of considerable antiquity, for one William Portland, in his will, dated 1501, described himself as "Perpetuus Vicarius de Ledys", and at the time living "in villa de Bello". Almost every part of this house seems to indicate that it was built in troublous times and with a view to defence. The Early English doorways on both sides of the house, the staples still remaining in the massive walls, the beautiful tracery in windows now blocked up, tell of the days of the earlier Edwards; and so does the wide spanned arch in the spacious room now used as a kitchen, with its corbels representing two men. in distorted attitudes, as though groaning under the superincumbent weight.

Here, too, in the passage leading from the front door into the large room already mentioned, is inserted in the wall a piece of exquisitely carved stonework, the object of which has been a moot point among antiquaries. (See illustration at p. 104.) A canopy of exquisitely delicate Decorated tracery rises over a bason of Bethersden marble, 2 ft. long, 9 in. wide, and nearly 4 in. deep; its size would probably suggest that it was designed as a lavatory rather than as either a stoup or a piscina. The background is filled in with a block of stone, so different in material and in character as to suggest its not having formed, or been designed to form, part of the original structure, but, happening to correspond in width with the canopy, to have been introduced to fill in the space at the back. It resembles two barrels side by side, placed on end, with a battlemented top, and two faces, one resembling that of a man, the other of a lion, the mouth of each serving for a spout, as it were, out of a cistern.

Battle Hall boasts also another object of interest. In one of the upper rooms is a long panel painting, composed of three planks, forming a panel 7 ft. long, and by 2 ft. 9 in. deep. It contains seven figures, but the faces have been so utterly scratched and scraped by some savage iconoclastic hand, that it is only by the emblem which each figure bears that they can be identified. In the centre stands the Virgin Mary, holding the child Jesus in her right arm. On her right is St. Katherine, having a small traditional wheel with curved spikes, the instrument of her death, in her left hand, while her

right grasps a long, naked sword with its point resting on the ground; beyond her appears St. Agatha, her breasts pierced through by a short dagger. At the extreme right is a Bishop with a crozier in his left hand, and his right raised in the act of blessing. On the left hand of the Virgin stands St. George (or possibly St. Michael), thrusting his spear down the throat of the dragon; next to him St. Mary Magdalen, holding the box of ointment in her hand; while the last figure on that side seems to represent an ecclesiastic in full vestments.

Peaceful and orderly as the parish now appears, there are tell-tale records which disclose a less happy state of things in the beginning of the seventeenth century. The church had apparently fallen into disrepair, and a vestry meeting was convened to pass a church-rate, on which occasion the last days of old Mr. Tilden's life were saddened, the harmony of the parish was disturbed, and the feelings of the vestry deeply wounded, as appears from the following presentment made by the churchwardens to the Archdeacon:-" We present unto you William Evans, for that when we of the parish were assembled to make an assess for the repairing of our Church, he being in our company, used himself very troublesome in wordes, being oftentime out with his curse (we being in the chancel), he made his wagers; and that he was offensive and troublesome to most of us present: he was admonished to leave such business for another time and place and he still persisting in his froward course swore he would doe it, being then near unto the communion. table in the chauncel, etc."

And sad to state, another presentment reports four of the parishioners as being "most notorious drinkhards”.

A tablet in the church, and also the Church Registers, tells us that Leeds has not been without its substantial benefactors:-"Charles Lumsden, gent., gave the sum of £200, to be improved for the augmentation of salary to the minister of Leeds residing, otherwise to the poor of the said parish, A.D. 1732."

"Mrs. Susan Meredith, of Leeds Abbey, gave a complete set of communion plate to this Church, at Easter-Day, 1751."

In the same year," The Hon. Robert Fairfax, of Leeds

Castle, gave four bells, and other additional ornaments to the steeple."

The parish of BROMFIELD has from the earliest days, both in its manorial and ecclesiastical character, been annexed to Leeds, and though claiming to have the lordly Castle within its bounds, possesses but little of interest compared with its sister parish. Domesday, under the name of "Brunfelle", makes no mention of a church having existed here at that time, nor is there any clue, as in the case of Leeds, to the date of its erection. The present building can boast of but little architectural beauty, beyond a trace on the outside of the north wall, near the east end, of a very narrow Norman window, long since blocked up. The building consists of a nave and chancel without side aisles. The tower was probably added about the middle of the fifteenth century, as its western face contains a good doorway of that period, with its square label and spandrels: but now nearly obscured by a modern porch. On entering the nave, the western arch, as also that at the chancel steps, with its bold yet graceful mouldings, proclaims the work of the earlier portion of the preceding century. One feature of the shafts is worthy of notice: about a foot above the square base on which they rise is a shallow plinth, or setoff, barely an inch in depth.

Whatever there may once have been of interest or historic value in the form of brasses or gravestones in the church has disappeared under the hand of the "restorer", to give place to a pavement of modern encaustic tiles. So, too, has it fared with any stained glass, with the exception of two very small fragments of rich bordering, which have happily been preserved in the two windows in the north wall. A highly emblazoned memorial window, displaying the Wykeham and Martin arms quarterly, with the monogram P.W.M. in a scroll profusely scattered over the vacant spaces, was introduced in 1880, by the late Mrs. Wykeham Martin to the memory of her late husband, Philip Wykeham Martin, Esq., M.P. for Rochester; she also built an organchamber and vestry on that side, and rebuilt a portion of the south wall.