ST ALDHELM'S HEAD 91 



Tilly Whim it is a rock-plant, and very striking does it 

 appear growing in clusters on the face of the perpen- 

 dicular cliffs. Other interesting species keep the sam- 

 phires company. Large cushions of the beautiful rose- 

 coloured thrift and of the white sea-campion maintain 

 a hold on the rocks, together with dense masses of the 

 sea-beet, or wild spinach, as the fishermen call it, and 

 lusty plants clothed with long hairs of the sea-carrot. 

 Dwarf specimens, due, doubtless, to the exposed situa- 

 tion, of the ploughman's spikenard appear very attrac- 

 tive on the rocks, and a white-flowered variety of the 

 sea sand-spurry and a scarce form of the exquisite sea- 

 lavender which can hardly fail to attract attention. 



On the lonely height known as St Aldhelm's Head 

 stands, 450 feet above the sea, a little Norman chapel, 

 dedicated to the famous Bishop of Sherborne, and dat- 

 ing back to the twelfth century. It is a low, square 

 structure, built entirely of stone and lighted only by- 

 one small, narrow window-slit in the east wall. Up to 

 the time of the Reformation the tiny chapel it only 

 measures 32 feet square was served by a chaplain, who 

 also attended to the beacon light on the roof. As one 

 stands by the Norman doorway it is impossible not to be 

 conscious of the romance and sublimity of the situation. 

 A magnificent prospect of the Dorset coast presents 

 itself from the Anvil Lighthouse on the east to the Isle 

 of Portland in the dim distance on the west. No trees 

 interrupt the vision. There is only sky and sea and 

 downland, and a sense of infinity. And here, in spring- 

 time, there comes up a rare orchid which loves to 

 flourish on the oolite formation of the Isle of Purbeck. 

 It is the spider-orchis, and every May it puts forth its 

 curious blooms, as it doubtless did before the chapel of 



