on the scene and others welcome a pope who has just passed St. Peter.  On the Saviour’s left are doomed spirits being conveyed by devils in various ways and in ludicrous attitudes to the place of torment, represented in the usual manner by the gaping mouth of a monster, vomiting flames of fire.  A large painting of a crucifix, with a priest kneeling beside it and angels flying above, was discovered at the same time on the north side of the Chancel but was too much mutilated to be thought worthy of preservation.

The roofs throughout are of low pitch, and almost all resemble one another in design.  Those of the nave, chancel, archdeacon’s chapel (on the west of the north porch) and transepts are divided by their principal timbers into large panels, which are again subdivided by mouldings upon the boarded ceiling.  At all angles and intersections there are carved leaves, and stars in relief adorn each panel.  All these roofs are painted in accordance, it is said, with existing indications of the original colouring.  The ground is blue, the mouldings red and white, the stars and carving are gilt.  The nave roof spandrels, above the tie-beams, have large painted figures of angels, supporting between them shields emblazoned with the instruments of the Passion.  These are also said to be reproductions, but it appears likely that time had left much to the imagination of their restorer.

[Illustration:  NORTH SIDE OF NAVE, EASTERN BAYS.]

Nevertheless, the whole effect of the roofs is harmonious, a result apparently obtained by the use of a blue far removed from the ultramarine tint too often employed.

Since the removal of the ringing floor, in 1855, the lantern stage of the tower has been once more visible from the church.  A wooden vaulted ceiling was at the same time inserted where a stone one had originally been built or intended.

The chancel is dark owing to the small clearstory windows, the low outer north aisle, and the concealment of a south window by the organ.  At the first pier east of the tower came the rood-screen, and on the south side (in the aisle) the door to it may be seen at a height above the floor.  Access must have been by steep steps against the wall, or from the top of another screen across the aisle.  The church accounts of the year 1560 tell us what it cost to remove: 

  Payd for taking down ye rode and Marie and John . . 4_s_. 4_d_. 
  Payd to ye carpenter for pullyng down ye rode lofft . . 4_s_. 8_d_.

On the east side of the tower wall can be seen the line of the original roof, showing the height before the rebuilding in 1391.  Although there is space for larger windows the aisle roof prevented their sills being brought lower.  The west arch of the south arcade has been forced out of shape by the pressure of the tower piers and arches; certainly the piers, which are little more than 4 feet square, seem slender enough for the support of so lofty a steeple.