270 Notes on the Churches 
Canon Jackson states (vol. x., p. 313) :—‘ Here was an alien 
priory of Benedict monks, being a cell or house subordinate to St. 
Wandragesille’s Abbey at Fontanelle, in the diocese of Rouen. 
How mauy brethren occupied the Upavon cell, and whether they 
had any Church or chapel apart from the parish Church, is not 
known.” The large dimensions of the Church would lead one to 
suppose that it served as the monastic as well as the parish Church. 
S. Prerer’s. Manninerorp Bruce.! 
This is the second instance in Wiltshire of a complete pre-Norman 
Church, and it is of exceptional interest inasmuch as the other 
example—that of Bradford—has a square-ended chancel, whilst this 
has the earlier and more Eastern form of a semi-circular apse. In 
other respects a great resemblance is seen in the two—the body of 
the Church in both cases consists of simply nave and chancel; both 
have north and south doorways in the nave; in both cases these 
doorways are lofty and narrow—the dimensions in this case being 
8ft. 9in high to the springing, and 3ft. 4in. wide. But here the 
resemblance ends, for the Bradford Church is erected in the district 
of a good building material—close to a quarry of oolite which 
was undoubtedly worked at a very early period—whilst Manningford 
possesses neither stone, nor clay for making bricks, and the builders 
of this Church had to procure flints from the chalk hills which 
limit the Pewsey vale on the north and south, and to content 
themselves with sufficient workable stones for dressing the quoins 
and openings. This wide difference in the respective local ad- 
vantages of the two situations has had, as might be expected, 
considerable influence in the design and ornamentation. The walls 
at Bradford are faced on the inside and on the outside with wrought 
stone, and ornamented by an arcade in flat relief carried round 
the building, whilst at Manningford they are composed entirely of 
flint-work and devoid of ornamentation. How far the greater 
1 In revising these notes for the printer it occurs to me to say that they do 
not pretend to more than briefly touch upon the main points of interest in the 
building, and the reader is referred to the exhaustive paper by Dr. Baron (to 
which I allude) for fuller details (vol. xx., p. 122). 
