358 Architectural Notes of the Warminster Meeting. 
Maiden Bradley Church is one that has lost a good deal of interest 
through being modernised. The greater part of the church is 
Decorated, viz., the lower part of the tower, the south arcade of the 
nave, and the chancel arch. One arch! of the north arcade is Deco- 
rated, and the rest so concealed with modern plaster that its character 
cannot be seen, but I suspect that on investigation it would prove 
to be Norman. The only obviously Norman feature of the church 
is the font, which is of Purbeck marble. 
This was the last building visited by the Society, during the ex- 
cursion of August 23rd. On the following day the members pro- 
ceeded first to Longleat, of which well-known building I do not 
propose to give a general description, but to suggest a line of enquiry 
in connection with the history of the structure, which I do not 
think has been suggested before. Tradition attributes the design of 
Longleat to John of Padua, who was “ Deviser of his Majesty’s 
buildings ” to Henry VIII., and the architect of old Somerset House. 
The handsome external elevations of the building are generally sup- 
posed to be his work, or at any rate executed after his designs. Now, 
I happen to be familiar, in my own home, with a type of work which 
is such as I believe we should have found in old Somerset House, 
had any part of that building remained to the present time. ‘This 
is the work executed for Sir William Sherington, when he converted 
the buildings of the dissolved monastery of Lacock into a manor 
house. Throughout this work an Italian element may be traced, 
combined with the English architectural forms in a very remarkable 
manner. In the case of two tables of carved stone, the design is so 
entirely Italian, and the execution so excellent, as to lead decidedly 
to the conclusion that an Italian architect or sculptor was employed. 
I cannot of course assume that that architect was John of Padua, 
though it is possible, for Sherington appears to have been about 
the Courts of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., but he was certainly 
an architect of the same school. Now, on my first visit to Longleat, 
I was curious to see whether, in that building, which is reputed to 
1 At the east end of the naye. I believe the explanation to be that the church 
formerly had transepts. 
