14 



From Nibley Knoll the party visited the Church, for the 

 following notice of which I am indebted to our colleague, 



Mr. NiBLETT : — ■ 



" The Church is large and lofty, and consists of a chancel, nave, and 

 north and south aisles, with a tower at the west end, a separate baptistery 

 on the north side, and a south porch. It is difficult to assign a date to the 

 building generally, because so much has been done in restorations, that it is 

 a puzzle how to discrimiuate old from new work, without long and careful 

 study, and without calling in aid the able assistance of the vicar, who, in 

 the course of 40 years, has done so much work in restoration. The county 

 histories speak of a disastrous fire that destroyed the town in the reign of 

 John (1199 to 1216). The vicar says, that duiing the progress of building 

 and excavation he has never stumbled upon the slightest trace of Norman 

 work. He thinks that the former church may have been of wood, as may 

 still be seen in a few churches in England, also abroad, as at Honfleur, and 

 elsewhere. The oldest jjortions may not be earlier than the latter half of 

 the thirteenth century, contemporaneous with the tomb of De Wotton, the 

 vicar, buried in the very centre of the chancel, — the most honourable spot 

 in the church, — which we may conjecture was rebuilt by his exertions. 

 These older parts — similar to work in the chancel of St. Mary-de-Lode, 

 Gloucester, at Slimbridge, &c. — may be termed " Transition First Pointed," 

 or of the date of the latter half of the thirteenth century. The capitals of 

 the columns in the nave desei-ve especial notice for their under-cutting. 

 The tower would appear to be of later date, judging from the " ball-fiower " 

 ornament round the arch ; it may be of the time of EDWARD II, — early in 

 the fourteenth century, — or early Second Pointed style. The remaining 

 portions would be "Perpendicular" — work of the fifteenth century, and 

 early in that century. 



" On a flat stone in the chancel — round the edge of which the impress 

 remains of an inscription in uncial letters of Lombardic character — -these 

 rhyming lines occur : — 



" 'Natus in hac villa cognomine dictxjs ab illa 

 Qui Eector fitit hic aptxjm nomenque siei sic 



E. DE WOTTONA JACET HIC Ctrl CELICA DOlSrA 



Impetrat ipsa pia pulcherrima VIRGO Maria.' 



" All the brasses are gone, but there may be readily traced the outline of 

 a floriated cross, in the centre of which was the Virgin Mary, and at the 

 foot a figure of E. DE WoTTONA himself, kneeling, with a scroll inscribed — 



" 'ES MIHI VIRGO pia DUX ET LUX SANCTA MARIA.' 



" On a raised altar-shaped tomb of Purbeck marble, in the north aisle, 

 are the effigies, on a brass plate, of THOMAS, fourth Lord Berkeley, who 



