376 % ^«y- ft. J. BaUnfidd Adhy, M.A., Lift D., ctr. 



recognised in what liad long been a two-storied cottage. In 1874 

 Professor Freeman read a paper before the Somerset Archaeo- 

 logical Society, in which lie described the building as undoubtedly 

 Aldhelm's, and thus spoke of it: " Our West-Saxon Bradford, the 

 work of Aldhelm, during the reign of King Ina. may fairly be set 

 against tlie two famous Churches of the North — at Jarrow and 

 Monkwearmouth." 



With this description and ascription Piebendary Jones signified 

 his agreement in the paper read before the British Archaeological 

 Association in that same year. 



Although the knowledge of Saxon remains has vastly increased 

 during the last thirty years, the general public has had little op- 

 portunity as yet of realising what has been accomplished, almost 

 entirely by one zealous and indefatigable observer, in the way of 

 discriminating between the periods within the style, and the 

 possibility arising therefrom of assigning any particular building 

 to its approximately correct date. 



In the article on Bradford-on-Avon in the Etxcyvlofccdia 

 Britannica, vol. xxvi., p. 334 (1902), the public is again informed 

 that " there is still standing a small Church, built about 705, and 

 described by Freeman as 'the only perfect surviving Church of 

 its kind in England, if not in Europe ' " ; and in the same year the 

 Rev. A. Gal ton writes, in Barnard's Companion to English History 

 (Medicercd), of Saxon Architecture, as though it were all of one 

 piece, and could be described under one fixed set of definitions. 



It is true that Mr. Reginald Hughes, in Social England, Illustrated 

 Edition, vol. i., p. 286, writes of this Church : " The Church at 

 Bradford may be, perhaps, a later restoration," though he assigns 

 no reason for his hypothetical " perhaps." 



It was reserved for Professor Baldwin Brown, to whom those 

 who are versed in. antiquarian matters will recognise that I have 

 alluded above, to throw a flood of light on the whole subject of 

 Saxon architecture ; and to him 1 would here acknowledge the 

 deep debt of gratitude which all students owe for his lucid and 

 admirable exposition. In his book, The Arts in Early England, 

 two vols. (Murray, 1903), he has, in my opinion, carried out an 



