288 On the Old Porch-Eouse at Potterne. 



recognized date of no less than five or six, and in one instance seven, 

 centuries. 



It was these wooden Churches of our forefathers which, the Saxon 

 Chronicles so often tell us, were burnt by the Danes ; and it would 

 seem that it was not until after their repeated demolition by fire, 

 that our ancestors awoke to the fact that it was advisable to employ 

 a more durable, if more expensive, material for their chief buildings. 

 As a notorious exception to this, doubtless the very perfect Saxon 

 Church of Bradford rises before our minds, which dating back (as 

 is believed on good authority) from the eighth century, seems to 

 contradict the statement I have just made. But if we remember 

 that Bradford is situated in the heart of some of the best stone- 

 quarries in England, we shall understand that stone would, in that 

 particular district, be as well the more natural as the cheaper material 

 for building; and the "Ecclesiola" of Bradford, as it has been 

 happily called, would be an exceptional case among its own contem- 

 porary Churches : and on that account I claim for it now an additional 

 title, to the respect and reverence (and let me add contribution to- 

 wards its preservation) of all true archteologists, in that it is not only 

 an almost unique specimen of its age which remains to us, but that 

 it probably never had many comj^eers of its time of like build and 

 material. 



I crave the indulgence of my readers for this digression on stone 

 Churches, to which I have been led by the few remarks I have made 

 on timber Churches ; and I return to the timber houses of which I 

 was speaking. 



Long after ecclesiastical buildings began, in the words of an old 

 writer, to " become petrified," and even after they had attained per- 

 fection, those of a secular character continued to be formed of wood. 

 Indeed I may say that for the several succeeding centuries, (even up 

 to two hundred years ago,) timber was the material generally adopted, 

 not only for the cottage of the peasant, but for the hall of the knight 

 or noble. Doubtless this was in great degree owing to the causes I 

 have already mentioned, the profusion of timber and the difficulty of 

 carting stone. To some extent also it may be attributed to fashion, 

 and the reluctance to change, which seems to have been as natural 



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