HARDHAM CHURCH, AND ITS EARLY PAINTINGS.

By PHILIP MAINWARING JOHNSTON.

The little church of St. Botolph, Hardham, in the valley of the Arun, a mile or so to the south of Pulborough, in West Sussex, is typical in its utter plainness and small dimensions of the early churches of this part of the county.1 Coates, Selham, Chithurst, Burton, Tangmere, Eastergate, and Ford are but a few of these tiny ancient sanctuaries, all built of the rudest materials and on the simplest lines, and all, if not pre-Conquest in plan and in their main features, at any rate of a date within the eleventh century. (Plate Ï.)

In plan Hardham, like the others, consists only of nave (31 feet 6 inches by 19 feet) and chancel (17 feet by 15 feet 6 inches), with the addition of an incongruous modern porch. The east wall of the chancel and the west wall of the nave converge towards the south; otherwise the lines of the building are quite regular. There is a modern wooden bell-cote at the east end of the nave, replacing an old one, containing two bells. The roofs are ancient, and that of the chancel is still partly

covered with stone slabs. The materials used for the walling are the local sandstone and ironstone rubble, with quoins, etc. of the same local stone, hammer-dressed,1 while in the chancel many Roman bricks and tiles are visible, some of the latter impressed with characteristic scoring-patterns. A mass of the bricks in their original mortar does duty as part of the south-east quoin of the chancel. The ancient plaster remains on the walls for the most part, externally as well as internally. Of the original

There is not a trace of the Norman axe-tooling on any of the quoins or other dressed stonework.

features, one window in the north wall of the chancel and one each in the north and south walls of the nave, together with a door in the south wall of the latter, remain. These are quite archaic in character. The nave windows are narrow slits, very slightly splayed to the interior, with no rebate or other provision for glazing, and the external jambs incline upwards to the circular head of the opening, which is cut out of one large stone. The jambs of the chancel window are splayed out to a wider angle (no doubt for the greater need of light), and externally there is a shallow shutter-rebate, which, however, may not be original. The internal jambs of this window incline towards the head.

The doorway in the south wall of the nave (now blocked up) is even more archaic in appearance than the windows. It has perfectly plain jambs, worked in large blocks of sandstone, and crowned by a massive flat lintol, tapering on its upper edge towards the ends, and over this is a rough discharging-arch. There is not a vestige of moulding or ornament to relieve the bare outlines.

The chancel-arch, a bold semi-circle slightly horseshoed, is also square-edged and perfectly plain, except that the chamfered imposts have had a small beadmoulding partially worked upon them, perhaps at some subsequent period. It is greatly to be regretted that, at the restoration in 1866, the ancient plaster was removed from this arch, and its rough hammer-dressed stonework exposed, the joints being then pointed with cement in the loathsome fashion so dear to builders. In this ' manner portions of the ancient paintings covering the plaster of the arch were destroyed.

The east window consists of two broad lancets divided by a wide pier-mullion, the thin masonry above being pierced with a small opening of pointed-oval shape the whole forming an interesting and early essay in plate

1 At Burpham, hard by, is a similar square-headed door, but the lintol there presents a curious and early instance of joggling. Close to it is an undoubtedly Saxon window, and probably both are of the same date.

2 But the same moulding occurs in an upper window of the Necessarium at Westminster Abbey, a piece of the un

touched work of the Confessor, brought to light, alas! only to be destroyed or hidden by recent extension of the School buildings. The abaci of the caps had a quirked bead and chamfer, and the cushions were carved with tau crosses and palm-leaf angles. I was able to obtain careful sketches before the work was masked or destroyed.