ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, SONNING. I hope to devote, from time to time, some part of our space to an account of the Parish Church. Though it is not in the first class of the old Parish Churches of England, and can by no means be compared with the grand Churches of Lincolnshire or Nottinghamshire, Norfolk or Suffolk, Somersetshire or Gloucestershire, still it is a building of much beauty and interest, and it holds a high place among the Churches of Berkshire. Writing for the eyes of Parishioners, I feel sure that the minutest details about our Church will be interesting, and I shall therefore give a full description of its condition and appearance before its restoration, and also endeavour to point out all the features worthy of notice in the building as we now see it, renovated under the careful hand of H. Woodyer, Esq., one of the ablest of modern architects. When the notices of the Church are complete, we must turn our attention to the history of the Parish, and the events, so far as we can trace them, with which it has been connected in ancient and modern times. A Church has no doubt existed at Sonning since the 9th or 10th century, as we know that Saxon bishops resided at Sonning before A.D. 900; but no part of the present fabric is probably older than about the reign of Henry II., A.D. 1180. There are, however, some very ancient portions of an older building worked into the masonry of the tower; and one stone close to the buttress of the north west gable of the Church, is well worthy of notice. From its peculiar ornament, like wicker-work, it is believed by Mr. Albert Way, the celebrated antiquarian, who first pointed it out to me, to be part of a Saxon inscribed cross, which is recorded to have stood at Sonning. The oldest parts of the present building are the south doorway, and the small two-light window above it. These have the only round arches in the Church, and are of Norman date, probably not later than A.D. 1180, for a few years later, about A.D. 1200, we find the pointed Gothic arch coming into general use. There is in the inside of the Church, one other relic of Norman times, namely, the beautiful twisted column on which the alms-box is placed, against a pillar in the North Aisle. This little column we found during the repairs of the Church, built into part of the Chancel wall, and it had evidently been thrown away, and used simply as material for filling up the middle of a wall at some bad time of alteration and disfigurement. It is difficult to decide what was the exact form and appearance of the Church before the Reformation, The South Chancel Aisle is of a much more recent date, about A.D. 1620. The North Chancel Aisle is earlier, but that and the North Aisle of the Church can hardly be earlier than A. D. 1500. There is a record of an ancient Chapel at the East end of the Church, dedicated to St. Sarac, or Sarik, which was famous as a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, for persons afflicted with madness. This Chapel was probably an addition at the East end of the Chancel, and traces of its foundation have been discovered in digging graves in that part of the Churchyard. There is some reason also to think that the Church at one time extended further at the West end, because the last of the columns on both sides of the Nave goes into the wall of the Tower in such a manner as to make it probable there was another bay beyond; and some confirmation is given to this view from the fact that the present Tower is evidently of a much more recent date than the Nave of the of the Church. The Tower, which is of the late Perpendicular style, seems to have been built about the time of the Reformation, and it is thought that it was made up greatly out of old materials from those parts of the Church, (for instance, the Chapel of St. Sarac,) which were then pulled down. This would account for our finding large blocks of stone of all kinds, sometimes elaborately carved, interspersed with the flint work. The ancient fabric therefore, before the Reformation, was probably longer than the present Church, both at the East and West ends, but must have been substantially what we see it now, only without the South Chancel Aisle, (which, as we have said before, was a very late addition,) and the Tower. Anyone can see by looking at the position of the buttress at the East end of the South Aisle, with the ancient sun-dial upon it, that the building originally ended there. Of this Church, the oldest and the finest portion is the beautiful South Aisle, which belongs to the very best time of Decorated Gothic Architecture of the reign of Edward III, A.D. 1350. Observe its greater height, the lofty pitch of the roof, the perfect proportion and beautiful tracery of the windows of three-lights, and on the exterior, the faced flint work, all making this aisle unquestionably the richest part of the Church. Next in age to this, comes the nave, with its fine piers of massive chalk, dating probably from A.D. 1400. Of the same date is the Chancel, the East window of which is a fair specimen of the late Decorated Style. Then come the North Aisle, and North Chancel Aisle, both built, as we said before, somewhere about A.D. 1500. This we gather from the lower pitch of the roof, showing that the style was becoming debased, and from the very meagre, lowarched windows, all of which disappeared at the restoration of the Church in 1852. Of the two porches, the South one is entirely new. There was an old wooden porch, of a late age, very much dilapidated, which it was necessary to remove entirely. Of the present oak Porch the highest praise that can be given is, that it has frequently been taken for an ancient work. The North Porch belongs to the time of the North Aisle; it was lengthened about two feet at the restoration, and new windows and a new doorway were given to it. The only other remark to be made at present about the exterior of the Church is that all the walls, with the exception of the walls of the South Aisle and the Tower, were rough-cast; and no slight part of the labour and cost of the restoration was the work of re-facing the whole outside with flint. Though we had the exquisite model before us of the South Aisle, it was found to be too expensive to copy the faced flint work, except in the North Porch, the front of which is admirably worked in that manner. The rest of the walls are built in irregular flint work. After this general survey of the whole building, we shall be better able in another number to go into details of the interior, and to notice its special points of interest, such as the richly sculptured arch at the East end, the brasses, the monuments, the screens, and finally, to give an account of all that was effected at the time of the restoration of the Church. To be continued. IN A CATHEDRAL. The worshippers are met. Stand here awhile H. P. F. H. BAPTISMS. AT SONNING CHURCH. Jan. 10th-William, son of William and Elizabeth Douglas, Sand ford. AT ALL SAINTS'. Jan. 10th-Joseph, son of Joseph and Emily Rampton, Dunsden. Elizabeth Jane, daughter of James and Emily Herbert, Dunsden. MARRIAGES. Dec. 25th-At the Parish Church, William Robinson to Hannah Gooday, both of Woodley. Dec. 30th-At the Parish Church, Samuel Willis, of St. Giles', Reading, to Mary Ann Fitch, of Sonning. BURIALS. AT SONNING CHURCH. Dec. 30th-Maria Evans, Sonning, aged 60. AT ALL SAINTS'. Dec. 31st-Dinah Wilder, Dunsden, aged 65. Bibles, Prayer Books, and Hymn Books, may be obtained at the |