Both the outer and inner arches are pointed and made to follow the line of the old, unless (as previously suggested) the old was altered to follow the new. On the west face the outer ring has a Transitional type of scroll ornament running round, but there is no label. As there are two kinds of stone used in the archway it is probable that a careful removal of the colour wash which still covers it might reveal further evidence as to how far the older parts have been altered or renewed. The circular bowl and part of the shaft of the font are of about the same date as the later portions of this arch-circa 1180. On a shelf in the porch are preserved some very valuable old fragments found in the walls during the restoration of the Church. This method of dealing with them is an excellent one, and worthy of more general adoption. They are: (1) Two bands of the later western shafts of the chancel arch removed [? why] during the restoration. (2) A cap, apparently, of one of the early western shafts of the chancel arch-a beak head with an interlaced, almost pre-Norman looking, ornament passing through it; this stone corresponds in height with the old cap on the east side and has the same neck-mould. (3) A cap of the type of the later chancel arch work and of (4) A piece of chevron mould, the voussoir of an arch. (6 and 7) Two masks of late Norman work, representing the (8) The coeval part of a king's head, with part of the crown. (11) The head and shoulders of a female figure of the Eliza bethan period, probably taken from the Mompesson tomb in the organ chamber, which formerly stood on the south side of the chancel; the front part of the monument, only, is now preserved-this is in excellent condition and is of late Elizabethan character. Sir R. C. Hoare ascribes the monument to John Mompesson, Rector 1612-1645,1 but, as he did not die until 1645, it is too early in style, and it is, as Dr. Ingram suggests, more probably that of Sir Richard Mompesson, Knight, the owner of the manor, and particularly so if the mutilated effigy formed part of it. The arms, in duplicate, on the monument, are: "Mompesson, a lion rampant, charged on the shoulder with a martlet or pinzon, impaling the following coat: 1. a fesse between three heads erased; 2. five lozenges in fesse; 3. three lions passant in pale; 4. as the first. The colours not known." [Sir R. C. Hoare.] IM WL In the gable of the chancel are stones inscribed 1622 and 107; the former probably commemorates a re-building of the wall by John Mompesson, Rector at that time. The tower is of three stages with embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses; the type of work is debased Perpendicular, the belfry windows are without cusping, the arch opening into the nave spans the whole width of the tower, and the mouldings are not continued down the jambs. The altar has a curious and interesting history, as to which I quote fully from Mr. Ingram's book:— "The interior of S. Mary's Church in Oxford being found in a disgraceful state after the termination of the reign of the Puritans, Dr. Ralph Bathurst, President of Trinity College and Dean of Wells, who was Vice-Chancellor soon after the Restoration, gave £300 towards fitting it up in a decent manner for University sermons. Sir Christopher Wren superintended the work. Among other articles of oak carving was a pulpit which, in consequence of the alterations lately made in the interior of that Church, by the kindness of a Fellow of Merton College came into the possession of the Author, who has availed himself of the suggestion of the Rev. T. Miles, of Stockton, by converting it into a communion table." The last manorial rector-the advowson was given to S. John's College by Sir Giles Mompesson in 1639, and Dr. Ingram quotes a letter from Archbishop Laud to the college dated 20th June of that year recording it. The pulpit is a good piece of late Jacobean work. CODFORD S. PETER. This Church consists of chancel, nave and south porch, and western tower, with modern north aisle and vestry. The building was very bountifully "restored" in 1864, when the north aisle, the porch, and the greater part of the nave and chancel were re-built and the vestry added. The lower part of the east wall of the chancel up to the set-off, with the buttress in the centre under the east window, is thirteenth century work in situ ; but it is obvious from the various stones bearing Norman carved ornament which occur in the Early English work as well as in the re-built parts, that a Church existed here anterior to this. Of these carvings in the outer walls I may mention a bit of diaper work in the east end of the chancel, a good piece of the fish-scale pattern in the north aisle, and a chevron ornament in the south wall of the nave by the porch. An old lancet window with a new head has been built into the vestry. In the south wall of the chancel are triple sedilia of late thirteenth century date with trefoil arches and gablets over, singularly like those in the Lambert Chapel at Boyton, and probably by the same hand. The seats are stepped up towards the east. The diagonal buttresses were added to the chancel in the fourteenth century, and the mullions of the east window appear to be coevalthe head is modern. The tower and the old parts of the porch, consisting of the moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses, cornice, with good gargoyles, embattled parapet, and the outer doorway with the sickles the Hungerford badge-in its label terminals, are admirable specimens of late fourteenth century work. The tower is of two stages with well-pronounced square stair-turret on the north, west window of two lights (the tracery renewed) with label terminals carved to represent a bishop and a king; it is crowned by a good cornice with gargoyles and embattled parapet-the pinnacles are new. The tower arch is of two orders of mouldings. The two two-light windows and two buttresses of the north aisle are old features from the nave walls, made up and built in here. The parapet and three windows on the south of the nave are doubtless made up of old stones. An old drawing, dated 1843, shows only a two-light window eastward and westward of the porch, besides a small later window under the last-named; it also shows a two-light square-headed window and a priests' door in the south wall of the chancel, since re-built. The nave roof, arcades, and chancel arch are new features; the porch was, as the inscription inside states, re-built by Maria Waldron, in memory of a friend who died in 1863. The vaulted roof and inner doorway are part of this work. The ancient colouring on many of the stones outside the north wall of the chancel and vestry indicate their former use in the interior. In the chancel stands a remarkable stone discovered during the works of 1864 used as a building stone in the wall on the north side of the chancel arch. It has been fully described and illustrated by Dr. Baron,1 who says: "The subject has never been satisfactorily explained, and is still open to investigation. Probably, if its date could be approximately fixed, it might by a comparison of contemporary documents be found to be a conventional way of representing some religious incident, e.g., Noah as the builder of the ark and as a husbandman, or the return of the spies from the promised land. In the front elevation is seen the figure of a man holding in his right hand, over his head, a branch of an apple or other fruit tree, and looking up at it in a very awkward manner; in his left hand he holds a mallet, or it may be a wallet. His short smock and his slipper-shaped shoes agree with Anglo-Saxon costume. The bamboo-formed moulding or leaning pillars with which the figure is enclosed appear also to belong to the same period, i.e., the tenth or eleventh century, say about A.D. 1000." Dr. Baron's sketch does not show the pin which secures the robe at the neck in front. I would only add that I consider it to be the tapered shaft of a Saxon cross of the tenth century-the finishing off at the top is modern and in cement. The key ornament running round the upper part is worthy of note. The font is a magnificent specimen of early Norman work coeval with the carved stones before noticed as built into the walls. It has a rectangular bowl, 2ft. 6in. by 2ft. 2in., on a circular shaft and 1 Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. xx., p. 138. base. On the sides are two rows of ornament-the lower a diaper pattern carried round and the upper varying on the four sides. It retains the original axe marks well preserved. Outside the chancel is the matrix of a brass-a single male figure, and another of a kneeling figure with motto, in the aisle floor. It is interesting to see a good specimen of a black-letter Bible, dated 1617, still in use on the lectern. The altar is the gift of Bishop Hamilton in 1863. The candelabrum in the chancel is a good modern copy of an old design. The list of rectors goes back to 1302. The Royal arms over the tower arch are those of George I.—1716. Notes on the Opening of a Tumulus on Cold Kitchen Hill, 1893. By the Rev. E. H. GODDARD. SN the summit of the hill connecting Bidcombe with Cold D Kitchen, some 880ft. above sea-level, and commanding most extensive views in every direction, in the parish of Brixton Deverill, but within about six chains of the borders of the parishes of Kingston and Hill Deverill, is a mound marked "Tumulus" on the new 6-inch Ordnance Map, and very visible against the sky-line from some miles off on the Warminster Road. It is apparently to this spot that reference is made in Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol. I., p. 40, as follows: "In the year 1803 Mr. Cunnington made some researches with the spade on this elevated summit, and on that part which intervenes between Bidcombe and Cold Kitchen where there are several of those irregularities and verdant patches |