Andrew's Church; this Lord Grimthorpe converted into a cupboard in
the thickness of the wall. The only other thing noteworthy at this part
of the exterior is a small piece of the north aisle wall of St. Andrew's
Church near the footpath.
#The Tower.# There yet remains the magnificent tower. It is 144 feet
high and is not quite square in plan, measuring 47 feet from east to
west, and two feet less from north to south. The walls are about seven
feet thick; in the thickness, however, passages are cut. It has three
stages above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows
in each face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing
room, has two pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage,
two double windows of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The
parapet is battlemented, and of course of later work than the tower
itself. The tower is flanked by pilaster buttresses, which merge into
cylindrical turrets in the upper story. For simple dignity the tower
stands unrivalled in this country. It must have been splendidly built to
have stood as it has done so many centuries without accident. Winchester
tower fell not long after its building, Peterborough tower has been
rebuilt in modern days; but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the
monks of Peterborough did, and no evil-living king was buried below the
tower, as was the case at Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of
the time, leading to its downfall.
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