Thursday, Juhi ^9th. 355 



who remember it as it was cannot but regret tbe entire dispersal at 

 the recent sale (at enormous prices) of the whole of the Elizabethan 

 andJacobean furniture (except two of the great oak bedsteads, which 

 remain) witli whicli the house was furnished from top to bottom, the 

 greater part of it having been collected l)y the late GEN. YEATMAN 

 BIGGS. Ashortdrivefurtherbrought the party to BOYTON CHUECH,i 

 with its good work of the 13th and 14th centuries,"- and to the 

 charming MANOR HOUSE, built by Thomas Lambert, in 1612, 

 closely adjoinhig the Chu)ch. WYLYE CHURCH was next visited, 

 where the Eector, THE REV. G. R. HADOW, said what there is 

 to be said about the building— which except for its tower and east 

 end is practically modern — and exhibited the famous and beautiful 

 Pre-Keformation chalice of 1525, and also some interesting pieces 

 of Church plate of his own. The chalice is still in excellent con- 

 dition, but is now used only on the greater festivals. 



LUNCHEON, which, as on the previous day, was most generously 

 given by the Local Committee, was served at the Bell Inn, Wylye, 

 and in the interval afterwards, before the carriages were ready, 

 the Eectory garden was visited. When the journey was resumed 

 the first stop was at STEEPLE LANGFORD CHURCH, a building 

 which has several points of interest about it ; and the next at 

 STAPLEFORD, where the "CASTLE" was first visited. This is an 

 interesting earthwork, close to the stream, and commanding the 

 ford, of that " mound and bailey " type of which there are so few 

 examples in Wiltshire.^ After this came THE CHURCH, con- 

 taining some of the finest Norman arcades in the county, as well 



' For Boyton Church, see Wilts Arch. Ma<j., vols, i., p. 233.,xxvii.,p. 245. 



- The interesting font bowl formerly in the churchyard has been happily 

 placed in the S. Chapel. 



' Until quite recently these moated mounds, once fortified with wooden 

 palisades, &c., were regarded as for the most part dating from Saxon and 

 pre-Conquest times. Mrs. Armitage, however, and Mr. W. H. St. John Hope 

 have vigorously attacked this tlieory, and maintain that they are in reality 

 of Norman origin, dating, many of them, years after the Conquest, when 

 earthen mounds and wooden defences still continued the rule for some time. 

 Norwood Castle, near Oaksey, in North Wilts, is a smaller but interesting 

 example of this class of earthwork. 



