Ivi. CORFE CASTLE AND STUDLAND. 



had come to the conclusion that, instead of these stone circles 

 being places of sepulture or worship, they were almanacs for 

 astronomical purposes, being orientated towards certain rising 

 stars. 



The HON. TREASURER added, on the subject of date, that 

 dolmen building extended over a very long period indeed. 



STUDLAND CHURCH. 



The party next set out for Studland, visiting en route the 

 Agglestone, or "Devil's Night Cap," an object of many grim 

 and humorous legends, but in reality "an isolated weathered 

 remnant of Lower Bagshot sands, which remains from the fact of 

 its being locally hardened by a ferruginous cement." 



At Studland Church the RECTOR (the Rev. F. S. Algeo) read 

 the following paper : 



The church, which is dedicated to S. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, is 

 generally considered to be a singularly perfect and unaltered specimen of the 

 Norman style of architecture, and ranks with the well-known churches of Iffley 

 and Stewkley. The date is somewhat earlier than Iffley, probably about 1180, 

 though the nave may date from an earlier period. When they were restoring the 

 porch some years ago an ancient stone was found which is considered to have 

 been the doorstep of an earlier building, probably of Saxon origin. The plan of 

 the church, as at Iffley and Stewkley, is a nave, central tower, and chancel, both 

 tower and chancel with stone-groyned roof. The chancel consists of one square 

 of groyning. The east window is an insertion of three lights of late date, 

 perhaps Jacobean ; but above is the original window between the two roofs. 

 There are original north and south windows, each a narrow light with good 

 exterior mouldings. On the north side of the altar is an altar tomb of Purbeck 

 marble, perhaps used as an Easter sepulchre before the Reformation, when it 

 was customary to bury the consecrated elements from Good Friday to Easter 

 Day. The groyning in the tower is of the same character as in the chancel. The 

 north window is original, but the south modern. The tower has never been 

 finished ; but is carried only half way up the jambs of the belfry windows, where 

 it is finished off with a gable roof. Owing to the settlement a buttress has been 

 added to the north and south faces. There are four bells, one of which professes 

 to be of great antiquity. It bears a date 1005 (a mistake for 1G65 or 1765), with 

 the inscription " Drawe neare to God," and what may be considered the trade 

 mark of the founder, namely, the initials C. P., with the figure of a bell 



