[Illustration: Ancient Communion Table, Sunningwell Church, Berkshire.]
Many of the old communion-tables set up in the reign of Elizabeth are yet
remaining in our churches, and are sustained by a stand or frame, the
bulging pillar-legs of which are often fantastically carved, with
arabesque scroll-work and other detail according to the taste of the age.
The communion-table in Sunningwell Church, Berkshire, probably set up
during the time Bishop Jewell was pastor of that church, is a rich and
interesting specimen. Communion-tables of the same era, designed in the
same general style, with carved bulging legs, are preserved in the
churches of Lapworth, Rowington, and Knowle, Warwickshire; in St. Thomas's
Church, Oxford; and in many other churches. Sometimes the bulging
pillar-legs are turned plain, and are not covered with carving: such occur
in Broadwas Church, Worcestershire; in the churches of St. Nicholas and
St. Helen, at Abingdon; and in the north aisle of Dorchester Church,
Oxfordshire. The table or slab of the communion-table in Knowle Church is
not fixed or fastened to the frame or stand on which it is placed, but
lies loose; and this is also the case with an old communion-table of the
sixteenth century, now disused, in Northleigh Church, Oxfordshire.
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