148 The Thirty-Fifth General Meeting. 
took the way to Wans Corner, where the line of Wans Dyke was 
pointed out, and then on to the village of Bromham. They were 
met at the Church by the Rector, the Rav. E. B. Epauut, who gave 
an interesting description of the fabric and its history, and this was 
supplemented by some valuable remarks by Mr. Pontrne, the very 
able architect and Diocesan Surveyor. The painted windows, erected 
in memory of the Poet Moore and his widow, and the tomb under 
which they and some of their children repose, were regarded with 
especial interest. The detour was too great to go round by Sloperton 
Cottage, which had been their residence for many years, so this part 
of the programme was abandoned. 
From Bromham, after a passing glance at some of the picturesque 
old houses, it was a toilsome drive up and down the formidable hills 
of this district to Melksham, where the Vicar, the Rev. Canon 
Wanrre, courteously received them at the Church, to whose excellent 
condition he has done so much, and here Mr, Pontine read a 
carefully-prepared paper, detailing the history, and calling attention 
to the more interesting and noteworthy portions of the architecture 
of the building. After inspecting the curious Church plate at the 
vicarage, the party left for Lacock, and a drive of four miles brought 
them to that most charming old village, where almost every house 
is a picture and a good specimen of a medieval dwelling. . There 
was, however, no time to delay over these lesser points, of which 
only a passing glimpse could be afforded ; for of course the principal 
object of interest, and a very great one, too, was the Abbey, the 
residence for many generations past of the Talbots, the present 
representative of whom, C. H. Tatsor, Esq., very kindly took the 
Society through the building and explained its most salient features. 
This Abbey was founded in the year 12382, by Ela, Countess of 
Salisbury, in memory of her deceased husband, William Longspee. 
The Church has disappeared, having probably been destroyed when 
the Abbey passed into the hands of Sir William Sharington, by 
purchase from Henry VIII., but the principal domestic buildings 
remained, and the whole place was converted into a manor house, 
From the cloister court several features of interest were pointed out 
—the nun’s dormitory, with fifteenth century roof and chimney of 
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