VALLEY OF PYDEL AND BUCKLAND NEWTON. Iv. 



themselves and their flocks and herds. That settlement might 

 have been for thousands or tens of thousands of years occupied 

 by some dominant race of stock-raising people a race of such 

 extreme antiquity that they really could not take time into 

 account at all ; indeed, time did not count for anything on those 

 Dorset hills. A thousand years was as one day. Probably some 

 of the enclosures were extremely ancient before flints were 

 quarried at all. 



Half-way down the steep hill leading into Alton Mr. Dicker 

 pointed out a beautifully symmetrical barrow of comparatively 

 late age, and in an almost perfect condition, although there has 

 been considerable subsidence. 



ALTON PANCRAS. 



On arriving at Alton, Major and Mrs. Saunders gave the party 

 a hospitable welcome, and, on entering the church, the Vicar 

 (the Rev. G. B. Southwell) read the following notes : 



This village must have been at one time a good deal larger and more important 

 than it is now. Both in the valley and on the hills there appear traces of human 

 habitations which no longer exist ; and the parish seems to have supported two 

 prebeiidal stalls in Salisbury Cathedral, Alton Austral and Alton Boreal. The 

 name Alton, the old town, indicates antiquity, as also does the dedication of the 

 Church to St. Pancras, Pancrasius, who was born in Phrygia. 



I have with me a sketch of the old chancel arch, which may possibly throw 

 some light on the question of age ; the chancel appears to have been divided from 

 the nave by a solid screen of masonry pierced by a small arch with apparently 

 Norman mouldings and two hagioscopes ; but the abacus appears to indicate 

 something older. 



The earliest record that I am acquainted with is extracted from the 

 " Miscellanea et Statuta quoad Sarum," in which the parishioners are reprimanded 

 by the Dean of Salisbury for not having a fit and proper place over the altar for 

 holding the reserved Sacrament, and are threatened with a fine of 6s. 8d. if they 

 do not provide one before the next visitation. This is dated loth April, 1483. 



The next record is on the fly-leaf of one of the parish registers. It states 

 that the church was repaired in 1736 by contributions from the Dean and Chapter 

 of Sarum, the prebends of Alton Austral and Alton Boreal, and Thos. Haskett, 

 Esq., Lord of the Manor ; and at the same time a gallery was given and built at 

 Mr, Haskett' s sole expense. I remember seeing that gallery once. It was a 



