the Crown.

The internal evidence of the date of the building is given in the
description of the fabric. Of external evidence in the shape of
records or deeds we have very little. Tradition says that there was
once a brass tablet in the church bearing the following lines:

William and Adam built the Tower,
Ann and Mary built the Spire;
William and Adam built the Church,
Ann and Mary built the Choir.

Now we know that William and Adam Botoner, who were each Mayor thrice
between 1358 and 1385, built the tower, spending upon it _£_100 a year
for twenty-two years, but what foundation there is for the other
statements cannot now be determined. The tower was in building from
1373 to 1394, and the choir is contemporary with it, the nave was in
building from 1432 to 1450, and the spire was begun in 1430. As
William was Mayor in 1358 it can hardly have been less than one
hundred years after his birth that both nave and spire were begun. It
is however, likely that other members of the family (if not he, by
bequest) contributed largely to the general building fund.

Much of the history of a parish church is concerned with its internal
economy but even the records of this are not quite trivial for they
enlighten us on many points wherein we are rightly curious. We are,
for instance, constantly reminded, as Dr. Gasquet points out in
"Mediaeval Parish Life," that "religious life permeated society in the
Middle Ages, particularly in the fifteenth century, through the minor
confraternities" or gilds.