6 4 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY 6- NATURALIST. 



breaking the sequence of the text. The book, how- 

 ever, has been unfortunately rendered incomplete by 

 the abstraction of other pages. 



This is a book for scholars, throwing light as it 

 does on early philology and liturgical literature, and 

 giving some slight addition to our knowledge of Win- 

 chester history. We regret therefore to notice a 

 number of misprints %vhich should have been detected 

 in revising the proofs. And there appears to be some 

 confusion in the title, or rather titles, of the book. 

 The running heading of the pages is "The Book ot 

 Nunna-Minster,'' under which most suitable title it 

 will have been seen the book appears in the news- 

 paper advertisements (its circulation is not confined 

 to subscribers). The title page however gives the 

 long title we have already quoted, and on the outside 

 of the book there are only the three vague words 

 " An Ancient Manuscript." This is, to say the least, 

 very inconvenient for reference. 



From the announcements at the end of the volume 

 we learn that the records now in course of prepara- 

 tion by the society include " The Records of the 

 Manor of Crondall," "Charters and Documents re- 

 lating to Selborne Priory," " The ' Liber Niger ' of 

 the Town of Southampton," " The Hyde Register," 

 " The Chartulary of Godesfield, Rownhams, and 

 Baddesley," " The Episcopal Registers of John of 

 Sandale and Rigaud de Asserio, Bishops of Win- 

 chester," and " The Rental of Mottisfont Priory." It 

 will thus be seen that the society has lost no time in 

 getting fully into work. 



EAST MEON CHURCH. 



" Peter Lombard" contributed the following notes 

 to The Church Times of March 7 last : 



The Meon river, which rises above Oxenbourne and 

 Hows into Southampton Water, becomes a consider- 

 able little stream before it reaches the end, clear and 

 deep, and a capital trout stream. There are three or 

 four villages named after it, of which at present I 

 shall name only two, East Meon and West Meon. 

 From the former let me start now. Oxenbourne is 

 within the parish of East Meon, which has one of the 

 finest parish churches in the country, built by Bishop 

 Walkelin, the famous architect of Winchester Cathe- 

 dral, and added to and altered, like the Cathedral, 

 by subsequent builders. It is cruciform, with a heavy 

 Norman tower at the intersection, surmounted by a 

 lead-covered spire of, I think, Edward Ill's time. 

 There is also a rich Norman west door, and above ita 

 Perpendicular window. Some forty years ago was 

 published a volume by Mr. Gresley, entitled Church 

 Clavering. To this volume is given a frontispiece re- 

 presenting East Meon Church, for no reason except 

 that evidently some good artist who was called on to 

 illustrate the book had made a sketch of it, and now 

 utilised it. It is exact in ever y line as the church was 

 then, but it was restored about 20 years ago, and not 



over well. One or two characteristic features was 

 obliterated, but anybody who has Church Clavering 

 will still recognise the church without the least 

 difficulty. 



One act of vandalism was the removal of a sanctus 

 bell, which until then hung outside the Norman 

 tower. Readers no doubt are aware that such a bell 

 was rung in the middle ages at the moment when the 

 Holy Sacrifice was pleaded at the altar, and so those 

 who were unable to attend knew what part of the 

 service was reached, and were able to join their 

 prayer with that of their brethren. When the church 

 was repaired I suppose the contractor said that as the 

 bell was never used it might as well be removed ; the 

 vicar saw no objection, and so it was carried off. I 

 myself mentioned it to the architect, who said he 

 would have it restored, but he probably forgot. It 

 has never been done. The late vicar, who came some 

 years after the alteration, endeavoured to trace the 

 bell to put it back, but could not find what had 

 become of it. 



The font of this church, too, is very interesting, 

 evidently by the same hand which carved that in 

 Winchester Cathedral. There are two others like it 

 in the county. A model of this one is in the South 

 Kensington Museum. It has a remarkably large and 

 massive basin of black marble, square-sided, and 

 adorned with rude sculptures, all, so far as I remem- 

 ber, from the early chapters of Genesis. (Winchester 

 has the story of St. Nicholas of Myra on it.) The 

 most learned of Hampshire antiquaries, Mr. F. J. 

 Baigent, has found evidence that these fonts were 

 presented by Bishop Henry of Blois, "in some ways 

 the greatest of Winchester Bishops," as Dean Kitchin 

 calls him, the founder of the beautiful Hospital of St. 

 Cross. But there is another curiosity in this church 

 of which no satisfactory explanation seems at present 

 to be forthcoming. In the south transept is a stone 

 on the floor inscribed with the words " Amens 

 plenty." What does it mean ? O that some reader 

 of this might hit upon it ! The only guess that has 

 ever appeared possible to me is that it 

 refers to a skirmish in the Civil Wars which 

 took place here, and of which I hope to 

 say more hereafter, and that this is a contemptuous 

 epitaph by a Roundhead on the Cavaliers who were 

 killed and buried here. It does not run very easy, 

 but I am not prepared with anything better. East 

 Meon, before the Conquest, belonged to the king, 

 afterwards to the bishop. The little bridge over the 

 Meon, which leads into the village, is called " Knus- 

 berry Arch " (more of it anon), and an old local 

 antiquary used to assert that the name meant Knut's 

 borough, and that the great Danish king lived here. 

 May be or not ; the Bishop had a country house here, 

 and the remains of it are still seen opposite the 

 church gate. It is in a woeful condition, but here is 

 the great guest chamber, with its arched roof and 

 beautiful corbels, pitiable to look upon. One is a 

 king's head, I think Edward II, another is the Bishop. 



