xlviii. 



FIRST SUMMER MEETING. 

 BRADFORD-ON-AVON AND BATH. 



THE FIRST SUMMER MEETING was held at Bradford-on-Avon 

 and Bath, and was attended by about thirty persons. This small 

 party was conveyed to Bradford by two trains, the one reaching 

 Bradford at 11.30, the other at 12.16. The two contingents 

 united at the railway station, and, under the guidance of 

 Mr. F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I.B.A., visited many places of great 

 archaeological and artistic interest. Mr. Bond first led the party 

 to Barton Farm, where they surveyed the ancient barn, which is 

 170 feet in length, built of and roofed with stone. This barn 

 possessed remarkable interest, inasmuch as it has been continu- 

 ously used as a barn from the time of its erection in the early 

 part of the i4th century to the present, and in that period has 

 undergone but little change, even the fine oak-timbered roof 

 being the same that was originally placed upon the massive 

 stone walls. 



The tenant of the farm, Mr. Chard, allowed the Members of 

 the Club to inspect the ancient room attached to the farmhouse 

 close by, and called the " Hall." This proved to be the solar of a 

 chamber of the same date as the barn, early i4th century, with 

 its original window, the whole being in excellent preservation. 

 The barn was formerly the property of the Abbey of Shaftesbury, 

 and, from the position of this chamber and its date, it seems 

 exceedingly probable that it was the residence of their agents 

 (perhaps two monks), who received the rents and acted generally 

 as the managers of the monastic property there. 



Not far from the barn and chamber, and of the same date, is 

 an ancient bridge over the Avon. 



The town is a veritable mine of architectural treasure. On 

 the way back to it Mr. BOND pointed out the characteristic 

 features of old Bradford the many terraces of gabled houses, 

 mostly built by Flemish weavers, who, driven to England by 

 religious persecution in the i5th and i6th centuries, started 



