the care it deserves. Yet another interest is
the remarkable Easter Sepulchre to the north of the sanctuary, which has
only suffered the loss of the sculpture in the upper panel. The middle
portion shows our Lord coming
[Illustration: PATRINGTON CHURCH
Known as the ‘Queen of Holderness,’ is one of the most beautiful
village churches in England. It was almost entirely built in the
Decorated period, and has aisles to its transepts and much
beautiful carving.
]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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