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Club awoke in new vigour on April 29th, 1878, after its wintry 

 sleep, and a goodly party of forty, fourteen of which were invited 

 guests, turned out of the Dauntsey and Malmesbury train about 

 11 a.m., en route for the Abbey and Charlton Park. Perhaps from 

 no point of view is the grand old building seen to better advantage 

 than from the station on the north side, and notwithstanding some 

 depreciatory remarks, made at the first by those whose expec- 

 tations had been too highly raised as to the extent of the structure, 

 before the day was over all admitted the very high position 

 claimed by this Abbey amongst our ecclesiastical buildings, as 

 point by point was dwelt upon by those who were familiar with 

 the architectural details. 



After a preliminary stroll into the town the members passed by 

 the Market Cross, one of the finest perpendicular crosses in England, 

 to the grand old south porch of the Abbey. 



Here Mr. Charles E. Davis met them, and from a suitable posi- 

 tion in the nave at once entered into its architectural history. 

 The arrangement, he said, was similar to that of most monasteries, 

 and consisted of the main church with its domestic buildings ; the 

 peculiarity in the present instance consisted however in the 

 domestic buildings being situated on the north side and enclosed in 

 a comparatively small space between the church and the river. 

 This, however, he thought might be accounted for by the necessity 

 of defence, as all monasteries were more or less fortified ; the 

 proximity of the Church to the cliflf and the river on the north, 

 the castle closing it on the east, would render its protection more 

 easy. The position reminded him very much of Durham, which 

 was similarly almost surrounded by a river. The Church origi- 

 nally consisted of a nave with central tower, north and south 

 transepts, with apsidal chapels, presbj^ery and choir ; the usual 

 plan of all great minsters, i.e., cruciform. As to the date of the 

 present building Mr. Freeman had stated that it was begun by 

 Bishop Eoger of Sarum about the year 1135, but in his (Mr. 

 Davis's) opinion it was some forty or fifty years later. The nave 



