at the Salisbury Meeting. 87 
texture of the Cornish granite is answerable for the coarseness of 
the ecclesiastical architecture of that county, while the fatal softness 
of the red sandstone of Cheshire and Staffordshire has led to an 
indulgence in an excess of ornamentation which has proved only too 
transient, 
If now we turn to Wiltshire we find the same law dictating the 
character of the Churches. Wherever, as in the northern part and 
-in some districts of the south-west, good stone is abundant, and as 
the masonry of Salisbury Cathedral testifies, no county in England 
supplies better, the Churches are usually large, lofty, and carefully 
designed, much pains being taken in the ashlar of the walls and in 
the exterior generally, on which a good deal of ornament is often 
bestowed. Where, on the contrary, as in the southern and eastern 
districts, the only building material is chalk, clunch, and flints, 
with just enough green sandstone for windows and doorways and 
dressings, the Churches are diminutive and homely, with low square 
steeples, or wooden belfrys. These materials are often arranged in 
chequers of stone and flint, producing a very pleasing effect. Many 
of these smaller Churches possess features of considerable interest, 
more especially those which have escaped the hand of the restorer, 
which has, alas! been very busy in Wiltshire. On those on which 
that hand has been laid lightly, guided by the true principle of all 
restoration, viz., to preserve and maintain and never to destroy, 
‘Norman doorways and chancel arches are by no means unfrequent 
and are sometimes richly ornamented, while a considerable amount 
of good Early English work is to be found, often plain and simple, 
but always pleasing. These smaller and humbler Churches often 
get passed over, but they will almost always reward a visit. Even 
when their architectural features are of the plainest there is usually 
something in their shape and colouring and position, and the way 
in which they group with the cottages which are scattered about 
them and the trees out of which their little belfrys peer, on which 
the memory dwells with more satisfaction than on many a more 
stately edifice. 
It is observable that, while in some large parts of England the cruci- 
form plan is hardly found at all, Churches of this form are somewhat 
