280 



The Forty-Second General Meeting. 



of tho central tower, and the consequent altering of the whole 

 character of the Church, though — as he remarked — it ought in 

 justice to the late Mr. Street to be said that he was at first adverse 

 to the idea of carrying out this alteration, but was induced subse- 

 quently by those who formed the restoration committee to abandon i 

 his opposition. 



From this point the party walked to the picturesque group of 

 ALMSHOUSES bearing the arms of Sir Edward Hungerford and 

 his wife, Margaret Halliday, and the date 1668. The arrangement I 

 of the buildings at the back, with a long penthouse resembling a 

 cloister opening into a series of tiny walled gardens — one for each 

 house- — irresistably reminds one of the arrangement of the great »! 

 Carthusian houses on the Continent. The hall-chapel, too, is 

 singularly interesting, retaining, as it does, its finely-carved oak 

 gallery, and other fittings, seats round the walls, and pulpit with 

 an oaken hand to serve as candlestick — all of them contemporary 

 with the building itself, though the pulpit looks as if it had once 

 stood on a pedestal. 



Unfortunately the occupier of the COURT was unable to receive 

 the Society, but by the kindness of Sir John Dickson Poynder \ 

 tea was provided at HARTHAM, and the Members, conveyed thither 

 in carriages, spent a very pleasant hour in wandering through the 

 house, the gardens, and the greenhouses, returning to Corsham for 

 the ANNIVERSARY DINNER, which was held at the Methuen Arms. 

 At this the President of the Society, Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 

 Bart., took the chair. The speeches were of no great length, and 

 after dinner the party adjourned to the Town Hall, for the evening 

 Meeting, the room, a fine spacious one, having been nicely decorated 

 with palms and foliage plants kindly sent for the purpose from 

 Hartham. The President, having taken the chair, called upon 

 Mr. W. Heward Bell, who apologised for not having had time 

 to prepare a paper on the geology of Corsham, owing to recent 

 all-absorbing events. He however said a few words on the subject, 

 giving a general sketch of the nature and extent of the beds from 

 which the famous freestone is extracted. 



The Rev. W. Gilchrist Clark followed with a paper on the 



