liii. 



anfl also in the opening ont of the hagioscope to the south aisle, will 

 operate materially in spreading the voice of the officiating minister at tlie 

 altar. Possibly, too, the cause of the difficulty in hearing a strong voice 

 at present may arise from the very sliortness of the existing chancel, 

 and a chancel of its original and greater length might act as a better 

 conductor of the sound. So that, as I cannot recommend the remo\'al of 

 the church, I can neither advise the taking down of the chancel arch from 

 the position it has stood in for near about 700 years." 



A great deal of discussion followed the reading of this paper. The Rev. 

 W. M. Barnes said that he felt sure that the church could be made dry by 

 cementing the floor and lower part of the walls with Portland cement as 

 had been done in his own church at Monkton. The foundations of the 

 nave of, he believed, 15th century work had been discovered in digging 

 graves. The Kev. J. C. Prior (Vicar of Charminster) said the foundations 

 of the chancel which was swept away in the time of the Commonwealth 

 had been traced and that it was 26 feet long. The present chancel 

 was 16 feet in lengtb. The Rev. J. Bridges Lewis said that drainage had 

 had an excellent effect at Salisbury as regarded the dryness of the 

 Cathedral, and suggested a similar expedient for Charminster. He also 

 said that perhaps the ancient Norman chancel was in the form of an 

 elongated apse, which might remove the difficulty about the sound. 

 He thought it would be well if all people wishing to restore an ancient 

 church would first consult a body like the Field Club and hear their 

 views and that no one had a right to destroy or pull to pieces such 

 ancient monuments without some such consideration. The Rev. O. M. 

 Ridley said that after hearing Sir T. Baker's paper he quite receded fiom 

 the idea of moving the church to higher ground. It would be much better 

 to try some other expedient to prevent damage by floods. The Rev. J. 

 C. Prior said that the churchyard suffered very much from water rising 

 in opened graves, on several occasions to such an extent that the coffin 

 had to be held down with poles, and generally baling had to be resorted 

 to. He also spoke of the great difficulty which the narrowness of the 

 chancel arch caused in regard to sound. It was most difficult to hear 

 anything in the chancel of what went on in the church or vice versft, and 

 in sjute of the strong feeling which had been expressed by the antiquarians 

 against moving the arch he should be most glad for it to be done, as he 

 thought the convenience of the congregation should be the chief point 

 aimed at. Mr. Barnes suggested the moving the choir stalls out of the 

 chancel, but Mr. A. Bankes said that he thought there was not sufficient 

 room, as the church was a small one and the congregation often large. 

 The Rev. O. P. Cambridge said that in his churchyard at Bloxworth baling 



