Heaven's above

St James of South Wraxall again. Have a close look at this photo. Look at the detail on the chamfered opening. The 'feet' of the two sides are finished with little decorative details normally found on full-sized doorways or as cooking pots as symbols of hospitality on stone fire-surrounds. They would not be noticed from below without binoculars.

Most of you think it is an access hatch to the bell chamber, but if it was, why would it be set on the most inaccessible part of the tower? It looks out onto the main roof of the church, so anything hauled up from below would have to be first hauled up to the pitched roof by some other means. A stepped tower was built on to access the bells, as seen in the engraving below. If it was a place to throw buckets of water onto the roof in case of fire, then it must be the only rural church to have one.

Some of you think that it would be there for the maintenance of the tower - to clear water-spouts or whatever - but the ledge you can see is only about two feet wide and wooden scaffolding could always be used, as it was to build the tower in the first place.

A lot of work was carried out on the church in the 17th century by the Long family, who built their own chapel against the West side so that they did not have to mix with the peasants at worship. It has a doorway very similar in style to the little hatch on the tower. The Victorians turned up and knocked the wall of the chapel through to create a much more inclusive, open-plan feel. The also made countless alterations to the interior and added an extension to the South. I cannot imagine what the place was like before they set to work. The tower is the only but they did not touch, thank heavens.

I looked in the visitors book (B.C.) to find that the T.V. historian, Dan Cruickshank, had visited a few years ago when he was documenting the history of the Long family, but it seems he did not refer to the humble hatch in the tower. I have looked at most of the sites for it, but there are none.

A couple of you think the same as I do, that the hatch was for looking out, not climbing in. There is evidence of a sturdy wooden structure once having been set over and around the hatch, as four holes of about 6 inches square - two above and two either side - have been filled in with stone within the last couple of hundred years. A hood maybe?

So if it was for looking out, what was being looked at? One of you suggested a hand bell would be rung from it, but I doubt that. The large bells have been there since - I think - the 18th century, and (I also think) bells were not commonly hung in rural medieval churches.

Someone also suggested that it was a look-out for assessing the possibility of floods etc, but I think it would be easier to get the factotum to ride out on a horse to gather intelligence from the peasants.

If you think they way I do, the fact that it is South facing will get you a little bit excited and a lot more fanciful. Wouldn't it be good if an 18th century member of the wealthy Long family spent a small fortune on a telescope and used the area above the bell-chamber as a platform for his celestial studies?

I will go up to the bell chamber at some point and look at it from the inside and I will write to the church and anyone else I can think of in the fear that they will probably destroy my romantic notion. I will let you know what they say, even if it much more down-to-earth.