310 RIPPLE.

but the only resident gentry are J. W. Empson, Esq., of Ripple Hall, and Mrs. Anderson, of Ryall.

Ripple living is worth £750, besides £250 for the chapelry; the church and chapel will accommodate 600 persons, and about one-half of the sittings are free. The church is well proportioned, has a chancel, central tower, transepts, nave, and aisles, with south and west entrances, and a room was formerly over the porch, where at one time a recluse was said to have been lodged; but in later Protestant times the parson hung his game there till sufficiently "high" for cooking. Among the notabilia of the church are the unusual arrangement of the clerestory windows over the piers; the interesting carvings of the stall seats in the chancel, illustrative of agricultural life ; portions of the rood screen, tastefully carved; a bronze censer or thurible, shown by the rector; and until lately there was carved oak, painted to imitate oak, and good masonry, stuccoed to imitate masonry! Rev. G. H. Clifton is rector; the Bishop patron.

It is a fortunate thing for Ripple that it possesses land for the sustentation of both church and poor. There is a Baptist chapel at Naunton, near Hill Croome.

Remains of three stone crosses exist in the churchyard, the village, and at Uekingshall; and among the bodies in the churchyard is that of Robert Reeve, who died in 1626, being of the great height of 7ft. 4in. He is immortalised

thus:

" As you pass by behold my length,

But never glory in your strength."

The foolish giant is said to have killed himself in a mowing match, being pitted against two other mowers.

The custom here, at funerals, is to ring the bells instead of tolling them.