Thrale history
Historic Sandridge. The story of a Hertfordshire parish (1952).
The first substantial chronicle of Thrale history, written by R.W. Thrale (1931-2007) & E. Giles. Reproduced in full with consent of the author.
|
| « page Cover . . .9 10 11 . . .47 page » |
right across; the other timbers were inserted in 1886. Two years before, the old chancel arch was revealed by the removal of plaster. The crown is about two feet below the bottom of the tie beam. Below the arch in the middle of the wall is a well moulded, pointed doorway which is flanked on each side by a three-light window opening. The brick arch above is partly filled in by rough stones and Roman bricks, the latter probably coming from the supports of the round arch. Ornamentations here include the arms of the abbey and perhaps those of abbot John9.
On either side of the doorway, on its eastern face, is a low stone seat end, with figures carved on them. That on the south side is of a priest with his hand to his ear, the other hand holding a necklace of beads. The figure on the north side is that of a woman with her face obliterated. It has been suggested that the priest is hearing her confession.10 To erect all this new stonework, the masons must have begun by taking out for some eight feet in height the two pieces of wall on either side of the old round arch, and of course the uprights of the arch itself. They must have shored up the great mass of thick wall above with strong timbers whilst the new work was being put in. The western side of the window opening of the screen shows jambs very much splayed, and surmounted by depressed arches. But generally speaking, the western side of the screen is bare and plain, and must have almost certainly been faced by carved and painted woodwork. Judging from cuts at one time visible in the capitals of the two eastern piers of the nave, about four feet west of the screen wall, a beam here crossed the nave and supported the front of the rood loft.11 This beam was presumably supported by two uprights resting on the floor, on each side of the doorway, thus forming recesses for side altars, one on each side of the chancel arch. The two wooden slabs which can now be seen represent the back portions of these lost altars. There is mention of altars to St. Catharine, St. Nicholas and St. Andrew in 15th and 16th century wills, and of lights to the same three ’saints, and also to St. Leonard, the patron saint. There are obvious places for four altars in the nave, two against the screen, as described above, and one at the east end of each aisle. From the middle of the nave the high altar of St. Leonard and the four other altars could be seen.
In order to light the screen side altars, small windows were cut diagonally through the east angles of the nave, that on the north side is now built up. This did not sufficiently light the rest of the nave, so the fifteenth century saw square-headed windows replace the Norman ones in both aisles. There are six of these, two east, two south, and two north. Like the chancel side windows, they are of two lights with heads cusped with five foils. In the same century the south doorway was rebuilt and the south porch erected. Floor tiles in the chancel and vestry gathered from the various parts of the church also belong to this period. They have a red body with impressed patterns filled in with white slip. Finally, it must be mentioned that the nave walls as well as the chancel walls had paintings on them, but the only picture of which there is any record was one over the north door, which represented St. Michael the Archangel weighing souls, with the Evil One standing by.
Footnotes
- The St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, in their TRANSACTIONS 1904, p.36 note.↩︎
- P.M.Johnston in Surrey Archaeological Collections, 14. 28.↩︎
- Sandridge Church by H. C. Andrews, F.S.A., 1932.↩︎
| Back to top « page page » |