only from distant parts of England, but probably from France and other parts of the Continent, were from time to time engaged on the building. We can trace the influence of their work in some of the parish churches both of Devon and Cornwall, and even in the outlying moorland churches, at least in such portions of them as are Norman and Early English. We have beautiful fragments of Norman masonry in South Brent and Meavy churches, which were originally cruciform in plan, and were built not long after the Norman portion of the cathedral.

As I have before remarked, the Norman and Early English sculptors and masons worked almost and invariably in freestone, from Caen, Beer, and other known quarries far and near; but they most carefully avoided granite. I find little trace of their work in these eastern moorland churches; in fact, after a few lessons in style, the moorland builders were, no doubt, left pretty much to themselves. And no wonder! Nobody but a moorman to this day knows how to handle a boulder. He has a knack of breaking it up, and working it into a wall or hedge, most adroitly, which an ordinary mason has no idea of. A man may, and does, take a pride in working in granite as in anything else, but it is laboured and not very entertaining work. The best of the carving on Widecombe tower, or Probus tower, is rude, compared with that on the Somersetshire towers or on those in Devon which are of freestone. The sculptor wants a tractable material to deal with, and likes to see his handiwork follow his thought and fancy more quickly than he possibly can when working in granite. So the moorland carvers had it very much to themselves, and so also the masons. Their work is good of its kind, and for the material used, but it is not always very exact. Tracery sometimes tits awkwardly on mullions (as in the west window of St. Andrew's, Plymouth), or perhaps one of the very large quoin-stones of a moorland church is an inch or two out of the perpendicular, or there is the difference of an inch or so in a joint made up with slate or coarse mortar; but then it is granite work, and also the work of rough moorland builders, who did their best with their own hard and rugged native material.

A noticeable feature of the churches under review is a fifteenthcentury doorway formed of four immense granite stones-two archstones meeting at the point of the arch, and two jamb-stones. At Buckland-in-the-Moor, Bickington, Manaton, North Bovey, and

Chagford, these doorways are to be found chiefly in the west walls
of the towers. There are two at Chagford. The Rev. Samuel
Rowe describes the one at Manaton as of almost Cyclopean
character, and round-headed.
are two-centred and pointed.
double-chamfered on the outer edge. The former are about 21 feet
wide by 3 feet high, and the latter about a foot and a half wide
by 44 feet long.

This is not so. All these arches
Both jamb and arch-stones are

One can imagine how the masons of the different parishes vied with each other in the construction of these massive doorways, and what rivalry there was as to the sizes of the stones, and the accuracy of the working; how Chagford would boast that Bovey doorway "bain't so big as ourn by six inches in length, by two in width," or vice versa. That such emulation existed even in this out-of-the-world district there can be no doubt.

The little church of Buckland-in-the-Moor is chiefly remarkable for the beauty of its situation, and for the good proportions and somewhat quaint design of its tower, which is Decorated, and of

two stages, without buttresses, and with the stair-turret in the centre of the south face-an arrangement not very common, though it is repeated at North Bovey, where, however, the turret is in the centre of the north wall of the tower. The Buckland tower tapers, and, though devoid of ornament, is exceedingly picturesque, and is an object of interest in a landscape of surpassing beauty.

North Bovey is a good Perpendicular church, though much disfigured by plaster outside, and intensely yellow wash inside. It consists of nave (of four arches on each side) 46 × 18, north and south aisles 58 x 10, and chancel 28 x 12, with a tower 22 × 21 of three stages, with stump pinnacles. The rood screen is in fair condition, and that portion of it opening into the choir is carved around with figures of the twelve apostles in niches, and with the conventional foliage between. How great must have been the delight of the carvers of this screen in their work, and in anticipation of the Te Deum being sung for centuries within its precincts, with that acclaim which they symbolized,

"The glorious company of the apostles praise Thee!”

There is no doubt that the greater part of the fine and elegant work in these churches was done by these carvers, who realized in wood what the masons were unable to any great extent to produce in granite. Whether they worked as members of a guild, or in family groups, or in a more isolated way, certain it is they attained to great skill and excellence in their art. What gave impressiveness to the chancel in the Devonshire churches, was not its loftiness or the elevation of the altar (it was seldom raised more than three steps), but the screen with which it was invested. Rogers expresses the idea in two lines

"Approach with reverence.

There are those within
Whose dwelling-place is heaven."

The nave of North Bovey Church is almost entirely occupied with
the original oak seats of the fifteenth century, and very fine, and
massive (no "nicely-calculated less or more" about them), and rich
in colour, they are. Even in the best of our modern church seating
there is thinness and a certain economical though dainty look
which you
do not see in this old work. I have seen modern book-
boards only half an inch thick, and scarcely strong enough to bear
the weight of an old woman's prayer-book with her pocket hand-
kerchief round it, much less her elbows. Here at North Bovey it is
three inches thick, and the carved bench ends are 33 inches thick.

On the north wall of the chancel is a tablet with this inscription: "Here lyeth ye body of Thomas Parr, Rector of this parish 29 years, who was buried January ye 12th, 1733; and at his death gave five pounds to ye poor day labourers of this parish; and likewise three pounds yearly for ye education of poor children of ye said parish for ever, to be paid out of ye estates lying in Higher Langdon, after our life." One would think that £3 yearly would not go very far towards "ye education of ye poor children of yo parish;" but then there are no great multitudes of children in moorland districts, and possibly their education, a hundred and forty years ago, was even more elementary than it is now under the new act.

In the north chancel aisle windows at North Bovey are remains of ancient painted glass, including the emblems of the four Evangelists.

Scarcely inferior to the situation of Buckland is that of Manaton Church and village, rocks, woods, and rugged tors contributing to the wildness, and even grandeur, of the scenery. The church is a handsome Perpendicular structure, showing no signs of an earlier foundation, and consisting of nave, of three bays with four centred granite arches and piers, north and south aisles, and chancel. The rood screen is even finer here than at North Bovey, and retains its original colouring and gilding, now toned down and producing an exceedingly rich effect. May it never suffer the misfortune of repainting, or so-called restoration. In the panels are portraitures of saints and bishops, disfigured, it is said, by the stabs of Cromwell's soldiers. Likely enough, however, a good deal is put down to Cromwell's men that more justly may be attributed to the Vandalism of post-reformation Churchmen.

The roofs were originally all of the waggon kind, and the nave roof is a rather fine example. The south aisle roof has been ceiled perfectly flat and plain, like a workhouse corridor. In the north chancel aisle are three original oak benches of 15th century work, and of curious form. The south porch is exceedingly handsome, with a fine groined roof and parvise over. Externally this porch, and the rood staircase, and the south aisle, are surrounded by embattled parapets. The tower, 20 feet square, rises to the height of 90 feet, and is of good proportions, in three stages. At the top are battlements and pinnacles.

Of all the churches in this border Manaton is perhaps the best built, though not the most interesting archæologically.

In the churchyard, at the eastern end, and on the south side

entering from the lich-gate, is the base of the ancient churchyard cross. The piers of the lich-gate are old, and the roof is modernized and shorn of much of its original picturesque appearance. The gate is flanked on each side by a massive granite seat, eighteen feet in length, with a coped back, also of granite, of the same date as the church. These curious-looking and uncommon seats, with the church and grand old yew tree in the background, and the cottages and village green in the foreground, make up a picture of rare interest. Here the villagers, old and young, await the arrival of the squire and his family on Sunday mornings; here the village lads and lasses meet to exchange their vows, and to repeat the honied words familiar to all the descendants of Adam and Eve; and here the mourners pause and rest a moment when bringing a corpse for interment, as though unwilling to take the one step more into the churchyard, and to say "adieu" to the loved one.

Chagford Church, like Manaton, is entirely Perpendicular, and consists of nave (of five arches on each side resting on octagonal piers), north and south aisles, chancel, with north and south chantry aisles. There is no chancel arch; indeed not one of the churches here described possesses this feature.

The church has been fairly restored of late years; but with doubtful taste, to say the least, the eastern window of the north aisle has been cut away to allow of an opening into a new vestry, which has been built in continuation of this aisle eastward. Here too, as at Manaton, the new pews have low doors-an unfortunate necessity, it is presumed, and a concession to bucolic prejudice.

The aisle windows are all three-light, and of excellent character, with good moulded scoinson arches within. The east window of chancel is five-light, and there is a square-headed one over the chancel door. The roofs are all waggon-shaped, with good bosses at the intersection of the ribs. Portions of the screens on the north and south sides of the chancel remain, but the cross screen is entirely removed.

On the north side of the sacrarium, close up to the cast wall, is a large and elaborate Elizabethan monument to the memory of Sir John Whiddon, judge of the King's Bench, whom Risdon describes as "a man of high stomach, and well read in the laws of this land." The inscription is: "Here lyeth S. John Whiddo, Knyght, a judge of ye Kynge's Benche, who ended this life the 27th of Jan. anno. dom., 1575."