26 



The Eleventh General Meeting. 



would suggest to them the propriety of employing good photo- 

 graphers, to take views of all the most interesting objects of antiquity 

 in the county. He should like to see other societies follow the 

 same example, as by exchanging these photographic views, a great 

 amount of antiquarian and archaeological knowledge might be 

 obtained. At present the information on such subjects was locked 

 up in the local archaeological journals, which no one ever saw out 

 of their own county. They had a remarkable instance of the want 

 of good photographs of such objects of interest in the church in 

 which they were then assembled. For himself, he would travel 

 fifty miles at any time to see such a valuable specimen of the best 

 period of our ecclesiastical architecture. There could be no doubt 

 that there were many other equally beautiful churches in this 

 county, of the merits of which the public were profoundly ignorant. 

 For himself, he wished that the beauties of Wilts might become 

 known to all England. 



Mr. G. Matcham said that if the church was built as late as 

 the time of Richard II. it might probably have been erected by 

 "William of Wykeham, as the bishops of Winchester were lords of 

 the manor. 



Mr. Parker said that he was clearly of opinion that the archi- 

 tecture was of the time of Edward III. He also observed that, if 

 William of Wykeham built this church, it must have been when 

 he was very young ; as he was supposed to have introduced the 

 Perpendicular style, and he certainly could find no vestige of that 

 style in this edifice. The architecture was clearly that of the 

 middle of the 14th century. The church was not later than the 

 year 1360. 



Mr. Matcham suggested that in out-of-the-way places the old 

 style of architecture sometimes lingered after a new stvle came in, 

 j ust as old fashions prevail in the provinces long after new fashions 

 had been adopted in London. 



Mr. Parker was quite aware that in some parts of Wilts and 

 Somerset the old styles of architecture lingered for some time after 

 new styles had been adopted. William of Wykeham, as the in- 

 ventor of a new style, was least likely to have worked in the style 



