171 
Then he mentions a chappell for prayer for all his mechanicals and an alms- 
house for aged persons. Having given an account of his “‘ matters mechanical,” 
and his divers buildings, he goes on to describe his mode of irrigation and the 
method of his mills, and says, “The place of my residence affords meadow, 
pasture, all kinds of corne, wood, water, but such a number of beggars as 
are able to undoe a county,” and then begs his Lordship to come and view his 
water-workes. 
And now comes a very interesting bit, as follows :—“‘An Act of Parliament 
will be required for joining Peterchurch, Vowchurch, and Torneston, Torneston 
having only one inhabitant, to make a congregation, the living extending itself 
but to ten pounds yearly, and being such a miserable allowance for a preacher,” 
he adds, “I desired by Act of Parliament to unite these churches, being patron of 
two of them, and the third under a Preb. of Hereford”—(the two then being 
clearly Peterchurch and Torneston)—but he was forbid . . . his opponents 
averring against his plea for uniting the three parishes that they would have to go 
a mile (no doubt meaning to the Church at Peterchurch) to a sermon, and that 
their Church would not contain the three parishes at sermon time. 
He talks of the county being much improved by irrigation—says the Golden 
Vale is seven miles long, and that one grand part of bis drainage system con- 
sisted of what he calls a Trench Royal, three miles long, ten foote broad, and 
four foote deep, that he was forced to cleanse this Trench Royal in 1601, and that 
he got capital manure out of it. And Vaughan ends a funny little book by 
begging his Lordship “ to beare with his merry sorry stile if anywhere I have 
not observed a precise shollen-like deccorum,” and it is signed— 
Your Lordship, 
Ever beyond his uttermost, 
ROWLAND VAUGHAN. 
Believing it possible that few if any of my listeners have even heard of this 
book, I thought it might be interesting to give these few extracts from it, for 
which I am indebted to my cousin. But now for a few remarks on my special 
theme, the Church of Peterchurch. And as I can lay no claim to architectural 
knowledge, I must ask our President to kindly forgive and correct any mistakes 
I may make in trying to give you an account of the grand old Church which 
adorns the centre of the Golden Valley. Dedicated to St. Peter—it is mainly of 
the early Norman style, dated about the 10th century. The Church consists of 
apse, double chancel (with once, very probably, a central tower), andnave. These 
comprise a very unusual and complete church arrangement, and form, without 
doubt, a most interesting example of this period of architecture. There are two 
other churches in the county and not so very far from Peterchurch, which I 
suppose are of about the same date. I allude to Kilpeck and Moccas ; but these 
are much smaller, and neither of them possesses the double chancel. Though 
there is a common touch in all three which seems to bespeak a common builder, 
no other church, so far as I am aware, approaches this in simple outline and 
character. You will find that the work throughout is plain and massive, with 
