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482
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
soken in west Norfolk there are other fine late twelftivcentury
aisled naves. These last two, like the later West Walton, were
aisled from the beginning, but in the majority of cases aisles
were added to pre/existing churches, a most striking example
being Geddington in Northamptonshire where, above the
arcades on the face towards the aisles, the late/Saxon blind
arcading which ornamented the exterior ofthe original church
can clearly be seen. These early aisles are generally narrow and
often have been widened in the later middle ages. In the fenx
lands of Lincolnshire and west Norfolk a number of fine
towers were built in the first halfofthe thirteenth century, as at
Long Sutton and West Walton, and these form an early ex^
ample of a regional group of parish church features such as
became frequent in the late middle ages.
The earliest examples ofthe late/rnedieval movement for re/ 1
building and beautifying parish churches date from the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries and are to be found in
the great collegiate chancels added to many parish churches in
the midland counties. These buildings are called collegiate as
they were often occasioned by the endowment of chantries
for the souls of the
that is, provision for masses to be sung
founders at the main altar ofthe
parish churches, the chancels
of which were elaborately reconstructed to accommodate the
priests endowed to say these masses. The priests were either
formed into an association or
college from the beginning, or
were subsequently organized in this way. Splendid examples
of such chancels are to be found in Huntingdonshire, such as
Fenstanton, Bassingbourne in Cambridgeshire, and, perhaps
the most elaborate of all, at Lawford in Essex (PL 89 J). But in
the course ofthe fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, notably with
the growth ofreligious guilds attached to parish churches and
reflecting the widespread prosperity ofthe country districts due
to the wool and cloth trade, the naves and other
parts of the
parish churches shared in this movement for enrichment. That
is not to say that the parish guilds by themselves could afford to
undertake these
great works, but they formed a vehicle direct/'
ofthe church
ing the benefactions ofthe rich towards the parts