xliv. 



curiosities of the church are an old Dutch bound Bible and a Dutch lantern. 

 The churchwardens' book contains in faded ink on yellow leaves, a voluminous 

 record of disbursements dating from 1556. In the Bettesthorne Chapel, which 

 lies to the south of the chancel, being divided from it by the wooden screens 

 already mentioned, are two monumental brasses of great beauty and antiquity 

 let into the pavement. They date from 1398. One, which has had both legs 

 amputated where it lies close to the altar, is of Sir John Berkeley. He is encased 

 in plate armour, and this is said to be the only occurrence of plate armour 

 in Wiltshire. The other is of the Bettesthorne who founded the chapel. His 

 armour is camail. In the date of his death is inserted the dominical letter to 

 denote the day of the week. This is a rarity. In a Latin inscription the moral 

 of mortality was pointed in the not uncommon words : Es quod eram, ct eris qnod 

 sum " Thou art what I was, and thou shalt be what I am." 



An old house close by built in the year 1470 as a dwelling for four chantry 

 priests, was next visited. The chantry rents are still paid and amount to 13 a 

 year. 



Some fine old twisted iron work on the sign of the Ship Inn was admired in 

 passing. The party then drove to Stourton where they lunched at the Spread 

 Eagle Inn. The PRESIDENT referred to the discovery of a fine Eoman pavement 

 at Dorchester by Mr. A. C. Higgs, and expressed a hope that it might be secured 

 for the county. 



The Church was then visited and on it Mr. Doran Webb said a few words. 



The Church consists of nave, north and south aisles, western tower, a chancel 

 which has been rebuilt, a vestry, and chancel aisle. The earliest part of the 

 building belongs to the transition period, between the Eomanesque and Early 

 English styles. The Church is principally famous for a beautiful series of 

 monuments of the Stourton family, who owned the Stourhead property from the 

 earliest time. Eleven or twelve Lord Stourtons lie buried here. Mr. Dorau 

 Webb pointed out a sham helmet, made of tin for show, placed on the most 

 beautiful monument in the Church, with its recumbent effigies of a Lord and 

 Lady Stourton. It did not open, in fact such helmets were made for the 

 mediaeval undertakers, to be placed on the tomb. The real helmet of the buried 

 knight was perhaps the one found by him in the coal hole, which the clerk used 

 as a coal scoop. He took it away, and Sir Henry Hoare now had it preserved 

 in the hall at Stourhead. The church was primitively lighted by a row of 

 candles stuck in a narrow strip of board. On two brass tablets let into the wall 

 are engraved the names of the Eectors of Stourton, a long list of 41 names, 

 beginning with John de Weston in 1316. It is a coincidence that Weston was 

 the maiden name of the present Lady Hoare. 



By the kind permission of Sir Henry Hoare, Bart., the members strolled about 



e beautiful grounds of Stourhead House. The river Stour rises from some 

 springs up the valley and its waters widen out into five successive lakes, with a 

 considerable fall between each. There is much fine timber and many rare trees 

 and shrubs. Alexander Pope is associated with Stourhead, and in a grotto where 



