FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>  
n occurrence; but in the thirteenth century the general introduction is observable. In Romsey Church, Hampshire, is the shaft and basin (the latter cushion-shaped) of a curious Norman piscina: this is now lying loose, in a dilapidated state. In the south apsis of the same church is another Norman piscina, consisting of a quadrangular-shaped basin projecting from the south wall; and on the south side of the chancel of Avington Church, Berkshire, is a plain Norman piscina within a simple semicircular arched recess. The churches of Kilpeck, Herefordshire, Keelby, Lincolnshire, and Bapchild, Kent, also contain Norman piscinae. Those of all the various styles of later date are common; they exhibit, however, an interesting variety in design and ornamental detail. The drain of the piscina communicated with a perforated stone shaft, commonly enclosed in the wall, through which the water was lost in the earth; as in the case of the piscina with its shaft taken out of the south wall of the chancel of the now destroyed church of Newnham Regis, Warwickshire. Sometimes a piscina was a subsequent addition to a structure of early date, as in the old and now demolished church of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, in the south wall of the Norman chancel of which a piscina of the latter part of the thirteenth century had been inserted. [Illustration: Piscina, Newnham Regis, Warwickshire.] The piscina is very common in churches even where the sedilia or stone seats are wanting, and not only in the chancel, but also in the south walls at the east end of the north and south aisles, and in mortuary chapels, as will be presently noticed; it appears, in short, to have been an indispensable appendage to an altar. Sometimes the piscina is double, and contains two basins with drains, the one for receiving the water in which the hands had been washed, the other for the reception of the water with which the chalice was rinsed after the communion[189-*]. In Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire, on the south side of the chancel, are the vestiges of a triple piscina; the fenestella has been destroyed, but the three basins with their drains remain. Across the _fenestella_, or niche which contains the piscina, a shelf of stone or wood may be frequently found: this was the _credence_[190-*], or table on which the chalice, paten, ampullae, and other things necessary for the celebration of mass were, before consecration, placed in a state of readines
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94  
95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>  



Top keywords:

piscina

 

Norman

 

chancel

 
Church
 
church
 

Warwickshire

 
Newnham
 

fenestella

 

destroyed

 

drains


basins
 

common

 

chalice

 

churches

 

Sometimes

 
shaped
 

thirteenth

 

century

 

wanting

 
chapels

mortuary

 
appendage
 

sedilia

 

indispensable

 

noticed

 

presently

 

aisles

 
appears
 

credence

 

frequently


ampullae

 

things

 

consecration

 

readines

 

celebration

 

Across

 

reception

 

rinsed

 

washed

 

receiving


communion

 

remain

 

triple

 

Rothwell

 

Northamptonshire

 

vestiges

 
double
 

semicircular

 

arched

 

recess