38 



Crichel House By the kind permission of Lord Alington, a 

 and Gardens. visit was paid on Tuesday, July 27th, to Crichel 

 Park, in which 88 members took part. They 

 were received by Lady Alington, who courteously conducted them 

 through the principal rooms. 



The decorations were carried out by Cipriani, an Italian artist, 

 about 150 years ago. The walls of the dining room have designs 

 painted on canvas in the centre of the panels, giving the appear- 

 ance of high relief on a Wedgwood blue ground. The party then 

 inspected the church. This is situated near the house and lake; 

 the latter is bordered on onei side by a dense mass of fine trees. 



A tessellated Roman pavement was also seen, which had 

 been taken from a Roman villa at Hemsworth on Lord Alington' s 

 property. It had been taken up in sections in plaster of Paris to 

 preserve the small pieces of mosaic, and stored in a small build- 

 ing ; the centre portion, forming a disc of about 2-| feet in 

 diameter, which had been carefully fitted together, represented 

 a head believed by some to be that of Jupiter Tonans, and by 

 others that of Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome. This pave- 

 ment is one of two found at Hemsworth ; the other is known as the 

 " Venus " pavement, and is now in the British Museum. An 

 account of it is printed in Vol. 1 of the Society's Proceedings, 

 pages 63 and 64. 



It will interest the members of this Society to v know that Mr. 

 Hy. Le Jeune was mainly instrumental in having these pavements 

 uncovered and saved from destruction seven or eight years ago. 



The party was then taken through the grounds by the head 

 gardener, and Mr. Hy. Backhouse, F.R.H.S. pointed out some 

 of the numerous trees of particular interest. Among many others 

 were a Himalayan Cedar (Cedrus Deodora), probably one of the 

 tallest in England, and a young specimen of Cedrus Atlantica, of 

 a very glaucous colour, planted by the Kaiser on his last visit to 

 England and likely to make a noble tree in due time. A Judas tree 

 of unusual size, bearing a profusion of seed pods, had evidently 

 been covered with flowers earlier in the year. 



Perhaps the most striking and interesting tree was a magnifi- 

 cent specimen of the American Swamp Cypress (Taxodium 

 distichum), the intense brilliancy of its deciduous green leaves 

 making a fine contrast with the cedars and pines close by; usually 

 this tree attains its largest dimensions when growing in or near 

 water, but this example was on the lawn, far from the lake. 



Before leaving, a visit was paid to the White Farm. 



Wimborne , St. The last General Excursion of the season was 

 Giles and made on September 2nd by nearly 70 members, 



Knowlton. to Wimborne St. Giles, the seat of the Earl of 



Shaftesbury, and to Knowlton. 

 Arriving shortly after noon they were met by the Rector, the 

 Rev. J. A. Bouquet, who showed the Church of St. Giles. It had 



