Thursday, August 1st 



9 



most interesting- feature of the Westbury Meeting*. The Vicar, 

 the Rev. H. Cave- Brown-Cave (who has since died before the 

 completion of the work which was so near his heart), gave an 

 account of the restoration carried on gradually by the Committee, 

 who, at the Bishop's instigation, have been instrumental in pre- 

 serving this grand, and in many respects unique, example of the 

 transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular style, from the 

 ruin which must inevitably have overwhelmed it in a few years if 

 it had not been taken in hand in time. The magnitude of the work 

 made it altogether beyond the power of the parish to raise the 

 necessary funds, and the Committee, feeling that the interest of 

 such a building belonged rather to the county, or indeed to the 

 nation, than to the parish of Edington alone, appealed far acd wide 

 for funds, with the result that the most necessary repairs have been 

 executed, though there is much still to be done. 



The Members of the Society had every opportunity of judging of 

 the loving care bestowed on every part of the building by Mr. 

 Ponting — from the old glass, so carefully replaced in the transept 

 windows, to the late and curious plaster roof, restored and made 

 secure with great trouble and difficulty, in the nave. It was a 

 privilege to see the building under the guidance of one who knows 

 every stone of it, as he does, and we are happy to say that the 

 paper on this Church read by him at the Salisbury Meeting will, 

 by the courtesy of the Council of the Archaeological Institute, be 

 reprinted in the Magazine. 



After enjoying the welcome refreshment of a cup of tea at the 

 vicarage, by the kind hospitality of the Vicar, a move was made for 

 Westbury, taking Bratton on the way. There was some doubt 

 whether there would be time for this, but happily the programme 

 was adhered to ; for, even after Edington, it was generally agreed 

 that Bratton Church, both in its architecture and its situation, was 

 quite one of the most charming things we had seen. Moreover 

 the inhabitants of the village had prepared a welcome for the Society 

 and its President such as we met with nowhere else on our excursions, 

 the bells ringing merrily and numbers of the people turning out to 

 greet their visitors. The little cruciform Church, with its central 



