the mutilation of capitals, the darkening of windows, and the semi-blocking up of arches, which the erection of galleries in an old church always causes, interrupting the free course both of light and sound, and so in a great measure defeating the ends for which they were erected.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, however, not only were there no galleries, but possibly no pews; certainly not after the narrow, high-backed pattern of modern times, contrived, apparently, for the express purpose of making kneeling at prayer as uncomfortable as possible. The seats, if there were any at all in the nave, were similar to those still preserved against the north wall of the chancel, parted from each other by wainscotting, about two and a half or three feet in height, and inclosed at the ends next the passages, to the width of the seats, with either framed panelling, or solid pieces of wood more or less decorated, the remainder of the space being left entirely open. But there is nothing left to show what was the precise state of the body of the church in this respect. The earliest date on any piece of woodwork is 1536, on an oratory in the chancel. In 1564, the Wombwells of Thundercliffe Grange made the pew which still bears their arms and date of erection. In 1569, and again in 1579, the churchwardens made a "stawll," but this was probably what would now be called the reading-desk; and in the same year Alexander Hadfield set up a "comely stall," as will be described hereafter. The writer had, also, for some time, the back rail of an oaken seat, now at the Vicarage, with the inscription here given :

1 "Glossary of Architecture," ed. Parker, 1845. Art. PEw.-In some old representations of churches the nave and aisles are depicted as entirely free from woodwork except the pulpit and a low stool at the east end of the nave, "between the porch and altar," at which the priest knelt, with his face towards the chancel, while repeating the Litany, the people kneeling on the floor behind him; the men, not unfrequently, on the south side, the women on the north. See Durandus on Symbolism, Ch. I. § 46.

M

Dodsworth also mentions a pew over which was an inscription on the wall, to the effect that it was appointed by the Earl of Shrewsbury for Gilbart Dickenson and his wife, 1601.'

In course of time, as the population, or the desire for appropriated seats increased, other erections of various patterns were allowed to be raised: thus one in the chancel has on it the cipher of W. G., probably William Green, of Thundercliffe, who died in 1674; but it was not until the end of last century, or beginning of the present, that the church had fallen into the "graceless state" thus described by a graphic, though it is to be hoped in this case somewhat imaginative, pen :-" Quaint galleries, with two or three pews in them, and each a separate staircase, were studded about the church, and peered from under arches or behind pillars, each painted or colour-washed to a different tint, as suited the taste of the owner, or the exigencies of the then sexton. On the ground, in one place, stood a pew lined with green baize; in another an oak stall patched with deal; this was square and tall, that

1 Hallamsh. p. 260.-It is worth noting that all the stalls above enumerated, except that set up by the churchwardens, were made by persons who lived so far from church that their journey thither might render sitting down during some part of the service, or at any rate until it began, a matter of necessity; e. g. Mounteney of Cowley or Shirecliffe, Wombwell of Thundercliffe, Hadfield of Upper Shiregreen or Wincobank, Carr of Southey, and Dickenson of Barnes Hall or Howsley Hall.

low and oblong; this had no floor, that no bench-end; one was surrounded with crimson curtains, the next had not even a solid seat in it."

The best of the pews above mentioned were, at the reopening of the nave, &c., in 1825, removed into the chancel, where still remained in good preservation the stalls, which formed part of its original fittings. These stalls are in the usual style of the period when the present church is supposed to have been built; massive oaken benches, with equally massive broad desks in front, on which, at an age somewhat later, were deposited the "authors" given by Vicar Hatfield to be chained there for the benefit of all who might choose to peruse them. The ends of the stalls rise above the woodwork, and are terminated by carved

finials, amongst which are an image of the Virgin and Child, and another of St. Catharine. The panels are beautifully carved. At the west end of the choir are four stalls, two on each side at right angles to the above, of a

1 "Short Historical Account of Ecclesfield Church," by Rev. J. T. Jeffcock, p. 21.

more elaborate description, being separated from each other by projecting elbows, and the seats being of the form known as misereres, made to turn up, so as to present a small bracket on the under side sufficient for an aged or infirm person to lean against, without actually forming a

seat. These brackets are carved into the usual quaint devices: e. g. one reveals the smiling features of an angel, another the scowling lineaments of a fiend.

The backs of these seats and stalls are formed by the rood-screen and two elegantly wrought side-screens, the latter extending half-way into the chancel. These are still in the places which they occupied three centuries ago, though of course there no longer exists the rood-loft' which once supported the great rood, or crucifix, towering far into the chancel arch, with its accompanying figures

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1 A beautiful cornice, similar to that on the side-screens, has lately been put in the place it once occupied, under the superintendence of Mr. Hayball, of Sheffield.