Wednesday, July 15///. 



91 



altar in the chapel at the " Vine," the seat of Lord Sandys ; against 

 this, however, is the fact that the work is more than 4ft. deep, and 

 so could not have been an altar-frontal. Possibly it was a hanging. 

 It has rather a late look about it, and is extremely quaint in design. 

 Mr. Dor an Webb gave an interesting sketch of the history of the 

 abbey, interspersing it with lively anecdotes, as his manner is ; and 

 the Members then strolled about the lawns, bordered by the 

 clearest of streams and shaded by splendid trees, one of which was 

 acknowledged by everyone to be by far the most magnificent Plane 

 that they had ever seen. Among the many charms of this most 

 delightful garden, in which even the flower beds are admirably 

 placed, not the least is the deep chalk spring, clear as crystal and 

 cool as ice, that wells up in the lawn close to the house. A short 

 walk across the meadows of the Test brought the party to Mottisf ont 

 Station — whence they took train for ROMSEY, where lunch awaited 

 them at the White Horse Hotel. Several Members of the Dorset 

 Field Club had joined the party during the morning, and the total 

 number present at lunch was thirty-two. 



The afternoon was spent in the ABBEY, and proved none too 

 long for the proper understanding and enjoyment of that noble 

 building. There is very much to see, and the party saw it well — 

 under the efficient guidance first of Mr. Doran Webb and after- 

 wards of The Vicar, the Rev. J. J. Cooke Yarborough. The 

 remarkable Norman crucifix (for pace Mr. Doran Webb on this 

 point — crucifix in most people's opinion it certainly is) outside the 

 south door ; the even more remarkable and less known pre-Norman 

 crucifix in low flat relief, with two soldiers with spear and sponge 

 beside the cross and two angels perched on the arms of the cross, 

 found built up in the wall and now placed over the altar in the south 

 aisle of the choir ; and the curious arrangement by which the nave 

 of the Parish Church (now destroyed) was tacked on to the north 

 side of the abbey nave, having the north transept of the abbey for 

 its chancel ; are amongst the points of greatest interest — but the 

 whole building, standing as it does as one of the grandest examples 

 of Norman architecture in England, is indeed full of points of 

 interest and of beauty. By five o'clock, however, the party were 



