Excursion on Frklat/, January 20th. 79 



Church it may be hoped that they may be interfered with as little 

 as the necessities of provision for decent and reverent worship 

 pennit. 



The nest stoppage was at AXFORD CHAPEL, now a farm-house, 

 where Mr. Dorax Webb gave a short account of the history of 

 the place, and pointed out the remaining architectural featiu-es of 

 the building. Thence a charming drive alongside the stream, with 

 a beautif id view of Eamsbury Manor over the water, brought the 

 Members to RAMSBURT CHURCH, lately restored at gTeat cost. 

 Here again Mr. Doban Webb, being on his ovm ground, as the 

 Historian of the Himdi-ed of Eamsbury, acted as guide. Opinions 

 may differ as to whether the ornamentation of the new work in the 

 roofs of the aisles, &e., has not been somewhat overdone, but those 

 who remember the squalid condition into which the Chiu-ch had 

 fallen will acknowledge that the recent works have transformed it 

 into a building of quite unexpected dignity and beauty. It is a 

 subject for thankfidness, too, that, in the battle which raged over 

 the roof of the nave, the party which favoured a " restoration " of a 

 high-pitched roof were defeated ; and the old late Perpendicular 

 roof — a good specimen of its kind and date — was retained. The 

 interest here, however, centred chiefly in the remarkable series of 

 pre-Nonnan seidptured stones which were discovered during the 

 progress of the works, and which have now been placed on a raised 

 platform at the west end of the north aisle of the Church. It is a 

 pity that the cross-shaft was not erected somewhat fmiher from 

 the wall, as its back cannot be seen vdth any comfort as it now 

 stands. The stone in the middle of it, too — even if it ever belonged 

 to the same cross at all — is manifestly placed now on its side, instead 

 of upright as it must have originally stood. (The whole of these 

 stones have been already described and illustrated in vol. xxviii., 

 p. 50, of the Magazine.) Mr. Doran Webb mentioned that a part 

 of the cross, probably the head, stid lies imbedded in the foundations 

 of the thii-teenth centmy chancel arch. It was difficult to get out, 

 and was left there, and when attention was di'a'mi to the fact the 

 work had proceeded too far for anything to be done to recover it. 

 After a thorough inspection of the Church, and a stroll in a most 



