liv PROCEEDINGS, 



have been those of some old pa<2;an Saxon warrior, but to the belief 

 that the bones of St, Amphibalus had been found we owed the 

 existence of the beautiful fragments of the shrine of that saint in 

 St. Albans Abbey. He was believed to be a friend, and not merely 

 the cloak of St. Alban. 



The party then proceeded to view the church, the Vicar stating 

 that it was formerly dedicated to St. Amphibalus, as old people 

 now remember, but that it is now dedicated to St. Mary. It 

 was, he said, an old Norman church. Canon Davys considered 

 that it was the Priory church, but Mr. Browne did not agree with 

 this view, thinking that it was the Parish church, dating from 

 about 1110. Of the original Norman church the tower and the 

 north aisle only remained. There was at one time a low-pitched 

 roof, the line of which can be traced round the nave below the 

 clerestory. In the Decorated period the church was much altered, 

 the chancel being lengthened, the Norman apse removed, the sedilia 

 erected, and the side windows enriched. The south aisle was 

 lengthened by Abbot John of Wheathamp stead about the middle 

 of the fifteenth century, an arch being opened in the wall so as 

 to form the extended aisle into a chapel which was dedicated to 

 St. Amphibalus. 



Mr. Erowne then stated that the most interesting feature of 

 the church as it now exists was the double-canopied screen, which 

 is beautifully carved, but he did not know when or by whom it 

 was erected ; part of it, he said, certainly belonged to the Decorated 

 period. It is in a very good state of preservation. He regretted 

 the absence of the old Norman font, which could not be found. 

 The brasses, he said, were few and unimportant, the date of the 

 oldest one being 1470. 



The Communion-plate was then shown, and Mr. Erowne said 

 that it was Elizabethan, being dated 1577, at which time the 

 original handsome vessels were removed and these inexpensive ones 

 supplied. 



After according votes of thanks to Sir John Evans, the 

 Eev. Lewis Browne, and Mr. Farr, the party dispersed. 



I 



Field Meeting, 15th July, 1899. 

 THE WHEATHAMPSTEAD DISTRICT. 



Again the Natural History and Archaeological Societies joined 

 their forces, this time to attack chiefly the interesting problems 

 connected with the Devil's Dyke and the Moat. The meeting 

 was under the direction of Mr. Hopkinson. 



A good party of cyclists assembled at Wheathampstead Church, 

 and there awaited the arrival of a train which brought considerable 

 reinforcements. The united party first inspected the Church and 

 the Rectory garden under the guidance of the Eev. Canon Davys. 

 The chief feature in the Canon's garden is the great variety of ferns 

 which he grows, and which appear to thrive well with the careful 



