Recent Wiltshiir Books, Pamphlets, and Articles. 233 



Wilts Plant Notes, 1904, by Rev. E. S Marshall, 



M.A., FL.S, in Journal of Botany/, June, 1904, pp. 173—176, is 

 another valuable contribution to Wiltshire botany by the distinguished 

 botanist who has alas now left the county. Seven species or sub-species 

 are new to the county list. 



A Guide to Devizes and Ten Miles Round, with an 

 Extra Chapter on Stonehenge, by e. j. Bodington, m.a., 



Vicar of Potterne, with plates and map. . Price Sixpence. Devizes : 

 C. H. Woodward, printer and publisher. [1905.] Pamphlet, 7x5, 

 pp. 68. 



To compress a description of the points of interest within ten miles of 

 Devizes into 68 pages one must necessarily be brief, and details must 

 for the most part be avoided, but the question forces itself on the mind 

 of the reader of this and many other little guide books of the sort, would 

 it not be far better to deal with half the ground covered and give double 

 the amount of information in the shape of accurate detail about each 

 place treated of '? Of course there are tourists and tourists, but probably 

 70 per cent at least of the visitors to the country villages of Wiltshire, 

 who would be likely to use this guide book, go first to the Parish Church, 

 and they would surely be glad of something a little more definite and a 

 little more detailed than they will find in these pages. Outside of Devizes, 

 Potterne, Edington, and Bishops Cannings, the architecture of the 

 Churches is hardly touched upon. Erchfont is " a fine old Church, 

 which has a tower containing eight bells, a groined ceiling over the 

 chancel, and shows examples of various styles of architecture from 

 A.D. 1220." Seend is " ancient, in the Perpendicular style." Neither 

 the Church nor that most interesting old timber house, " Talboy's," at 

 Keevil, is mentioned at all. On the other hand even the modicum of 

 architectural information which is given is not always accurate. Nether- 

 avon Church is not ' ' mostly Saxon with Norman west door ' ' ; Marlborough 

 Chapel was not built by Butterfield ; Manningford Bruce Church 

 is not of the 10th century; the nave of Harden Church was not 

 " re-built in 1860—6," but stands now as it was built in the 15th century. 

 In the account of Lacock Abbey Cloisters, there is a misprint which 

 makes the date of the two western bays of the south walk 1450, instead 

 of 1350. Architecture is indeed the weak point of the " Guide." On the 

 other hand its strength lies in the historical reminiscences of the neigh- 

 bourhood, more especially its connection with the events of the Civil 

 War, which are given adequately and well. The sections dealing with 

 Avebury, Silbury, the Wansdyke, Stonehenge, Edington, Potterne, 

 and Lacock Abbey, and the description of Devizes itself, are the principal 

 portions of the book, but amongst the objects of interest in the latter, 

 the Museum is surely worthy of more than the seventeen lines allotted 

 to it. There is a useful folding map, and the illustrations, from photo- 

 graphs, are quite good. They are :— Devizes from Hillworth ; Devizes 

 Market Place and Cross ; ditto 100 years ago ; Castle ; St. John's Church ; 

 Locks on the Canal ; Potterne Church ; Dauntsey Agricultural School 

 VOL. XXXIV. — NO. CIV. K 



