xl. THE VALLEY OF WINTERBOURNE. 



typical label moulds. The principal internal feature is the 

 fine early Jacobean plaster ceiling, which extended over the 

 whole area of the house and is to be traced in all the rooms 

 into which the original hall has been divided. 



The party went from the manor house to the small derelict 

 church adjoining. 



The HON. SEC. mentioned that that little church was put up by Archbishop 



|fl3/ Wake, a native of Blandford, and has fallen into disuse simply because the 



population of the parish and district had grown smaller and smaller. Much 



attention was drawn to the church and its decayed condition when Sir Frederick 



J Treves's book on Dorset in the " Highways and Byways " series was published. 



- "JJo money had been spent on its restoration, but Mr. Genge had done what he 



could for its preservation by havi ig the windows all boarded up and a lock 



put on the door. 



ALMER. 



Through Winterbourne Zelston, the centre of the County 

 Council's small holdings, the Club drove to Aimer, where 

 the Rector (the Rev. BARON HICHENS) was waiting at the 

 church . 



A beautiful structural feature here is the Norman arcade of three bays, in 

 warm-hued sandstone, with two shallow carved human faces over the capitals 

 of the pillars. The Early English font, standing on the inverted bowl 

 of another old font, is also an object of special interest. 



Mr. BABON HICHENS said that the most curious thing they had in the 

 church was the pair of Swiss glass panels inserted in the north window of the 

 chancel. They were of the sixteenth century, and considered very valuable. 

 He had been offered 100 apiece for them ; but, although they were perhaps 

 not altogether suitable for a church, they could not dispose of them. Probably 

 Mr. Drax brought them from Antwerp, where he collected many things which 

 he put in the church at Charborough. He also referred to the small inter- 

 esting brass on the wall. He found it in a house at Stickland and gave the 

 man half-a-crown for it. The Latin inscription, beginning " Orate pro 

 anima," may be translated : 



" Pray for the soul of Master William Trygge (or Brygge), formerly Rector 

 of this Church, who died on the 29th day of December, in the year of our 

 Lord MVXLIII." 



There are, in the brass, two points in dispute. First, some say that the 

 name of the deceased is Trygge and others that it is Brygge. We think that 

 the initial letter is a " T." Secondly, some say that the date is not 

 " MVXLIII.," but " MVXVII." 



