351 



east end of the chancel is inserted in the -wall for preservation a 

 curious stone, with an inscription showing it to have been the 

 dedication slab of an altar. It was discovered in some Tudor 

 work of the Manor house ; originally square, it has been cut to 

 form the head of a window, and Mr. Butterworth supposes the 

 inscription was to this effect—" In honore sancta? Trinitatis 

 hoc altare dedicatum est." 



Mr. Butterworth says "that as the English Council of Cealchythe 

 in the year 816 one of the canons ordered that care should be 

 taken in the erection of new churches that the names of the 

 holy persons to whom they were dedicated should be inscribed 

 on the wall or on a tablet or on the altars." This fact invests 

 the discovered stone with considerable interest, as there are so 

 few examples known in English churches. It is difficult to assign 

 a date to this chapel, Mr. Butterworth thinks it dates from the 

 11th century, but if the late Canon Jones was correct in assigning 

 the Bradford Chapel to the 8th century, Deerhurst cannot be so 

 late as the 11 th. Some portion of the masonry bears unmistakably 

 the character of early Saxon, and just as part of the Saxon 

 work in the pre-Norman parish church in the same village gives 

 evidence of Norman influence, so the rough cemented stone work 

 of the Saxon Chapel bears a likeness to Roman w<Jrk. 



The Club then proceeded to an examination of the parish 

 church, when Mr. Shum read a brief account, being a summary 

 of Mr. Buckler's exhaustive paper, now in the British Museum, 

 but which has been published in the Bristol and Gloucestershire 

 Society's Proceedings, with notes by Mr. Butterworth. A volume 

 might be written of this most interesting pre-Norman Church ; of 

 varied history in Saxon, Danish, Norman and Reformation 

 periods, and of its peculiar adaptations to conventual arrange- 

 ments and services. After a pleasant drive to Tewkesbury, and 

 an invigorating lunch at the Swan Hotel, the members assembled 

 in Tewkesbury Abbey, where a very well-informed guide, con- 

 nected with the church, gave a full description of the various 



