s a feature which
may be treated with some freedom. Its width and length are dependent
upon the convenience and will of the builders. The north chapel of the
aisleless church of Clapton-in-Gordano, Somerset, is entered by an arch
in the east part of the north wall: the chapel itself, however, extends
some distance westward, so that its longer axis is parallel to the
longer axis of the nave. The south chapel, again, at Lowick in
Northamptonshire has its longer axis from east to west, although its
roof is at right angles to that of the adjacent aisle. Externally, its
transeptal character is apparent; internally, it has the appearance of
an additional south aisle. A chantry was founded in this chapel in 1498.
Very often, where special chantry chapels were built, they took the
position of transeptal chapels. Cases in point are the late Gothic
chantry chapels in All Saints and St Lawrence's at Evesham. Such chapels
may obviously be lengthened westward, like the chapel at
Clapton-in-Gordano, so that they become additional aisles. The Milcombe
chapel at Bloxham in Oxfordshire, the Greenway aisle at Tiverton in
Devonshire, and the side chapels of the north and south aisles at St
Andrew's, Plymouth, and Plympton St Mary are the logical outcome of the
habit of adding transeptal chapels to the plan. Two transeptal chapels
of the ordinary type are found in other Devonshire churches rebuilt in
the fifteenth century, as at East Portlemouth: the Kirkham chapel at
Paignton, famous for its carved stone-work, is transeptal. From this it
is but a step to the chapels at Plymouth and Plympton, with their longer
axes from east to west: while the aisle at Tiverton (1517) develops
naturally, in the churches of Cullompton (1526) and Ottery St Mary
(before 1530), into a vaulted aisle the full length of the nave. At
Bloxham, on the other hand, the Milcombe chapel, which extends from the
east wall of the south aisle as far as the porch, was probably grafted
upon an earlier and smaller transeptal chapel. A comparison with the
neighbouring church of Adderbury shows that the fabric of the transeptal
chapels at Adderbury is largely of the twelfth century. The north chapel
at Bloxham is, in its present state, much later; but the similarity of
plan to that of Adderbury leads to the justifiable conclusion that it
was rebuilt on old foundations, and that there was a similar south
chapel. About 1290 the aisles at Bloxham were widened, and a beautiful
arcade