Lacock,
Chippenham.
March 9th 1866
My dear Mr Talbot,
I do not think any body who has examined the archway and knows any thing about building would for a moment consider that the filling up would be any assistance to the pier of the chancel arch. It was no doubt done by John Talbot in 1776 when he thought that he added to the beauties of the church by rebuilding the chancel! &, as he took care to paint up, beautified the chapel! The idea that the hagioscopes were cut because the arch was filled, I am convinced is quite erroneous There are hundreds of specimens of hagioscopes cut for in the same manner - The reason of the wall having been built I have no doubt was that John Talbot, like many squires of a hundred years ago, thought it right to go to church, but at the same time thought he might as well be comfortable in church & having no respect for architecture and thinking himself a greater man than any fellow sinner in this church boxed himself up accordingly, some-what after the manner of the Melbury folk - As to asking a "very good builder" as to his safety of the matter, I do not see the necessity of that expense, for Prichard told me himself that he was Confident it could in no wise endanger the safety of the chancel pier, and any body can see that it can be no assistance in supporting it, in fact when it was first put up, it must have had the opposite effect, being, if done at all tightly, inclined to thrust out the pier. I did not say the school children behaved badly but it was difficult to keep them quiet and a waste of our school staff to place one teacher in the chapel to keep them quiet -
As to the magazine, it is evident that you do not know the mode of circulating it, it is half supporting already, it is published by Mr Ershire Clark, the Incumbent of one of the churches in Derby, and is adopted in many hundred of parishes throughout England, we have in this parish alone nearly 200 subscribers already & daily fresh ones coming in. The insides costs [sic] about 5/4d a piece and the outsides with local matter costs about [ill del] 3/4d likewise; so making up the cost per number the same as the price per number: there is supposing we can sell about 150 or 200 - Of course subscribers are wanted Sir John takes 12 numbers monthly Mr St. Awdry also volunteered to make up an deficiency, so that I have no need to fear a want of success - My mother's direction is 13 Cadogan Place, Sloane Street, - she asked me in her last letter what has become of Charles, of course I could not answer her -
Yours truly
Edward P. Nicholl
P.S. A Builder rarely if ever knows much as to the safety of an old building it is not their business -
[The envelope for this letter is in a private collection. It is postmarked 9 March 1866 and is addressed to 13 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh]