Within, one finds a church like and yet unlike that at Ashford. Nave
and chancel are of the same width, and the arcades run from end to end
of the church really without a break, though half way a wall, borne by
three arches, crosses the church separating the chancel and its
chapels from the nave. The central arch of the three is of course the
chancel arch, but the wall it bears does not reach to the roof so that
the nave, clerestory and roof are seen running on beyond it. All this
is curious rather than lovely, but like every other strangeness in
England of my heart, it is to be explained by the long, long history
of things still--Deo gratias--remaining to us, so that when I said
that our buildings were growths rather than works of art I spoke
truth.
The church of St Mary of Great Chart is not mentioned in the Domesday
Survey, but that a church existed here in the twelfth century is
certain, for even in the present building we have evidences of Norman
work, for instance in the walling of the south chapel, and in the
vestry doorway. According to the Rev. G.M. Livett, [Footnote: K.
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