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Home Page Virtual Visit Inside the Church The Tower |
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The doorway between the tower and the nave is especially
fine. Its mouldings show the introduction of the round
into square which creates greys shading into black shadows
and into white areas where the light falls. This was a
new discovery at the time, and artists will be reminded that
something of the same development came some 300 years later
in the history of painting. Originally it was the outer door to the nave and was exposed
to the weather. The protection given it by the building
of the tower must be thanked for its good condition.
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The spiral metal staircase and the first floor of the tower
date from 1908. The second floor is that of the belfry, which
is reached by a sixteenth century spiral stone staircase with
an external door. There was once a ring of five bells, of which
only one remains. This is the heaviest bell with the deepest tone,
known as the Tenor. It was cast in 1380 with this inscription
in Lombardic capitals:
"A bell of sweetest tone, Gabriel's name I own." To be named after the Archangel Gabriel is very fitting for a bell rung thrice daily for the Angelus, which begins Angelus domini nuntiavit Mariae ... ("The angel of the Lord announced to Mary...") |
