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will be allowed, as at Winton, Moordown and Pokesdown, to put 

 11 the finishing - touch " and smash, destroy or remove the relics 

 of the past at the ancient port of Hengistbury. The Avon is the 

 old riverway to Old Sarum and Stonehenge, while the Stour marks 

 the boundaries of the Brython and Goidel, and runs under 

 numerous prehistoric fortresses. At present a careful, systematic 

 examination at Hengistbury might explain our ancient story — 

 but a few years hence it may be destroyed and lost for ever ! 



The other matter is the startling alterations in the Priory 

 Church at Christchurch. We gladly assent to the removal of 

 the modern innovations from the transept. The clearance of the 

 19th Century seats from the Nave is unobjectionable and depends 

 essentially on the convenience of the worshippers, but why should 

 costly marbles displace the old stone floor over which, for cen- 

 turies, the worshippers have stood or knelt? Why, also, should out- 

 side columns be brought, cut and fitted inside the church betwixt 

 modern capitals and bases? Such work leads to deception and un- 

 reality, and should not be permitted. A chantry near, in the north 

 Aisle of the Choir, with national emblems of the 15th Century, 

 is locked up from the historical student or teacher. If the state 

 of the north side is bad, that of the south side is much worse — 

 the access to the organ gallery and south triforium has been 

 recently taken wholly away. The liability to danger from fire, 

 used in the argument for a diocesan faculty for the alterations has 

 been ignored and aggravated on this south side. A fire at L he 

 Priory House or in the organ gallery would mean the destruction 

 of the whole edifice, because it would be in the central part 

 of the church and now recently rendered more difficult of access. 

 We have appealed for the simple provision of a ladder, if no 

 better way could be found, but appeals are unheeded by the 

 authorities, and we hope the time may soon come when greater 

 intelligence will safeguard these national monuments from the 

 destruction which occurred at Selby and elsewhere. 



May we close with a quotation from Professor Babelon? — 

 " Archaeology is a modern science of the past century. It has 

 brought to light proofs of extinct commerce and art hitherto un- 

 suspected, which carry us back into periods strictly prehistoric and 

 almost geological. ... It has discovered the doctrines of 

 extinct religions, and explained the meaning of the stony traces 

 of sites where religious rites have been practised. If an unlimited 

 future lies before us, an illimitable past is closing behind us. 

 Let us labour, therefore, to enlist others to this new enthusiasm, 

 and add to our knowledge and enlarge our programme. We are 

 indebted to our ancestors, let us not repay it by the careless 

 destruction of their monuments or memories which still remain." 



