patterns noticed on pavements such as those at Bignor
and elsewhere.

I now pass to another point in the art of this pave-
ment, suggested by the design found on the room i, k,
where we see a school of Cupids disguised as gladiators,
in four groups of two each, presided over by a master, set
on a frieze with a border of three-fold plaited cords. This
leads up to a very remarkable design set in a semicircular




BIGNOR.



ROMAN V^TLLA AT BIGNOR. 63

apse, wltliin a border ornamented with a wavy line of foli-
age springing from a vase which has a ball in its stem; a
peculiarity known to have been employed under similar
conditions at Pompeii, and of the age of Titus.

Although we have not at Bignor an example of Orpheus
(not unfrequently converted by the early Church art into
Christ, the Good Shepherd, whose voice the sheep hear,
and He knows them, and they follow Him) taming the
wild beasts to the sound of the lyre, as at Horkstow and
Cirencester, admirably depicted in our Journal some
years ago, we have in the centre of this apse a head of a
female which ostensibly, perhaps, was intended for Arte-
mis or Diana, to whom the pheasant was sacred ; for we
see on the " swags", or festoons, which hang at the sides
of the circular plaque containing the head, a bird of the
pheasant tribe holding a branch in its mouth. Or, if not
Artemis, then Plenty or Pomona, to whom the cornuco-
pise below the festoons would be appropriate ; but the
occurrence of the light blue nimbus behind the head of
the figure seems to indicate a Christian personage, whicli
I think may be, without undue conjecture, taken to he
the Virgin Mary. It is true that the use of the nimbus,
originating as the sun's disc, and seen in many forms in
Indian and Oriental art, commences as an attribute of
divinity long before Christian times ; but this is so
thoroughly a Christian form of the nimbus, and so rare
(for with the exception of a similar nimbus on the head
of Bacchus in the already compared pavement at Aventi-
cum, no other example is known), that we can hardly
attribute it to any other religious cultus. The half-length
figure of Christ or the Virgin, in a circular plaque, is also
seen on the gilt glass Christian plates and discs in tlie
British Museum collections.

When we bear in mind that Cogidubnus, the reputed
occupier and builder of this villa, was in close correspond-
ence with Bome, and under Boman influence, in the hrst
century after Christ, it is quite possible that knowledge
of the new religion had passed to Britain, and found
acceptance at Bignor. Mr. Brock and Mr. Grover have
pointed out, in the pages o^ onv Journal, many evidences
of pre-Augustine Christianity in England. This offers
another link in the chain of proof, and I reconmiend it to
their study and examination.



64 ROMAN VILLA XT BIG NOR.

To conclude this hasty summary of* a few out of the
many points of interest whicli the pavement presents, I
am desirous of recording before you my conviction that,
notwithstanding all Mr. Tupper's inteUigent care, the
pavements are deteriorating. It is a stigma upon us as
a nation to allow our antiquities to perish, however slow
may be their march towards oblivion. A comparatively
small sum would purchase them, and secure them for all
time from further decay. If our rich men willingly give
thousands of pounds for a single vase or a single picture
but two hundred years old, will no one person, or corpo-
rate body, or syndicate, be found to give a price for a
series of art-j)ictures in coloured stone, nearly two thou-
sand years old ; rarer than most of the so-called rarest
objects of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ? And
must we only awaken to the value of the gems we have
despised when they have perished beyond recall ?



r.5



SAXON FONT IN SOUTH HAYLING CHURCH,
HAYLING ISLAND, HANTS.

BY JOHN HARRIS, ESQ.

(Read 18 Nov. 1885.)

This ancient relic is on the floor of the church in the
south aisle. It is a limestone rock, square on the out-
side, round internally, with a large fractured hole at the
bottom, and a smooth, round one, about 2 inches, in tlie
side of the font. It is perforated with numerous marine
worm-holes, and indented with sea-shells. The whole
font, externally, is much defaced by the action of water,
and broken at the top. It measures at the top 2 ft. 3 ins.;
at the bottom, 1 ft. 9 ins.; from top to bottom, 1 ft. 6 ins.
The outside is covered with geometrical figures, as shown
in the sketches.

Longcroft, in his Biographical Account of the Hundred
of Bosmere (published in 1858) says "the old font was
found in 1827, in a shallow well in the south parish,
and taken to Westbourne, but subsequently placed in its
present position on the floor of the church. The locality
of the well is not given, but most probably it was re-
moved from '' Slut's^ e\Y\ about 300 yards from the west
end of the church. This can hardly be called a well, as
it is a copious perennial spring of pure water rising to
the surface of the ground, which is excavated to the
depth of 2^ ft.; the sides having three layers of large
stones, enclosing a space of about ^\ ft. The ground
sloping downwards on the south gives a free course for
the overflowing water. It is pretty certain that this is
the spot in which the font was placed to receive the
water, the large fractured hole at the bottom permitting
it to flow into it, the small hole at the side allowino- the
water to escape into the adjacent pond.

Not one of the oldest inhabitants knows anything of

this interesting relic ; but there is a tradition of an old

church being swallowed up by the encroachment of the

sea. Historical documents exist to confirm this belkdPip. -^
1886 =.'^An.-ir




C)6 SAXON FONT

These, and the great physical changes on the sea-coast of
the Island, go far to prove the accuracy of the tradition,
and also to suggest that this old font was removed before
the entire destruction of the church, and used as an
appropriate reservoir at " Slut's Well".

About three quarters of a mile from the shore, opposite
the Crescent, is a lot of rocks called "The Church Hocks",
a name suggestive of the locality of the lost church. At
low states of the tide may be seen portions of a wall
cemented with a very hard yellowish mortar which, in the
words of an octogenarian, " was harder than the stone".
That masonry exists is certain. Wherefore should it not
be a portion of the church ?

The coast hereabouts has been wonderfully changed
by the invasion of the sea. Fifty years since the mouth
of Chichester Harbour was only 2 furlongs wide. It now
is three quarters of a mile. Within the same period the
spot where races were held has been washed away. An old
man of the Island asserts that he heard his grandfather
say "that with a 10 foot pole he could at low water
touch the bottom anywhere between Hayling and the
Isle of Wight." In the British Museum is a map of Ports-
mouth and its environs at the time of Henry VIII. It
shows that at that date Hayling Bay did not exist. The
submerged church, it is said, was built in the middle of
Hayling ; if so, the land must have extended to within
two miles of the Nab Light-Ship, which is about six miles
from the present shore.

We now turn to documentary evidence of the existence
of the submerged church, and the physical changes in the
Island shore. William the Conqueror granted the church
of Hayling to the Abbey Church of the Blessed Mary
and St. Peter of Jumieges, Normandy. Henry II con-
firmed this grant. Thus, then, it must have been the
lost church, since the present church of South Hayling
was not built until about 1272-1291. The small church
of St. Peter, in North Hayling, is about the same date.
Three churches are known to have been in Hayling ; but
there appears to be no distinct account of the erection of
any of them. The date of the old church may be about
1050, and it was rendered unfit for service in 1339-40.
This is determined by the return of an inquisition in the



IN SOUTH HAYLING CHURCH. C7

14th of Edward III, wliich makes it clear it must have
been abandoned some time before the inquisition. Pre-
vious to this date, on March 8th, 1324, a warrant was
issued by King Edward to inquire into damage done by
inundations. " It was found that 206 acres of arable
land, and eighty acres of pasture land, had been lost in
the Island since the time of Edward I." By the records
of the eighteenth year of the reign of Edward II (1325)
it was proved " that at that particular date a considerable
portion of the Island was swept away by an inundation
of the sea. The parish of Pagham, a few miles to the
east of Hayling, was devastated by the sea to the extent
of 2,700 acres.

Sufficient evidence has been adduced to warrant the
assumption that an old church was in existence before
the Conqueror's time, that it was submerged by the en-
croachment of the sea, and that the font was in it as far
back as a.d. 900. The Biographical Accomit of the Hun-
dred of Bosmere is replete with the ecclesiastical history
of Hayling. The Island is full of historical interest. A
knowledge of the locality for the past fifty-five years
shows me how great and rapid has been the invasion of
the sea, and that the tradition of the lost church is (to
my mind) a matter of certainty.

The late Rev. C Hardy, many years incumbent of Hay-
ling, told the present holder of the living (the Pev.
■ — Bell) that a pedestal belonged to the font, which was
taken away and used as a " boundary-stone" between the
north and south j^arishes of Hayling. A recent inspec-
tion confirms the existence, in situ, of the stone, which is
worked at the top to fit the font.

I am indebted to Samuel S. Markham, Esq., for the
excellent sketch of the font.



5»



68



THE PEIORY CHUKCH OF BOXGROVE.

BY C, LYNAM, ESQ.
{Read August 18th, 1885.)

The Priory Church of Boxgrove has been much written
about, and thoroughly illustrated. Its history has been
fully explained, and its architectural details exhaust-
ively dealt with ; yet notwithstanding all these efforts
to throw light upon the building, it must, after all, be
visited to be duly appreciated. The technical descrip-
tion of a structure like this, and its architectural deli-
neation, are one thing ; the quietness of its situation,
its peaceful surroundings, the silver grey of its flint-built
walls, the red tiling of its roofs toned with golden lichen,
and its picturesque outlines enhanced by the rich foliage
of varied green, go far to make up quite another thing.
What idea of light and shade, of sunshine and shadow,
of brilliancy and sombreness, or of colour, do the mere
lines of the architectural draughtsman convey ? What
notion of the spirit of design, of the power of scientific
construction, does mere verbal history give us ? To en-
joy the pleasure of these qualities we must, of necessity,
visit the place itself Here we are to view^ these remains
in all their beauty and interest, carrying us back, as they
do, for at all events seven hundred and fifty years.

Its Present Condition. — Let us look at what these works
display to us. First we shall see that one limb of this
church has been, with the exception of a fragment, severed
from the body, and that the central feature of the whole
has been robbed of its due proportion, the want of which
is felt over the whole building. In plain terms, the nave
(except its eastern bay) is now a ruin ; and an arcade-
story, with the lantern-lights of the tower, are shut out
from view.

The principal remains now consist of the church, of the
west front of the chapter-house, and of a three-story
building to the north of the church, which has been vari-
ously called the "refectory" and " Prior's dwelling". There
are also some indications of cloisters to the north of the



THE PRIORY CHURCH OF BOXGROVE. 09

church, and perhaps the site of the wall which surrounded
the precincts is discernible on the west and south sides.
The conventual buildings were, without doubt, to the
north, and there are signs of considerable erections west
of the "Prior's lodging".

The church is a cross on plan, with a central tower ;
but the western limb or nave is now a ruin, excepting to
the extent of one double bay. The north and south tran-
septs are without aisles, but there are clear indications of
each having contained an altar on its eastern side. The
eastern limb or choir is of four main bays, each subdivided
into two ; forming in all, therefore, eight bays. It has
north and south aisles for its whole length, their vaulting
answering to the eight bays of the choir. To the west
of the south transept, filling up the angle between it and
the south aisle of the nave, is a porch which forms the
present main entrance into the church. Northward of
the centre of the north choir-aisle is a vestry, approached
only from the church. Over the transepts lofts have
been erected, making them of two stories. What remains
of the nave has a south aisle ; but is without one on the
north, which was the case for about half the length of
the entire nave when it consisted of six main, subdivided
bays.

Besides the main entrance there is now a small door-
way on the west side of the north transept. The second
main bay from the east, on the south side of the choir,
has had its subdividing pier removed, and in it an erec-
tion bearing the name of Thomas la War, with the date
1532, has been put up, to the utter disfigurement of a
large part of the choir. Not intending to mention this
" monument" again, its complete debasement of character
may be here observed, and notice drawn to the carving
on the central pendentive of its roof, where four angels
are represented, with their heads downwards, at the back
of a shield which bears the coat of arms of the said
Thomas la War. Could anything be more inconsistent
with true art or right feeling ?

The porch, vestry, central tower, and transepts, have
timber roofs. The choir and its aisles, the nave and its
south aisle, are all vaulted. The tower and transepts
were not desio-ned for p-roinino-. A larii-e part of the ori-



70 THE PRIORY CHURCH OF BOXGROVE.

ginal roof-timbers over the ceiling of the choir still
remain. They have double collars and braces, strength-
ened by tie-beams, with king-posts and struts at certain
intervals. The western part of this roof has been re-
modelled in more recent times. The whole of the filling-
in of the vaults of the choir is of chalk. It is a little
curious that the splays of the two lancet-windows at the
east end, which light this roof (not seen from any part of
the church), should be plastered, of original work.

The groin-ribs to the choir-vault spring from the main
piers only, and the vaulting is entirely without ridge-ribs
both longitudinally and transversely. The vault to the
nave is of the same character as that to the choir, and so
are those to the aisles of the choir, except that it is dealt
with by the limits of the sub-bays. The vaulting to the
south aisle of the nave has no ribs.

There has been great controversy as to whether there
were not two churches under one roof within the length
of the entire building. The lower part of the west wall
of the present church is an early one, and in it are two
doorways w4th a blank space between, where, it is sug-
gested, stood the altar to the second church. At Lilies-
hall Abbey, in Shropshire, there is a corresponding divi-
sion made by a stone screen such as the lower part of
this work may have been. It would be interesting to
learn when and how the Abbey Church became, as it now
is, the parish church.

Its Architecture. — At a first glance the church generally
would probably be put down as of the Lancet period, with
Transitional Norman at the crossing ; but there are some
subtleties of chronological sequence, especially about the
crossing and transepts, which merit careful attention. If
this be given, it will be found that in the transepts and
nave are the remains of a former church, which probably
had only a short eastern limb with aisles, and a western
limb with south aisle only. The principal evidences
pointing in this direction are the two small, rude, semi-
circular arches between the transepts and the choir-
aisles, and the one similar arch to the south aisle of the
nave, and the blocked-up, early, semicircular windows m
tlie flanks of the transepts. These walls appear to have
had two tiers of windows in their height, and so does




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THE PRIORY CHURCH OF BOXGROVE. 7 I

the south gcable. The present nave-roof, though lower
than that of the chou% is higlier than that of the original
church, as a lower line of roof is distinctly marked in the
interior of the south transept, and the weathering string-
course is still partly preserved both here and against the
eastern wall of the tower, marking the line of the roof of
the original choir and transepts, the ridge of which is
1 ft. 8 ins. below the string beneath the present upper
windows of the tower. Then, again, that very precious
fragment of the western front of the original chapter-
house, reminding us of its fellows at Wenlock and Haugh-
mond, is a clear fact pronouncing the existence of an
establishment of earlier date than the bulk of the present
buildings.

It is said that the Priory was founded between the
years 1117 and 1135 a.d., and the earliest work may,
perhaps, be placed as falling within these dates. The
great j^ers of the tower form a focus of much chronologi-
cal interest. In them is contained a portion of no less
than four distinct periods ; that of the earliest in the
simple, square jamb, from which spring the rude, semicir-
cular arches of the aisles; the transitional Norman in the
south-western respond of the south aisle ; and later
transitional Norman in the moulded faces which form the
main part of these piers ; and finally, the western re-
sponds of the lancet-choir.

Before leaving these great piers it should be more
particularly noted that the present low, flat ceiling above
the main arches shuts out from view features of archi-
tectural interest second to none in the whole of the
fabric, namely an arcade of Pointed arches on each face
of the tower, with widely splayed semicircular windows
above, which were intended as a lantern to this central
point in the church. This arcading consists of four
Pointed arches on each face, springing from central and
side-piers, having double shafts in the reveals, with single
intermediate shafts. The caps of these shafts are richly
moulded and carved, and the bases and arches are like-
wise well moulded. Above these arches runs a string-
course, from which starts the high, splayed sill of the
upper windows, which are treated in a sinijile uuuiium-,
but effectively occu[)y nearly the whole wall-s[)ace by
their openings and broad splays.



72 THE PRIORY CHURCH OF BOXGROVE.

The next part, in point of date, is the arcading of the
nave with the lower part of the wall above. This nave
has also been designed originally on the plan of a main
bay subdivided by minor shafts, for there are still to be
seen the large clustered pier and the single cylindrical
shaft alternately. It is a curious fact that this principle
of design should have prevailed from the earliest to the
latest main work throughout these buildings ; for first it
is to be seen in the openings on each side of the chapter-
house doorway (which treatment in this situation is said
to be unique), then in the late Norman nave, and again
in the later iDut more ambitious choir.

The whole of the eastern limb is of one date, allowing
for its commencement at the extreme east, and gradual
development westwards. It will be noticed that the first
two main bays to the east are of a richer type of treat-
ment both in the mouldings and in the materials, for in
them the use of Purbeck and other marbles is more
abundant than in the western portion. All the windows
in this part were originally of the lancet form ; those
to the aisles being treated in the simplest manner, whilst
the triplet at the east end, and those of the clerestory,
are elaborated by marble shafts, rich mouldings, and some
carving. It will be seen also that the diagonal ribs of
the groining are enriched by the dog-tooth, and have
carved bosses at their intersections.

Next to the choir, in point of date, comes the south
porch, which is of Decorated character ; and lastly, the
vestry, which is of Perpendicular date, of a very good
type. There are also sundry late insertions of windows
in the choir-aisles and gable of the south transept.

Of the architectural design of this building too much
cannot be said in its praise. Perhaps there is a little
inconsistency on this head in the later raising of the
roofs of the limbs of the cross, and in all probability the
low and humble original church had merits of simplicity
and consistency which the present building, as now seen,
appears to lack. But then we know not what was in the
minds of the late builders with regard to the central
tower ; but this we do know, that their building, regarded
in itself alone, bears evidence of the greatest aptitude of
design and constructive skill. It seems to have been a



THE PRIORY CHURCH OF BOXGROVE. 73

settled principle at the start, witli the designers, that
their building should not be excessive in height, whilst
they determined at the same time that considerable
length should be maintained ; and how to proportion the
comparative lowness of the structure to its great length
(the present church being in length six times its width
in the nave, and the entire length more than ten times)
was the main problem to be solved by the designer. No
happier means could, perhaps, be adopted for this pur-
pose than the principle of main and subsidiary division of
the bays before alluded to ; and this I make bold to sug-
gest was the reason for the adoption of this method of
design. It is obvious also that this principle carries with
it the necessity for as little need of the aid of flying but-
tresses as possible, and it allows of that bold and singu-
lar treatment of an arcaded clerestory which is here
adopted. Externally, the proportion of height in the
building is ample, as the addition of a high-pitched roof
above the vaulting gives all the increase in this direction
which is desirable, and nothing could well exceed in per-
fiectness of design the eastern end of the choir. Of the
whole it may be fairly said, that in its general outlines,
and in the simplicity of its several parts, the architecture
of this church is of the most instructive kind.

Tlie Dedication. — The dedication of the church was in
the names of the Blessed Mary and of St. Blaise, a Bishop
of Sebaste in Armenia ; and originally it contained at
least five altars, of which more than traces remain of four:
three at the east end of the choir, and one against the
east wall of the south transept. The slabs of the high
altar, and that of the south aisle, are now in the floor of
the church at those points.

During the late alterations some ornamental floor-tiles
were found, and they now form ]3art of the floor at the
east end of the south aisle. They are of very varied
design, and of early date. Some bear inscriptions, others
represent birds, stags, hounds, and fleurs-de-lis of peculiar
treatment. Many of them have the lines of their pat-
terns incised, and some are border-tiles. On the east wall
of the south transept, and the north-east respond of the
tower, are some early wall -decorations in colour. Of
ancient glass there appears to be none.



74 THE PRIORY CHURCH OF ROXGROVE.

There are monuments on the floor of the aisles and the
south transept, most of them being table-tombs formed
of Purbeck or other marble ; that in the south transept
is of ^reat size. They are all very much of one type, and