The Interiour Arrangement
The original interior arrangement of the nave in the Norman churches was altered after the reformation in 1536. There were originally two doors in the western wall of the nave, a ladies door in the north and one for men in the south. After the reformation the ladies door was usually bricked up. There were originally no pews but a bricked bench along the wall of the nave. In some cases there was a raised bench along the western wall for the upper class. The baptismal font was located on a circular, two-level, raised platform in the middle of the nave, slightly displaced to the east relative to the two doors. In the rood wall (where the crucifix was located) the rounded opening (the rood arch) is bricked up with ashlar. There were two altars along the rood wall, one dedicated to St. Mary to the north and one to St. Michael to the south. There was often an altar recess, as is the case at Heldum. In the middle of the rood wall there was sometimes a rood altar and usually a crucifix hanging on a rood beam. In the nave there was a brickwork altar with a stone communion table with a reliquary (a container for holy relics). This could contain a relic from a martyr such as a fragment of bone or a piece of clothing.
