Wednesday, July 15th. 91 
altar in the chapel at the “ Vine,” the seat of Lord Sandys; against 
this, however, is the fact that the work is more than 4ft. deep, and 
so could not have been an altar-frontal. Possibly it was a hanging. 
It has rather a late look about it, and is extremely quaint in design. 
Mr. Doran Wess gave an interesting sketch of the history of the 
abbey, interspersing it with lively anecdotes, as his manner is; and 
the Members then strolled about the lawns, bordered by the 
clearest of streams and shaded by splendid trees, one of which was 
acknowledged by everyone to be by far the most magnificent Plane 
_ that they had ever seen. Among the many charms of this most 
delightful garden, in which even the flower beds are admirably 
placed, not the least is the deep chalk spring, clear as crystal and 
cool as ice, that wells up in the lawn close to the house. A short 
walk across the meadows of the Test brought the party to Mottisfont 
Station—whence they took train for ROMSEY, where lunch awaited 
them at the White Horse Hotel. Several Members of the Dorset 
Field Club had joined the party during the morning, and the total 
number present at lunch was thirty-two. 
The afternoon was spent in the ABBEY, and proved none too 
long for the proper understanding and enjoyment of that noble 
building. There is very much to see, and the party saw it well— 
under the efficient guidance first of Mr. Doran Wezp and after- 
wards of Tue Vicar, the Rev. J. J. Cooke Yarborough. The 
remarkable Norman crucifix (for pace Mr. Doran Webb on this 
point—crucifix in most people’s opinion it certainly is) outside the 
south door; the even more remarkable and less known pre-Norman 
crucifix in low flat relief, with two soldiers with spear and sponge 
beside the cross and two angels perched on the arms of the cross, 
found built up in the wall and now placed over the altar in the south 
aisle of the choir; and the curious arrangement by which the nave 
of the Parish Church (now destroyed) was tacked on to the north 
side of the abbey nave, having the north transept of the abbey for 
its chancel; are amongst the points of greatest interest—but the 
whole building, standing as it does as one of the grandest examples 
Norman architecture in England, is indeed full of points of 
nterest and of beauty. By five o’clock, however, the party were 
