Ancient Church Architecture. Saxon.— Of the ecclesiastical
edifices of Derbyshire, the crypt under the parish church of
Repton claims the first notice; there being good reason to
suppose, that it was a part of the conventual church, destroyed
by the Danes, who wintered here at this place in the year 874;
at which time Edburga, daughter of Adulph, King of the East-
Angles, was abbess of Repton. There have been three entrances to
this crypt by flights of steps, one on the north side, now open;
and two on the west, which appear to have communicated with the
church. It is nearly a square of seventeen feet, the roof being
vaulted with circular arches, supported by four columns of less
massy proportions than those of the later Saxon architecture,
the capitals are very plain and square, the bases round, without
any mouldings: the shafts are wreathed in different directions.
Crypt under the chancel of Repton church Melbourne church is a
very perfect specimen of the massy style of architecture which
prevailed in the el