PLATE CXXXIV.

Interior of the Town Hall, Chichester.

THE dimensions of this hall are seventy-eight feet six inches long, by twenty-five feet ten inches wide. The windows are long and narrow, the walls are very thick, and appear to be constructed entirely of flint, except the window casings, which are of stone; it is fitted up in the usual style of a court of judicature. Immediately over the justiceseat is a large allegorical painting, presented to the Corporation by the late Duke of Richmond; it describes the Restoration of Charles II. crowned by an angel, and the hydra of rebellion transfixed at his feet, with various emblems of a like kind.

Besides other religious houses, there were two convents of friars-white and grey; the site of the latter was near the north gate, and that of the former approximated to the east gate, which still retains the name of the Friary. The town-hall was anciently a chapel belonging to the castle, which, with the exception of this chapel, was given about the year 1233, by William de Albini, fourth earl of Arundel, to the Grey Friars of the order of St. Francis, in whose possession it remained till the dissolution in the reign of Henry the Eighth, who, in the year 1541, granted it to the mayor

and citizens of Chichester, by whom it was let on lease, except the chapel, which, as before stated, was converted into a town-hall, and such it has continued ever since.

PLATE CXXXV.

Part of the ancient Wall of Chichester.

THE wall which surrounds the city and bounds the bishop's gardens, and the bastions, except one, (which has been repaired and modernised) are evidently the work of the Romans; but there exists no record of the time in which they were built. In the year 1803, several coins were found among some rubbish, dug from under the south wall, bearing this inscription-Deæ faustinæ. As it is well known to have been the custom of that people to deposit coins in the foundations of their public works, the situation in which those above described were found, seems to strengthen the opinion, that this wall was a Roman work. In removing the rubbish, the mortar attached to the wall had become so hard, as to yield with considerable difficulty to the efforts of the workmen. The most ancient part of this wall faces the north. The great Roman encampment, called the Broile,

extending to this city, countenances the idea that the walls were originally built by them. This view was taken on the south side of the city.

PLATE CXXXVI.

Boseham Church, near Chichester.

THIS venerable structure, it is said, was built at the sole expense of William Walewaft, bishop of Exeter, about the year 1119; it was originally a collegiate for a dean and prebendaries, and was endowed with the accustomed privileges, which it lost at the dissolution, when it was made parochial.

PLATE CXXXVII.

Interior of Boseham Church.

THE stalls attached to this church, though greatly decayed, still retain their ancient position: at each end of the old benches is a fleur de lis, in carved work. The front bears the appearance of

great antiquity, and has many characteristics of Saxon workmanship. The monument seen at the right of the plate, is said to have been raised by King Canute, in memory of his daughter: it certainly represents a child, and the rude appearance of the sculpture may be supposed to accord with that age, but the Gothic work around it is more modern. This church contains many ancient monuments.

PLATE CXXXVIII.

The Crypt under Boseham Church.

THE strength and local situation of this place, give room for supposing that it was occasionally a prison. As the sea flows up to the church, this neighbourhood must necessarily have been exposed to the incursions of pirates and invaders; and, in the event of their being made prisoners, this vault was peculiarly adapted to their safe keeping. The entrance to it is nearly adjoining the south door of the church, by a descent of eight or ten steps, near which is a mural monument, canopied by an arch, divided into three compartments, which appears to have been placed here before the staircase

was built, as the steps encroach upon it; but as this monument is without inscription, it affords no means for ascertaining the time of its erection. The vault is lighted by a small narrow window, below the level of the ground without.

PLATE CXXXIX.

Boseham Parsonage House.

THE interior of this house exhibits a picture of extreme wretchedness; the windows are closed up with wood, and the rooms are too low to admit of a middle-sized person to stand up.

This view was taken on the south side of the old walls. At the right of the plate are the ruins of a monastery, and which is probably that described by Tanner, as being under the government of Dicul, a Scottish monk, when St. Wilfrid, about the year 681, first visited the South Saxons.

In the foreground is a large carved stone head, dug up near Boseham church, where it formerly stood, but is now kept in the garden of the parsonage-house it is supposed to be the head of the Saxon god Woden, although an eminent sculptor affirms, it was intended for that of the Emperor