Edmrmn on Friday, January 20th. 79 



Church it may be hoped that tliey may be interfered with as little 

 as the necessities of provision for decent and reverent worship 

 permit. 



The next stoppage was at AXFORD CHAPEL, now a farm-house, 

 where Mr. Doran Webb gave a short account of the history of 

 the place, and pointed out the remaining architectural features of 

 the building. Thence a charming drive alongside the stream, with 

 a beautiful view of Ramsbury Manor over the water, brought the 

 Members to RAMSBURY CHURCH, lately restored at great cost. 

 Here again Mi*. Doran Webb, being on his own ground, as the 

 Historian of the Hundred of Eamsbury, acted as guide. Opinions 

 may differ as to whether the ornamentation of the new work in the 

 roofs of the aisles, &c, has not been somewhat overdone, but those 

 who remember the squalid condition into which the Church had 

 fallen will acknowledge that the recent works have transformed it 

 into a building of quite unexpected dignity and beauty. It is a 

 subject for thankfulness, too, that, in the battle which raged over 

 the roof of the nave, the party which favoured a " restoration " of a 

 high-pitched roof were defeated; and the old late Perpendicular 

 roof — a good specimen of its kind and date — was retained. The 

 interest here, however, centred chiefly in the remarkable series of 

 pre-Norman sculptured stones which were discovered during the 

 progress of the works, and which have now -been placed on a raised 

 platform at the west end of the north aisle of the Church. It is a 

 pity that the cross-shaft was not erected somewhat further from 

 the wall, as its back cannot be seen with any comfort as it now 

 stands. The stone in the middle of it, too — even if it ever belonged 

 to the same cross at all — is manifestly placed now on its side, instead 

 of upright as it must have originally stood. (The whole of these 

 stones have been already described and illustrated in vol. xxviii., 

 p. 50, of the Magazine.) Mr. Doran Webb mentioned that a part 

 of the cross, probably the head, still lies imbedded in the foundations 

 of the thirteenth century chancel arch. It was difficult to get out, 

 and was left there, and when attention was drawn to the fact the 

 work had proceeded too far for anything to be done to recover it. 

 After a thorough inspection of the Church, and a stroll in a most 



