139 



The very expensive and careful restoration of the inside and roofs of Ledbury 

 church effected at different periods since 1870, under the immediate and skilful 

 direction of the Rev. John Jackson, the rector of Ledbury, excepting as to the 

 north aisle, which is still unfinished, attracted due notice, but there were critics 

 who objected to the somewhat too free use of chisels in cleaning the walls and 

 thereby obliterating the tooling of the old masons, and it was hinted, in under- 

 tones, that if William of Wykeham wished to use black mortar, he preferred to 

 employ it where it was never seen. Something too was said about covering an 

 eleventh and twelfth century church with Cumberland slate and Broseley tile, 

 when there is tilestone enough in the parish to re-roof all the buildings in the 

 county, but another century may see this anomaly corrected. Meanwhile the tile- 

 stones are getting no hurt. 



Some slugs and bullets were shown wliich I obtained from the old north door 

 when it was recently cleaned down. These I believe to be relics of the battle of 

 Ledbury, which was fought on the 22iiil April, 1G45, and attention was called to 

 bullet marks in the stone work of the porch. I have no doubt sharp fighting 

 took place there, and it is most probable that Ma.ssey's men were quartered in the 

 church. 



As long as the records of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club endure, it will 

 never be forgotten that the year 1883 yielded the final harvest of fruit from which 

 were selected the specimens for the concluding part of the Herefordshire Pomona 

 — a book pronounced liy those liest able to judge the most perfect and thorough, 

 and artistically beautiful work e\'er published on the subject upon which it treats ; 

 and one moreover that will for centuries to come remain an enduring monument 

 of the Club's existence, of the ability of its members, and of their persevering 

 energy to improve the orchards of the county of Hereford. 



Mr. Piper concluded his paper with a graceful tribute to the memory of the 

 members of the Club, who had died during the past year, viz.. Major Meysey 

 Clive, Mr. De la Barre Bodenham, the Revs. James Davies, of Moor Court, and 

 Stephen Thackwell, of Little Birch, and Messrs. J. E. Norris and W. A. Swin- 

 burne ; a heavy loss to the Club in a single year. 



