SHALFLEET CHURCH, ISLE OF WIGHT, HAMPSHIRE. THIS Church is a very ancient and singular structure. It consists of a body, chancel, and south aisle, with a low tower of considerable magnitude. The north porch is of Norman architecture, but plain in its arches; over the door which opens into the Church is a rude sculpture, said by SHALFLEET CHURCH, ISLE OF WIGHT. some writers to represent a bishop, with his arms extended, and his hands resting on animals resembling griffins. This vestige of ancient art is fast crumbling into that state which will defy the powers of imagination to ascertain what it was intended to represent. The windows of Shalfleet Church were formerly ornamented with a considerable portion of beautifully painted glass, but little now remains in its former state, except the arms of Montacute, earl of Salisbury, and of Isabella de Fortibus. |