dunu 



By H. J. MOULB, M.A. 



EFORE saying anything else let me express my 

 thanks to Major-General Pitt-Rivers, R.A., the 

 Rev. Sir Talbot H. B. Baker, the Rev. H. D. 

 Gundry, Mr. Green, Surveyor on General Pitt- 

 Rivers' estate, and to Mr. Sprake, tenant of the 

 Barton Farm, for help of various kinds most 

 courteously afforded to me. 



The grand Abbey-Barn at Cerne seems hardly to have had its due 

 name and fame among antiquaries. Whether looked at, however, 

 as a piece of almost unsurpassable masonry, or as a noble design, it 

 is one of the most noteworthy of Dorset mediaeval relics. All the 

 more grievous is the loss of the greater part of the fine open roof, 

 which fell a few years ago. The barn is now the property of 

 General Pitt-Rivers, who, as Government Inspector of Ancient 

 Monuments, naturally took much interest in the structure. The 

 General has shown me an extract from his estate journal, dated 

 September 27, 1886, in which it is directed that the roof was to be 

 replaced in deal in the same form as the old one, tiling it again 

 with the same stone as before. In the following year, having 

 inspected the repairs, he was much annoyed by finding that his 

 orders had not been carried out; and the existing roof is con- 

 structed on modern principles, with tie beams. He Avas, however, 



