nts. Among our best examples are those at Christchurch
Priory, Hants, and in Henry VII.'s Chapel. There is a remarkably
complete set in Exeter Cathedral.

[Illustration: A Typical Somerset Bench-End.
Showing a Fuller at work with the implements of his trade. Spaxton.
_Photograph Mr. Page._]

Of modern pews it is not necessary to say anything here, but previous
to the Reformation the nave of a church was usually fitted with fixed
seats, parted from each other by wainscoting, and partially enclosed at
the ends by framed panelling, but more often by solid pieces of wood,
either panelled or carved on the front. These bench-ends are very common
in the West of England, in Somerset and Devon, and they are often very
beautiful pieces of work and were in all probability executed by local
craftsmen. They embrace a variety of subjects: figures, scrolls, dragons,
serpents, etc., and frequently bear the arms of the family who owned the
pew. Sometimes they terminate at the top with finials either in the form
of heads, bunches of foliage, a chamfered _fleur-de-lys_ and a variety
of other ornaments called Poppy-heads, from the French _Poupee_. No
examples are known to exist earlier than the Decorated style, but of
Perpendicular date specimens are very numerous, especially in our
cathedrals and old abbey churches.

[Side note: Pulpits.]

Pulpits were formerly placed, not only in churches, but in the
refectories and occasionally in the cloisters of monasteries, and there
is one in the outer court of Magdalen College, Oxford, and another at
Shrewsbury. In former times pulpits were placed in the nave attached
to a wall, pillar or screen, usually against the second pier from the
chancel arch. Some are of wood, others of stone; the former are mostly
polygonal, with the panels enriched with foliation or tracery. Few exist
of earlier date than the Perpendicular style, but stone pulpits of
Decorated date are sometimes met with as at Beaulieu, Hants, a very
early specimen. Wooden pulpits are usually hexagonal or octagonal; some
stand on slender wooden stems, others on stone bases. A few have canopies
or sounding boards, and their dates can be fixed by the character of
their ornamentation. At Kenton, Devon, there is an early pulpit which
has retained its original paintings. Jacobean pulpits are very numerous,
and are frequently gilded and painted; the one at S. Saviour's Church,
Dartmouth, being a most elaborate example.

[Illustratio