662 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 
amount of money available is usually so small, that the 
time expended on the design is altogether out of proportion 
to the remuneration received. Yet I venture to think that 
most architects would rather do the work on even these 
conditions, than see their art still further debased by some 
soul-racking conceptions of an illiterate bush-carpenter. 
By far the larger number of rural churches in Tasmania 
are erected with timber. This material is not used by pre- 
ference, but simply through the force of circumstances, for 
as timber buildings can be erected in this State at a smaller 
outlay than any other class of structures, the choice 
frequently rests between wood or nothing. 
In view of these circumstances, I propose to direct your 
attention to timber churches before considering those con- 
structed with more expensive and less perishable materials. 
In England, the erection of wooden churches has 
practically been abandoned for some centuries past, but 
during early Saxon times such erections were by no means 
uncommon. The age of wooden churches in England has 
practically passed away, and what is more, nearly all 
examples of that phase of architecture have likewise 
vanished. 
One old Saxon wooden church—or rather the nave of 
such a building—still remains. It is situated at Greenstead, 
in Essex, and was built in the year 1013; and within those 
identical wooden walls, once rested the body of St. Edmund 
when on its way to Bury for final interment. 
I have prepared a sketch of this church as it now 
stands; the chancel of later date and was erected inthe 16th 
century. The tower, dormers, and porch are also additions. 
The original nave is constructed with upright posts, 
known in the building trade as ‘“chestnut.”’ This term, 
when applied to English building timbers, must not be 
understood to mean the chestnut of our gardens, Castenca 
satwa. 
Builders indulge in much poetic nomenclature, but few 
of the fictitious terms employed in their vocabulary are 
more misleading than the application of the wood chestnut 
for that variety of oak known as Qwercus robur pubescens. 
This timber is generally supposed to be inferior to Quercus 
robur sessiliflora, but it is said to be distasteful to spiders. 
The large roof of Westminster Hall, erected in the reign of 
Wilham IT., is carved out in this cobweb-proof timber. 
Perhaps one of the most remarkable wooden churches 
in existence is that at Borgund, in Norway. The church 
was erected in the 12th century, and I have introduced a 
