41 



June, and was a sort of circular tour, in vehicles, from Lyndhurst 

 Road to Lyndhurst, thence to Minstead, Malwood, StonycrosSj, 

 Boldrewood, and Mark Ash, terminating at Brockenhurst. The 

 members being assembled in Minstead Church, Mr. Brownen, f.c.s., 

 gave them a short account thereof. It was built in the time of the 

 Barons' War, in the reign of Henry III. (about a,d. 1250), and was 

 dedicated to all Saints. The building has suffered much from 

 alteration, and only portions of its original plan can now be made 

 out, the principal features being in the most debased churchwarden's 

 style of architecture. The older portions are a shortened nave, a 

 chancel, and a north porch, the doorway from this porch being a 

 portion of the original 13th century structure. An embattled 

 western tower, and erections forming family pews attached to the 

 north walls of the church, mostly built of brick, as well as extensive 

 alterations on the southern side, mostly of i8th century date, have 

 totally destroyed the characteristics of the original building. The 

 inside of the church has been disfigured by two ugly galleries, one 

 over the other, at the western end, and the eastern chancel is 

 entered from the nave through a pointed Early English arch. Not- 

 withstanding the late barbarisms the little building is not without a 

 certain picturesqueness, surrounded as it is by meadovs^s and 

 forest. 



The living is a rectory, to which Lyndhurst is annexed. Its 

 value at the Inquisition of 1290 was given as ;£6 13s. 4d., but later, 

 in A.D. 1340, Henry and John Pikenet, with Philip Edmunds and 

 Henry Legatt, swore that the ninths were only £a^ 6s. 8d,, that the 

 small tithes and death dues were 44s. 8d. per annum, and that the 

 value of the rectory and garden was two shillings. At the Survey of 

 the Reformation, a.d. 1535, John Pye returned his income as 



3s. 4d., less IIS. for procurations and synodals. 



After an al fresco lunch in the pretty surroundings of the church, 

 the party visited the grounds of Malwood, which were thrown open 

 by kind permission of Lady Vernon- Harcourt. Afterwards the 

 spots mentioned above were visited in succession, and all present 

 obtained a series of splendid views of the exquisite and ever varying 

 glades of the Forest, the summer foliage of the beeches and oaks 

 being then perhaps at its best. 



A Day in the 7^^ J^^Y son^e 54 members assembled at 



Hardy Country. Wool Station and drove through a stretch of 

 country connected with Thomas Hardy, the 

 novelist, who has introduced the scenery into many of his novels. 

 Under the conductorship of Mr. C. J. Hankinson, j.p., who was 

 assisted by Mr. Harry Pouncy, of the Dorset Field Club, we visited 

 first, the Elizabethan Manor House Wellbridge " of Hardy), 

 forming with its walls and chimneys of mellow brick, a charming 

 object against the beautiful five-arched bridge across the Fronre. 

 The date of the building is 1637, and possibly portions are earlier. 

 This is the spot where Tess " (vide " Tess of the D'Urberviiles," 

 by T. Hardy) came, the night after her wedding. 



