242 



The Eighth General Meeting. 



siege, and was so gallantly defended by the Lady Blanche Arundel, 

 the history of which had been recounted to the Society the previous 

 evening by Mr. Alfred Seymour, in his paper on Wardour Castle, 

 and the knowledge of which added very considerably to the interest 

 of those who now visited the ruins. After luncheon, the next point 

 was Tisbury. Here the fine old Parish Church with its restored 

 nave and aisles, the floriated windows of the Chancel, the old car- 

 ved oak ceilings of the aisles, one bearing date 1535, and the other 

 1616 ; the monumental brass of Lawrence Hyde, grandfather of 

 the Chancellor Edward Earl of Clarendon, and last though not 

 least, the venerable parish clerk and sexton, who has held those 

 offices sixty years, and is now ninety years old, in turn received 

 notice: nor must we forget a very ancient yew tree in the church- 

 yard, whose hollow trunk is said to exceed any other in the county. 

 From Tisbury the party walked across the fields to " Place Farm," 

 an admirable example of early domestic architecture ; here they 

 were kindly received by the occupier, Mr. Bracher, who pointed out 

 the old kitchen with its enormous fire place, the massive barn, the 

 fine old gateway, and other objects of interest. From Place Farm 

 the procession of carriages returned to Shaftesbury by Pyt House, 

 the property of Mr. Yere Fane Benett ; Hatch House, the old 

 residence of the Hyde family, and the village of Semley. 



About 7. 30. p.m. Mr. Sotheron Estcourt took the chair, and a 

 valuable paper on Cromlechs was read by the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 

 The lecture was illustrated by a number of well-executed diagrams ; 

 and the theory of their sepulchral character was afterwards con- 

 firmed, at the invitation of the Chairman, by the father of the lecturer 

 F. C. Lukis, Esq., of Guernsey. This was followed by another 

 paper on the curious holes called "Pen Pits," by Mr. William 

 Cunnington, F. Gr. S. The object of these pits, extending over a 

 vast area, and amounting to several thousands in number, has been 

 the subject of much controversy, some inclining to the belief that 

 they are simply the result of early quarrying for querns or mill- 

 stones found in that locality ; others contending that they were the 

 rude habitations of primitive and uncivilized races ; to the latter of 



