at the Salisfair// Meeting. 



37 



texture of the Cornish granite is answerable for the coarseness of 

 the ecclesiastical architecture of that county, while the fatal softness 

 of the red sandstone of Cheshire and Staffordshire has led to an 

 indulgence in an excess of ornamentation which has proved only too 

 transient. 



If now we turn to Wiltshire we find the same law dictating the 

 character of the Churches. Wherever, as in the northern part and 

 in some districts of the south-west, good stone is abundant, and as 

 the masonry of Salisbury Cathedral testifies, no county in England 

 supplies better, the Churches are usually large, lofty, and carefully 

 designed, much pains being taken in the ashlar of the walls and in 

 the exterior generally, on which a good deal of ornament is often 

 bestowed. Where, on the contrary, as in the southern and eastern 

 districts, the only building material is chalk, clunch, and flints., 

 with just enough green sandstone for windows and doorways and 

 dressings, the Churches are diminutive and homely, with low square 

 steeples, or wooden belfrys. These materials are often arranged in 

 chequers of stone and flint, producing a very pleasing effect. Many 

 of these smaller Churches possess features of considerable interest, 

 more especially those which have escaped the hand of the restorer, 

 which has, alas ! been very busy in "Wiltshire. On those on which 

 that hand has been laid lightly, guided by the true principle of all 

 restoration, viz., to preserve and maintain and never to destroy, 

 Norman doorways and chancel arches are by no means unfrequent 

 and are sometimes richly ornamented, while a considerable amount 

 of good Early English work is to be found, often plain and simple, 

 but always pleasing. These smaller and humbler Churches often 

 get passed over, but they will almost always reward a visit. Even 

 when their architectural features are of the plainest there is usually 

 something in their shape and colouring and position, and the way 

 in which they group with the cottages which are scattered about 

 them and the trees out of which their little belfrys peer, on which 

 the memory dwells with more satisfaction than on many a more 

 stately edifice. 



It is observable that, while in some large parts of England the cruci- 

 form plan is hardly found at all, Churches of this form are somewhat 



