THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY <. NATURALIST. 



Cross, Winchester. The lead work brought over to protect 

 the edge, which was much broken, is modern ; the base 

 also is modern. The tower arch is plain, but in good pro- 

 portion and untouched. The tower is remarkable for its 

 size in proportion to the nave. The walls are of great 

 thickness, untouched up to the floor of the belfry. On the 

 south side of the nave, near the tower, are some oak seats 

 in situ, probably 300 years old. The north aisle, added in 

 1849, is an admirable instance of an addition to the old 

 Norman nave, in excellent proportion, and in right 

 principles as to architecture. The roof of the nave is good 

 and untouched. The pulpit, dated 1634, is similar to the 

 one in Odiham Church. The carvings in the alternate 

 panels are supposed to represent Aaron's rod that budded 

 and the Scroll of the Law. The sounding board was un- 

 fortunately destroyed in 1849. Behind the pulpit observe 

 an ingenious mode of obtaining an altar to the 

 Virgin, the counter scarping for the credence. 

 When the Cultus of the Virgin was brought into England 

 by the Roman Catholic Church in the isth century altars 

 to the Virgin were added to the old Norman buildings, 

 more frequently as additional buildings. In this case the 

 object was attained by cutting out of the thickness of the 

 walls sufficient space for the altar slabs. The chaneel arch 

 is the peculiar and striking feature of the church, and as 

 far as is known, is a unique specimen of Norman decora- 

 tion. The billet moulding running through the soffit of 

 the arch is of Moorish character of the usual unmeasured 

 work of the Norman builders. There [is no true centre, 

 and the ends of each moulding are untrue to the next, 

 but the whole effect is very striking. Observe the ferns 

 of the country in the capitals on each side of the arch. In 

 the chancel the east window is modern trumpery work, 

 unwisely put in the place of a good proportioned Early 

 English window, removed to the new north aisle in 1845. 

 On the south side of the altar is a good specimen of an 

 Early English credence, now rendered almost useless by 

 the undue raising of the altar in the restoration. The 

 upper portions of the two north and south easternmost 

 windows are original and untouched. The credence on 

 one side, and priest's seat on the other are modern. The 

 other two chancel windows are modern. The rector 

 expresses the hope that some of the mischief done in the 

 late restoration may in the course of next year be undone. 

 Observe in the angle of the north wall the ends of the rood 

 steps. The opening to the rood was, unfortunate!}', des- 

 troyed in 1849. The rood beam, which must have cut the 

 beautiful chancel arch in two, was removed probably 

 shottly after the Reformation, and now supports the floor 

 of one of the rooms at the rectory house. The porch is 

 interesting, and was re-built in Henry VIII's time, re- 

 taining the windows of a previous porch of the Early 

 English period. On the western end of the outside of the 

 tower, under the water-table, are some peculiardecorations, 

 common in Romanesque buildings in Italy unusual in 

 England called "intaglio plaster." Apparently demons 

 or serpents are intended to be represented. It is much 

 effaced by time and the work of re-building the upper part 

 of the tower in 1849. The living of Winchfield was held 

 under the Abbey of Chertsey. The farm house hard by, 

 called " Court Farm," was a grange of the Abbey. 

 Though the church was not mentioned in Dooms- 

 day, Mr. Shore said, the parish of Winchfield was, 

 where the name was given as " Wenesflet." The 

 following is the extract : 



The Abbey of Chertsey holds Winchfield, and Walter 

 the brother of Other holds it of the Abbey, and Alwin 

 held it allodially of King Edward, and it did not belong to 



the Abbey. It was then as now assessed at five hides. Here 

 are eight ploughlands, and ten villeins, and seven borderers 

 with 15 ploughlands. Its value was, in the time of King 

 Edward, iocs., afterwards 6os., and now 303. 

 There was some discussion as to the columns and 

 bays dividing the nave from the north aisle, the ball 

 flower ornament being thought by some to indicate 

 the time of Edward lor II, but as there was previously 

 a plain wall here, this was evidently only an imita- 

 tion of old work. The oak seat ends were thought 

 by Mr. Shore to be much older than suggested in the 

 paper, and probably of Norman age. There is a 

 brass in the floor, dated 1652, to the memory of 

 Benjamin Rudyerd, possibly a relative of the builder 

 of the second lighthouse at Eddystone, for the name 

 is not a common one ; and there is another brass 

 dated 1659, to the daughter of Francis Rud3 r erd, who 

 died at the age of nine. There are also monuments 

 of the Beauclerk family. 



"DRUIDICAL" STONES. 



Crossing the Basingstoke Canal, a slight detour 

 was made to see a large Sarsen stone by the side of 

 the road against Dogmersfield Park. This, the 

 President, Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., said, was the 

 same sort of stone as the larger stones at Stonehenge. 

 Such stones are very largely scattered over the 

 country up as far as London. They come from a 

 particular part of the Upper Bagshot Sands, and have 

 been deposited as isolated boulders when the sands 

 which covered this part of the country were denuded 

 away. He (Mr. Whitaker) had seen some of the 

 stones in situ in some of the lower beds. With re- 

 gard to the word Sarsen, he said that it was merely 

 an old word for stone, and had nothing to do with 

 Saracen, as some supposed. 



THE STOCKS. 



A pleasant walk along the banks of the canal, where 

 the botanists had a good innings, and where a short 

 halt was made on the way for lunch, led to Odiham, a 

 clean little town, with one wide street. Here an 

 interesting antiquarian object was the stocks and 

 whipping post still standing in the Bury, the only 

 instance of this old engine of punishment yet remain- 

 ing on the mainland of Hampshire. At Brading, in 

 the Isle of Wight, however, the stocks are still 

 standing. That at Odiham consists of two upright 

 posts which support the horizontal pieces of wood 

 hollowed out for the legs of the offenders, three of 

 whom could be accommodated at the same time, 

 sitting on chairs against the wall with their legs 

 through the holes, there to be subjected, it may be 

 sometimes to a shower of rotten eggs and other 

 unpleasant missiles, till, as one antiquary powerfully 

 expressed it, they looked "pretty devils." One of 

 the posts, which is higher than the other, was used 

 as the whipping post, having bent pieces of iron 

 hinged on each side for securing the wrists. 

 These were found to be so small that the gentlemen 

 of the party could not get their wrists in ; so it was 



