WIMBORNE, BADBURY, AND KINGSTON MEETING, xlix. 



the eastern and western faces than on the southern and northern, the arches in 

 the two first had to have their centres depressed, while the other two are rather 

 more than semi -circles, and have a horseshoe shape, as it is called. This was 

 done to make their crowns all of the same height, the capitals from which they 

 spring all being on one level. No doubt the choir was built first, but this, as 

 was usual in Norman times, was small and had an apsidal ending. It is 

 generally held that the original nave did not extend so far westward as the 

 present one, the two westernmost bays being of fourteenth century work. The 

 transept was narrow and shorter than now, but there was a chapel beyond the 

 southern end, the lower part of the present wall is the outside wall of this. 

 The upper storey ot the tower is rather later than the lower, for the lower has 

 round-headed single arches, while intersecting arches are seen above. The 

 heavy parapet and corner pinnacles are, of course, much more recent. The 

 church grew outwards in every direction. And it is not difficult to approximate 

 to the date of these extensions. The upper part of the tower, the outer walls of 

 which are decorated with intersecting arches, dates from about the middle of the 

 twelfth century. The date of the altered choir and added presbytery is fixed by 

 the character of the east window, which shows indication of the change from 

 Early English to the plate tracery of the Decorated. The windows of the aisles 

 and the two western bays of the nave are fourteenth century work, and the 

 western tower proclaims its date to be about the middle of the fifteenth century. 

 This second tower, arranged in tandem fashion with the early one, is an 

 uncommon feature. Many churches have two western towers, some in addition 

 to, some without any completed central towers. Exeter and Ottery St. Mary 

 have two towers rising at opposite ends of the transept. Ely Cathedral Church 

 had two arranged as here ; the central one fell, and its place was taken by the 

 existing lantern. At Hereford, where a similar arrangement existed, the western 

 tower fell, and was not rebuilt, so that, as far as I know, Wimborne and 

 Wymondham are unique in this respect. The arrangement is not a satisfactory 

 one, and never became common. The raised presbytery gives an air of importance 

 to the east end ; below its floor is a crypt which you should all visit. The oaken 

 benches which take the place of altar rails are unique. The use of the houseling 

 linen which covers them is very ancient. I once heard a cleric say that if he 

 were vicar here he would soon have those horrid benches removed and proper 

 rails put in their places. That no such vandal may ever be vicar of Wimborne 

 must be the prayer of all archaeologists such as you are. The brass of Ethelred, 

 not, of course, contemporary with Alfred, demands your attention, and the 

 beautiful altar tomb of John Beaufort (nephew of Cardinal Beaufort), and his 

 wife, Margaret, Duke and Duchess of Somerset, father and mother of the Lady 

 Margaret, who founded Christ's and St. John's Colleges at Cambridge, to whom 

 I feel a debt of personal gratitude, as I held at one time a Lady Margaret Scholar- 

 ship at the former college. The relic chest, carved from a solid block of oak, and 

 the Etricke tomb will both be found in the south choir aisle. This Etricke was 

 Recorder of Poole, and he it was who committed the Duke of Monmouth for 

 trial. He desired to be buried neither inside nor outside the church, and got 



