The Architectural History of High Halden Church, Kent

HIGH HALDEN CHURCH, KENT. 29 9 gable-wall as well as the chancel-arch; but in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries new arches were built in place of the old and the gable-wall was retained. At Offham, near Maidstone, there is a pointed arch built under the early-Norman arch, no doubt for the purpose of support. At High Halden there is considerable evidence, both in nave and in chancel, of lateral thrust, which the erection of the south aisle and north chapel in the thirteenth century did not avail completely to arrest; and there is also evidence, of a complicated character, that when the new chancel-arch was inserted early in the fourteenth century the walls on that line all across the Church were partly rebuilt. Apparently the new chancel-arch with its wall was made a few inches thinner than its predecessor, and the east wall of the north chapel was entirely rebuilt, as was (probably) the end-wall of the south aisle, but the gable above the chancel-arch seems to have retained its original thickness. The changes then made probably account for the peculiarly skewed "lie" of the fifteenth-century arch that now separates the south aisle from the adjoining chapel. This is very apparent in the Plan; while the difference of the plane of the face of the nave-gable from that of the wall below it is marked by a corbel-string above the angle formed by the junction of the chancel and the north chapel, as seen from the exterior of the building. In order to tie the nave-walls together and ensure their safety the Decorated builders thought well to place a tie-beam of their new roof quite close to their new chancel-arch and across the head of it. This is somewhat unsightly, but it is to be remembered that mediseval builders were used to placing beams and screens in the opening between the nave and the chancel, and that the presence of an additional beam above the rood would not then seem to be so unsightly as this tie-beam now appears to us. The springing-line of the chancel-arch is about 8 feet below the under-surface of the tie-beam and about 13 feet above the foundation- plinth on which its respond-bases stand. At about 2_ feet below the springing-line and 10_ feet above the original floor-level two cushion-shaped corbels project (5| inches) from the responds, one on either side. They face each other and are guttered to receive a beam and to prevent it from slipping or being pushed off. They are evident insertions, but probably they were inserted not long after the arch was built. There are no signs of a beam ever having existed at a higher level,-so that the beam which these corbels carried