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NEWHAVEN 247 |
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there is an original piscina. The nave is rough Early English work that has gained and then lost a north aisle.
The next village is Rodmell, with a quaint little late Norman church; the chancel arch is very ornate, but has been almost entirely renewed; just south is an original squint (or hagioscope) with a black marble shaft having strange twisted fluting in the middle; the nave is divided from its south and only aisle by two round arches and a round pillar whose square foliage cap rests on four corbels, one head and three knobs of foliage. There is an Early English south chapel to the chancel, and built during the same period is a tower with square shingled spire; the present vane bears date 1778. An extremely interesting little screen, its date about 1300, has trefoiled arcading with heavy circles enclosing quatrefoils and embattled beam above. In 1433 a brass memorial was made for John Brake and Agatha his wife, inscribed in Latin, and reverently placed over their grave; in 1673 it was stolen for John de la Chambre, Esq., whose epitaph in English was engraved on the other side. Such palimpsests are much more usual than they should be, they reflect most unfavourably on the honesty of the friends of the later person commemorated.
The almost adjoining village of Southease has a very small church, which seems once to have consisted merely of Norman nave and chancel; the latter was extended and side chapels" built at a later period, but few original features are left; the east end has a hip roof and a lime-tree shades the window. But by far the most interesting part of the church is the round tower, clearly an addition to the Norman nave. Built with as |
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