Visited by the Society in August, 1888. 157 
Cuurcy or S. James. AVEBURY. 
This Church was ably described by the Vicar, but as it was my 
good fortune to deal with the nave and north aisle in the recent 
restoration, it may not be without interest if I place on record the 
result of my observations. 
The architectural history of the Church, as gleaned from its 
stones, is one of the most interesting I have met with. In the 
first place we have the entire framework of the Saxon nave unaltered 
as regards its general dimensions, and it is to the preservation of 
these, in spite of many subsequent enlargements and alterations of 
the Church, that the present remarkable proportions are due; for it 
will be noticed that the body of the Church has an extreme width 
across nave and aisles in eacess of its east-to-west length, and the 
height of the nave in relation to its width is a characteristic of early 
work which is so well shown by the Saxon Church at Bradford. 
The Saxon Church was, apparently, a nave with probably a 
chancel, although not being engaged in the restoration of the 
chancel (nor, by the way, upon the south aisle and porch, or the 
new clerestory windows) I have had no opportunity of searching for 
foundations here—but the Rev. Bryan King states! that some were 
found in the earlier stages of the work. The Saxon nave had four 
windows on each side—the two westernmost of which remain—and 
an upper, or clerestory stage of small openings, one of which is i 
situ. The others, after having been displaced to make room for 
“new windows, have been re-fixed: but, as I took much trouble to 
find the positions from which they had been taken in the early 
stage of the restoration, I have satisfied myself that they are now 
in pretty nearly the same places which they formerly occupied. 
[As I have dealt fully with the peculiar construction of these 
windows in a previous number,’ it is unnecessary to repeat it here, 
but I may state that the object of the “centre” of wattle work 
there described seems to me to be, that the circular splay (or arch) 
of small rubble stones might be turned over it instead of employing 
1 Wiltshire Magazine, vol. xxi., p. 396. 
2 Tbid, vol. xxi., p. 188. 
