^{page 205 note 1} Wordsworth does not tell us how he came to know this. It is reputed to be a Scottish Masonic tradition. (See Dictionary of Architecture, Architectural Publication Society, 1853, article on ‘Orientation’, and Laurie, W.A., History of Freemasonry, 1859, p. 414.Google Scholar These articles, however, both quote Wordsworth in corroboration.) A very much earlier mention is to be found, by Silas Taylor (or Domville). Domville was a captain in the Parliamentary army, who later devoted himself to antiquarian pursuits. He died in 1678. One of his manuscripts contains this passage: ‘In the days of yore, when a church was to be built, they watched and prayed on the vigil of the dedication, and took that point of the horizon where the sun rose from the East, which makes that variation, so that few stand true, except those built between [= at] the equinoxes. I have experimented some churches and have found the line to point to that part of the horizon where the sun arises on the day of the saint to whom the church is dedicated.’ During the Commonwealth Domville ransacked the cathedral libraries of Hereford and Worcester with great zeal. Hence he may have got his information from early sources. This is quoted from Johnson, Walter, Byways in British Archaeology, 1912, p. 225Google Scholar. On the other hand, at his date, Domville might have had contact with the living tradition as a Masonic secret.

That English churches faced sunrise on their Patronal Festivals is referred to by John Mason Neale and Benjamin Webb in 1842 as ‘a practice undoubtedly prevalent in England’ (Symbolism of Churches by Durandus, trans. J.M. Neale and B. Webb, 1842, p. 14, n. 17). They neither tell us the source of their information nor mention Wordsworth. Nor do they say how far they really assured themselves it was a fact. They note, however, that Durand himself knew nothing of the custom, in fact he expected all churches to face due east like St. Peter's, Rome, and complained that a few faced sunrise at the solstices instead.

^{page 206 note 1} e.g. Rigg, J., ‘The Orientation of King's College Chapel’ (Camb. Antiq. Soc. Journ., vol. i (1853))Google Scholar. Rigg calculated the chapel's sunrise day to be 22nd Mar. The chapel is indeed on level ground, but it is not on an exposed site, so the local horizon would not be o° o′. Distant treetops, etc., in such cases always make it at least 1° high, and this would bring the sunrise day to 25th Mar.

See also Gsell, S., Les Monuments antiques de l'Algérie, ii, 1901, p. 124Google Scholar. Gsell may have had his refraction, etc., correct, but he disregarded his local horizon. What is more, his book contains a photograph of his church, the basilica of St. Salsa at Tipasa, and this shows an enormous hill to the east. If he had made allowance for this hill he might have found his church facing sunrise on St. Salsa's Day after all. But in any case the basilica was built in the middle of an ancient cemetery, all the tombstones of which lay in a particular direction, including that of St. Salsa herself, which was preserved intact and made the centrepiece of the new church. In such circumstances the church could hardly be expected to run skew-wise across the tombs, whatever the reason.

I obtained this reference to Gsell's book from Davies, J. D., The Origin and Development of Early Christian Architecture, 1952, p. 83.Google Scholar Davies rejects the idea of Patronal Festival orientation on the strength of this isolated and unsatisfactory example.

^{page 207 note 1} The Symbolism of Churches by Durandus, trans. J. M. Neale and B. Webb, 1842, p. lxxxii.

^{page 207 note 2} e.g. Cave himself at the end of his article, p. 51. See also Thompson, A. Hamilton, The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church, 1911, p. 131Google Scholar; Bond, F., Dedications of English Churches, 1914, p. 249Google Scholar; Cautley, C. Munro, Norfolk Churches, 1949, pp. 14–17Google Scholar. Cautley pictures the mason setting out the site of a church by scraping his foot along the ground, as a farmer might set out the site of a rick.

^{page 209 note 1} Warner, S. A., Oxford Cathedral, 1924, pp. 20, 21.Google Scholar The foundations discovered to the east of the Lady Chapel and north Choir Aisle belong either to the original or to the second Saxon church. Whatever the date of the east wall itself, the chapel lies on the line of this Saxon building, as the plans show it. So does the Norman church. Why it was not corrected I do not know, unless the shrine made this inadvisable. Note that Oxford Cathedral is an instance where our arguments could be reversed, for the orientation requires a Saxon foundation line, else the sunrise day would be 22nd Mar. not 25th Mar. Dorchester Abbey is another instance where very ancient foundations are indicated.

^{page 210 note 1} Wormald, F., ‘English Church Calendars before 1100’ (Henry Bradshaw Soc., vol. lxxii).Google Scholar

^{page 211 note 1} Kirk, K. E., Church Dedications of the Oxford Diocese, 1946, p. 18,Google Scholar mentions Brize Norton as one instance among others. Here the village took its name from the Bruns family which once owned the place, not, as supposed, from St. Brice. I imagine Stanton-St.-John is another, for the Sinjohn family once owned the place. There are also instances like Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. There the church was taken as being St. James's, after the local fair held on that day. Though often a reliable guide, it was not so in this case, as the medieval dedication is now known to have been St. Mary (see Diocesan Calendar of recent years). Another one-time St. James's church is rather amusing. The place need not be named, but the rector told me his church had always been called St. James after an ancient well, popularly known as ‘Jim's well’. The well, however, turned out to be comparatively recent, named affectionately after a previous rector who had dug it. St. James was therefore dropped as patron saint of the church, but not before a large picture of him in painted glass had been placed in the east window.

^{page 211 note 2} Warner, S. A., Oxford Cathedral, 1924, p. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 211 note 3} Bede, , A History of the English People (1955, Penguin edn., p. 207).Google Scholar For Rochester, see p. 103.

^{page 212 note 1} Notes in Rame parish church.