n occurrence; but in the thirteenth century the
general introduction is observable. In Romsey Church, Hampshire, is the
shaft and basin (the latter cushion-shaped) of a curious Norman piscina:
this is now lying loose, in a dilapidated state. In the south apsis of the
same church is another Norman piscina, consisting of a quadrangular-shaped
basin projecting from the south wall; and on the south side of the chancel
of Avington Church, Berkshire, is a plain Norman piscina within a simple
semicircular arched recess. The churches of Kilpeck, Herefordshire,
Keelby, Lincolnshire, and Bapchild, Kent, also contain Norman piscinae.
Those of all the various styles of later date are common; they exhibit,
however, an interesting variety in design and ornamental detail. The drain
of the piscina communicated with a perforated stone shaft, commonly
enclosed in the wall, through which the water was lost in the earth; as in
the case of the piscina with its shaft taken out of the south wall of the
chancel of the now destroyed church of Newnham Regis, Warwickshire.
Sometimes a piscina was a subsequent addition to a structure of early
date, as in the old and now demolished church of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore,
Warwickshire, in the south wall of the Norman chancel of which a piscina
of the latter part of the thirteenth century had been inserted.

[Illustration: Piscina, Newnham Regis, Warwickshire.]

The piscina is very common in churches even where the sedilia or stone
seats are wanting, and not only in the chancel, but also in the south
walls at the east end of the north and south aisles, and in mortuary
chapels, as will be presently noticed; it appears, in short, to have been
an indispensable appendage to an altar.

Sometimes the piscina is double, and contains two basins with drains, the
one for receiving the water in which the hands had been washed, the other
for the reception of the water with which the chalice was rinsed after the
communion[189-*]. In Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire, on the south side
of the chancel, are the vestiges of a triple piscina; the fenestella has
been destroyed, but the three basins with their drains remain.

Across the _fenestella_, or niche which contains the piscina, a shelf of
stone or wood may be frequently found: this was the _credence_[190-*], or
table on which the chalice, paten, ampullae, and other things necessary for
the celebration of mass were, before consecration, placed in a state of
readines