_The Old Church at Chelsea, England_,--Mr. H. H. Burnell read a paper
before the British Archaeological Society lately, on the Old Church of
Chelsea. The chancel, with the chauntries north and south of it, are
the only portions of ancient work left. The north chauntry, called the
Manor Chauntry, once contained the monuments of the Brays, now in very
imperfect condition, having been destroyed or removed to make space
for those of the Gervoise family. There remains, however, an ancient
brass in the floor. Of the south, or More Chauntry, he stated that the
monument of Sir Thomas More was removed from it to the chancel; and
the chauntry had been occupied by the monuments of the Georges family,
now also removed, displaced, and destroyed. Mr. Blunt showed that,
notwithstanding the current contrary opinion, founded on Aubrey's
assertion, the More monument is the original one for which Sir Thomas
More himself dictated the epitaph. Mr. Burnell, the architect of the
improvements effected subsequently to 1857, spoke positively as to the
non-existence of a crypt which conjecture had placed under the More
Chauntry. The foundation of the west end of the church before it was
enlarged in 1666, he found west of Lord Dacre's tomb. On the north
side of the chancel an aumbrey, and on the south a piscina was found,
coeval with the chancel (early fourteenth century). The arch between
the More Chauntry and the chancel is a specimen of Italian
workmanship--dated 1528--a date confirmed by the objects represented
in the carved ornaments, those objects being connected with the Roman
Catholic ritual. It is a remarkably early instance of the use of
Italian architecture in this country. In a window of this chapel, then
partly bricked up, was found in the brickwork in 1858 remains of the
stained glass which once filled it. The body of Sir Thomas More was,
according to Aubrey, interred in this chapel, and his head, after an
exposure of fourteen days, testifying to the passers-by on London
Bridge the remorseless cruelty of Henry VIII. and his barbarous
insensibility, was consigned to a vault in St. Dunstan's Church,
Canterbury. It was seen and drawn in that vault in 1715.--_Reader_.