364 



were to a great extent stamped out by the English, Saxon, and 

 Jute invaders of the S.E. of Britain, yet this efFacement was, 

 after all, gradual and partial, as the following approximate dates 

 will show. 



The kingdom of Kent was founded c. 450 ; that of Wessex 

 c. 500, i.e., only about 77 years before St. Augustine's mission. 

 It is therefore hardly credible that Christianity could have 

 totally disappeared in so short an interval. From this considera- 

 tion we can better understand how St. Martin's Church at 

 Canterbury was restored for the use of Ethelbert's Queen, and 

 still exists ; as also does the Castle Church of Dover, which is 

 generally believed, from the rudeness of its detail, to have been 

 the work of native workmen after the withdrawal of the Boman 

 garrison. From these survivals to the present day, we may fairly 

 surmise that St. Augustine found (perhaps) hundreds of churches 

 in the country, possibly dilapidated, but capable of repair. 



To the W. and N.W. of the island (especially in Wales) we 

 know that Christianity was never extinguished, and even now 

 there are Brito-Roman buildings extant, in part, at any rate ; as 

 for instance, St. Pirans Church (Perran-zabuloe), in Cornwall, and 

 possibly the little known St. Trillo's Chapel, on the seashore, 

 about two miles E. of the Little Orme's Head in N. Wales; 

 a building which I have the authority of Mr. M. H. Eloxam in 

 assigning to early in the 6th century, and thus uninfluenced by 

 St. Augustine and his mission. Another foct to which sufficient 

 attention has not been paid is the way that the majority of the 

 Cornish and Welsh Churches are dedicated to local saints of 

 these early times, whose names are unknown elsewhere, and thus 

 pointing to a continuous existence from their foundation. 



Now, though this civilization and architectural tradition is of 

 such ancient date, I think its influence is still to be seen even in 

 the present day ; but to this subject I shall have to return later 

 on. Mr. Fergusson, in his most useful handbook of Architecture, 

 makes the very just observation that in the churches of the 



