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The Nave
Moving further back down the centre chancel aisle, it is
worth looking up at the carved corbel heads at the top of the walls, and
these were restored and repaired after the fire of 1974. Over the central
aisle is a particularly fine twelve-branched brass candelabrum dating from
the 18th century, which is still lit for special services.
The pews, pulpit and lectern are all of the Victorian era;
previously there had been oak box pews which now form part of the panelled
oak dado on the nave walls. Prior to that there had been bench pews with
carved poppy heads on the ends, dating from the 15th century. A few of
these have survived - two are in the Carpenter Chapel, and four at the
West end of the nave.
Above the chancel arch on the
great Easternmost roof beam is the inscription:
1740
GEORGE BRAMSTON ESQ AND RICAHRD BARNES
CHURCH WARDENS
REGINALD BRAMWOOD OF WRITTLE, CARPENTER, fecit
It seems that fairly major
restoration must have taken pace at that time. The seventh of these great beams, at the Western end of the nave
roof is dated 1802; this replacement would have been necessitated by the
rebuilding of the tower. The
West end of the nave was rebuilt at this time, and the first arch in the
nave arcades had to be foreshortened to accommodate Lambirth’s brick
buttresses supporting the tower. Beneath
this end beam can be seen the former door to the gallery, now filled in
and bearing a stained glass window portraying a cross of nails and
flames, symbolising the suffering of the Church from the fires in 1974
and 1991, and its restoration. The galleries this door once gave access to were removed in 1869
the woodwork having become rotten and unsafe.
The brackets bearing the five
middle beams rest on stone corbels. Each of which carries a demi-figure
of an angel. These,
together with the bosses in the centre of each roof beam were repainted
following the fire in 1974, using the colours that would have been used
originally, probably in the late 1`5th century when almost
the entire roof was rebuilt in th4 form which it remains to this day.
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