(Vol. iii., p. 85.)
I have great pleasure in laying before your readers the following
particulars, which I collected on a journey to Leighton Bromswold,
undertaken for the purpose of satisfying the Query of E. H. If they will
turn to _A Priest to the Temple_, ch. xiii., they will find the points to
which, with others, my attention was more especially directed.
Leighton Church consists of a western tower, nave, north and south porches
and transepts, and chancel. There are no aisles. As Prebendary of the
Prebend of Leighton Ecclesia in Lincoln Cathedral, George Herbert was
entitled to an estate in the parish, and it was no doubt a portion of the
increase of this property that he devoted to the repairing and beautifying
of the House of God, then "lying desolate," and unfit for the celebration
of divine service. Good Izaak Walton, writing evidently upon hearsay
information, and not of his own personal knowledge, was in error if he
supposed, as from his language he appears to have done, that George Herbert
almost rebuilt the church from the foundation, and he must be held to be
incorrect in describing that part of it which stood as "so decayed, so
_little_, and so useless." There are portions remaining earlier than George
Herbert's time, whose work may be readily distinguished by at least four
centuries; whilst at one end the porches, and at the other the piscina, of
Early English date, the windows, which are of different styles, and the
buttresses, afford sufficient proofs that the existing walls are the
original, and that in size the church has remained unaltered for ages. As
George Herbert new roofed the sacred edifice throughout, we may infer this
was the chief structural repair necessary. He also erected the present
tower, the font, put four windows in the chancel, and reseated the parts
then used by the congregation.
Except a western organ gallery erected in 1840, two pews underneath it, and
one elsewhere, these parts, the nave and transepts, remain, in all
probability, exactly as George Herbert left them. The seats are all
uniform, of oak, and of the good old open fashion made in the style of the
seventeenth century. They are so arranged, both in the nave and in the
transepts, that no person in service time turns his back either upon the
altar or upon the minister. (See "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. ii., p. 397.)
The pulpit against the north, and the reading-desk, with clerk's seat
attached, against the south side of the chancel-arch, are both of the same
height, and exactly similar in every respect; both have sounding-boards.
The font is placed at the west end of the nave, and, together with its
cover, is part of George Herbert's work; it stands on a single step, and a
drain carries off the water, as in ancient examples. The shallowness of the
basin surprised me. A vestry, corresponding in style to the seats, is
formed by a wooden inclosure in the south transept, which contains "a
strong and decent chest." Until the erection of the gallery, the tower was
open to the nave.
The chancel, which is raised one step above the nave, is now partly filled
with high pews, but, as arranged by the pious prebendary, it is believed to
have contained only one low bench on either side. The communion table,
which is elevated by three steps above the level of the chancel, is modern,
as are also the rails. There is a double Early English piscina in the south
wall, and an ambry in the north. A plain cross of the seventeenth century
crowns the eastern gable of the chancel externally.
No doubt there were originally "fit and proper {179} texts of scripture
everywhere painted;" but, if this were so, they are now concealed by the
whitewash. Such are not uncommon in neighbouring churches. No "poor man's
box conveniently seated" remains, but there are indications of its having
been fixed to the back of the bench nearest to the south door.
The roof is open to the tiles, being, like the seats, Gothic in design and
of seventeenth century execution. The same may be said of the tower, which
is battlemented, and finished off with pinnacles surmounted by balls, and
has a somewhat heavy appearance. But it is solid and substantial, and it is
evident that no expense was spared to make it--so far as the skill of the
time could make it--worthy of its purpose and of the donor. There are five
bells. No. 1. has the inscription:
"IHS NAZARENVS REX IVDEORVM FILI DEI
MISERERE MEI : GEORGE WOOLF VICAR :
I : MICHELL : C : W : W : N. 1720."
Nos. 2. 4. and 5. contain the alphabet in Lombardic capitals; but the
inscription and date on each of them,--
"THOMAS NOBBIS MADE ME 1641"--
show that they are not of the antiquity which generally renders the few
specimens we have of alphabet bells so peculiarly interesting, but probably
they were copied from the bells in the more ancient tower. No. 3. has in
Lombardic capitals the fragment--
"ESME: CCATHERINA,"
and is consequently of ante-Reformation date.
The porches are both of the Early English period, and form therefore a very
noticeable feature.
On the external walls are several highly ornamented spouts, upon some of
which crosses are figured, and upon one with the date "1632" I discovered
three crests; but as I could not accurately distinguish what they were
intended to represent, I will not run the risk of describing them wrongly.
The wivern, the crest of the Herberts, did not appear; nor, so far as I
could learn, does the fabric itself afford any clue to him who was the
principal author of its restoration.
The view from the tower is extensive, and, from the number of spires that
are visible, very pleasing: fifteen or sixteen village churches are to be
seen with the naked eye; and I believe that Ely Cathedral, nearly thirty
miles distant, may be discovered with the aid of a telescope.