THE SEVENTY-THIRD GENERAL MEETING

OF

THE WILTSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL

HISTORY SOCIETY,

HELD AT CHIPPENHAM,1

August 9th, 10th, and 11th, 1926.

The Society met again at Chippenham for the third time in its history, the previous meetings having been held there in 1855, 1869, and 1902. The Annual General Meeting was held in the Town Hall, at 2.15, on Monday, August 9th, the chair being taken by Mr. Penruddocke, in the absence of the president, Mr. W. Heward Bell. The minutes of last year's meeting? having been read and confirmed, and one new member having been elected [Three more were elected later on during the meeting], the Chairman called on the Hon. Secretary to read the

REPORT FOR 1925-26.

Members.-The numbers on the Society's books at the present time, including those elected at this year's meeting, are one honorary member, 16 life members, and 417 annual subscribers-a total of 434 in all. The Society has lost in the past year 14 members by death and 46 by resignation, whilst one new life member and 46 new annual members have been elected. One annual member has commuted his annual subscription for life membership. In last year's report the total number of members then on the Society's list was stated to be 456, but many of these were in considerable arrear with their subscriptions and have since definitely resigned, and those who remain on the list are effective subscribing members. The full effect of the raising of the annual subscription to 15s. 6d. has now been felt, and the result is seen to be a small diminution in the actual number of members, and a very considerable increase in the income of the Society.

Finance.-The accounts for 1925, as published in the June, 1926, Magazine, show that on the General Fund the balance during the year had

The fullest account of the meeting is to be found in the Wiltshire Gazette, August 12th, 19th, 26th, September 2nd and 9th, 1926.

2 As arising out of these minutes, the Hon. Secretary explained that the Committee, to whom the question of the retention at Devizes of the Gold Locket containing a portrait of King Charles I had been referred back by the General Meeting of 1925, had decided that this locket should not be parted with, but should be kept at Devizes, and that the case in which it was exhibited should be fitted with a plate-glass lid, and that this had accordingly been done.

increased from £47 13s. 8d. to £126 18s. 10d. The Museum Maintenance Fund on the other hand, starting with a balance of £89, ended the year with one of £39 13s. 8d., having in addition to the usual maintenance expenses provided £58 for repairs and the making of new cases for the Museum. The balance on the Museum Enlargement Fund increased from 15 7s. to £7 5s. 9d. The Museum Purchases Fund also increased from £91 1s. 5d. to £93 1s. 5d. The Life Membership Fund decreased from £88 11s. 8d. to £81 17s. 2d. The total balances on the five funds which finance the ordinary work of the Society, excluding the special funds for printing the Simon of Ghent Register, and for the support of the Bradford Barn, on December 31st, 1925, amounted to £348 16s. 11d., as against £310 12s. 6d.-an increase of £38 4s. 5d., which in face of the considerable expenditure both on the Magazine and the Museum, may be considered satisfactory.

The Magazine.-Two numbers (142 and 143) were issued as usual during 1925, at a total cost of £267 11s. They contained 266 pages, and a larger number of illustrations than have appeared in the Magazine for many years past. This was only rendered possible by the larger income of the General Fund, arising from the increased subscription, and even so, this number of illustrations could not have been provided if it had not been for the very kind gift of the blocks illustrating their papers by Mrs. Cunnington, the Earl of Kerry, Canon Manley, and Dr. W. M. Tapp, to whom the Society is much indebted for this help.

The Museum.-The Society is once more indebted to Dr. Clay for one of the most notable additions to its collections of late years, in the remarkable series, excellently restored, of ten cinerary urns of the Late Bronze Age from the Woodminton group of barrows in Bowerchalke. We have also to thank the Hon. Curator and Mrs. Cunnington for three Bronze Age cinerary urns from Knowle, another from Market Lavington, and a fine drinking cup from Lockeridge; and Mr. A. Shaw Mellor for a good example of the Great Seal of George V. It is satisfactory to record that the objects found several years ago in the very important excavations in the ditch at Avebury, carried out by Mr. H. St. George Gray for the British Association, have recently been placed on permanent loan at Devizes. For this our Society has to thank the Excavation Committee of the British Association. Much excellent work has been done by the Hon. Curator and Mrs. Cunnington during the past year in the re-arrangement of parts of the prehistoric collections in the new cases provided from the Museum Maintenance Fund.

The Library. The principal work accomplished since the last meeting has been the binding up and placing on the shelves of a large number of volumes containing the very extensive MS. Genealogical Collections bequeathed to the Society by Mr. John Watson Taylor and Mr. John Sadler. The whole of these collections are thus now available for easy consultation. In this connection the Society has to record its gratitude to Mrs. J. L. Lovibond and Miss Baker for the gift of £10 in memory of their father, Mr. T. H. Baker, to be used for the future binding up of the MS. copies of Monumental Inscriptions in Wiltshire Churches and Churchyards made by him, and now in the possession of the Society. The thanks of the Society

are also due to Canons F. H. Manley and E. P. Knubley for the very careful Calendar and Abstracts of the Society's Deeds connected with Seagry and with the Methuen family respectively, which have been completed by them. New volumes of Wiltshire Portraits, Wiltshire Drawings and Prints, and Wiltshire Cuttings and Scraps have been mounted and catalogued during the year. Amongst many gifts of Wiltshire Books and Pamphlets, a further series of Wilton Estate maps, given by the Earl of Pembroke through Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, the rare "Wiltshire Rant," given by Mr. B. Hankey, and "Archæologia," brought up-to-date by Mr. E. H. Stone, may be specially noticed.

Excavations.-The systematic work at Stonehenge has been carried a stage further by Col. W. Hawley; Dr. R. C. Clay has been busy excavating the Woodminton group of Barrows in Bowerchalke and in other diggings in that neighbourhood; the Cleft in the Rock at Slaughterford has been examined by the Bristol Spelæological Society, and the results are published in their Journal. Mr. Passmore has opened certain barrows in North Wilts, the account of which will appear in the Magazine later on. Next to Stonehenge itself, the most important excavations in the county, now proceeding, are those being systematically carried out by Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Keiller at Windmill Hill, Avebury. These seem likely to require work for several years to come, and promise to provide material for a new chapter in British archæology. Mr. Keiller has established a private museum at his house in London, No. 4, Charles Street, W. 1, at which until the excavations are finished, objects found on the site will be exhibited, and he desires it to be known that from next autumn onwards anyone interested in the matter-and more particularly any member of the Wilts Archæological Society-will be very welcome to see the collection.

Manorial Rolls and Deeds.-Under the Act recently passed, Court Rolls and other Manorial Deeds come under the direct care of the Master of the Rolls in cases of the sale of properties and similar circumstances. In his enquiry as to suitable centres at which such documents might be deposited, the Master of the Rolls showed a desire to recognise the claims of our Society to their custody, but fireproof accommodation on a considerable scale was a sine qua non, and that, unfortunately, we could not offer, nor was it to be found anywhere within the county. In these circumstances the offer of the Library of Bristol University, which is well equipped in this respect, was accepted, and that Library will be in future the official centre for the deposit of such manorial documents as come into the hands of the Master of the Rolls in the counties of Somerset and Wilts.

The Monumental Inscriptions of Salisbury Cathedral.-These Inscriptions were transcribed in full by the late Mr. T. H. Baker, of Salisbury, about 1902. His MS., against the wish of his daughters, went to America, but it had happily been copied for our Society before it disappeared. The Editor of The Wiltshire Gazette offered most generously to print these Inscriptions in the Gazette, and they have accordingly been appearing in weekly instalments for some time past, Mr. J. J. Hammond having undertaken to blazon all the heraldry, and Miss M. K. Swayne Edwards to copy all the inscriptions later than the date of Mr. Baker's work.

The report having been read and adopted, the officers of the Society and the members of committee were re-elected en bloc, and the business having concluded the members present adjourned at 3 o'clock to the Parish Church, where Mr. E. M. Awdry, one of the churchwardens, in the absence of the Vicar, gave a very clear account of the objects of interest in the Church, and the changes which had been brought about in its arrangement and appearance in his own recollection. At the close of his remarks a suggestion was made that the remarkable early carved chest now at the West entrance under the Tower should be moved to some other position in the Church where it could be better seen, as its present position hardly gives it the prominence it seems to deserve. At 3.30 a start was made for Stanton St. Quintin Church, the principal points of which were pointed out by the Rev. E. H. Goddard, who pleaded that some further protection from the weather might be given to the remarkable early sculpture of the Saviour enthroned with his feet on the dragon now built into the west wall. From the Church the party adjourned to the Manor House close by, where they were entertained at tea on the lawn by the kind hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Hankey. The picturesque medieval Manor House with a tower, of which drawings still exist, has entirely disappeared and given place to a modern house, and almost the only sign of its former existence now visible, is the large circular stone dovecot which has not only the whole of its interior walls fitted with nesting holes, but also has the very unusual feature of a wall running across its diameter, also fitted on both sides with holes. This apparently must have been built to increase the accommodation for nesting pigeons, already quite large. Altogether there must be hundreds of nesting holes. Happily tea was just over and members were on their way to their cars before a storm, which had been threatening, broke over them and bastened their departure at 6 o'clock.

A quarter of an hour's drive brought the party to Kington St. Michael Church, with its rather remarkable "Gothic" tower of 1725, built to replace the tower which fell during a great storm in 1703. Here again the Rev. E. H. Goddard acted as guide. The building is not without points of interest, but was "restored" with drastic thoroughness in 1857, and the memorial window to John Aubrey and John Britton is an example of what was possible in the early days of the revival of glass painting.

Half an hour in the motors brought members back to Chippenham, to the Bear Hotel, which was the official headquarters of the Meeting. There was no official dinner but members dined as they pleased at the Bear and Angel Hotels, and elsewhere.

At 8 o'clock the Mayor and Corporation met in state at the Town Hall to formally welcome the Society, of whom some 65 were present, and a very cordial speech by the Mayor was responded to (in the absence of the President of the Society, Mr. W. Heward Bell) by Capt. B. H. Cunnington, who referred to the kindness of the Corporation in giving the Society the use of the Town Hall, and the hospitality of the Mayoress, Mrs. Strand, in providing coffee and light refreshments that evening. The paper of the evening was a valuable one on the History of Corsham, by Mr. H. Brakspear, F.S. A., which will appear later in the Magazine. One of the chief attractions

of Chippenham to those members of the Society who are gardeners as well as archæologists, was Mrs. White's wonderful garden in the High Street. This was not visited officially but was most kindly thrown open to any who wished to see it, and many of those specially interested in gardening matters found opportunities of seeing it, and admiring its quite unusual beauty and excellence.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10TH.

Leaving Chippenham at 9.30, Corsham was reached at 10 o'clock, and the Hungerford Almshouses were first visited, Mr. Brakspear giving an account of the buildings and their history. From this picturesque group of buildings members walked to the Court arriving there as rain began to fall. Here Lord and Lady Methuen welcomed the party, and at the foot of the staircase in the Hall, Mr. Brakspear first gave an account of the history of the House, incidentally correcting certain statements which appeared in the programme of proceedings of the meeting, founded on mistakes in Britton's account. Lord Methuen then took the members round the house methodically pointing out the treasures of all kinds with which it is filled, the famous pictures from the delightful Fra. Filippo. Lippi, and no less delightful Mabuse downwards; the furniture, including "The Cobb Chest"; the wealth of fine Chelsea, and Worcester, and Oriental China; family portraits and miniatures; splendid big game heads; and trophies and souvenirs of the South African War. There were indeed so many things of first-rate interest to see that the time allotted to the visit only allowed of individual members seeing a very small portion of the really notable contents of this great treasure house. From the Court members walked to the Church where Mr. Brakspear was again the guide. In spite of the wholesale alterations in 1875-78, when the present tower was substituted for the original central tower, the Church still contains many features of interest, and the new work is at least, good of its kind. The modern glass is especially good. By the time members left the Church the rain had happily ceased, and the walk to the Town Hall for lunch, at which Lord Methuen took the chair, was accomplished in the dry. After lunch the long line of private motor cars and char-a-bancs left at 1,45 for Cheney Court, threading their way through steep and narrow lanes and in and out of the drive to the house, according to the minute directions of the Meeting Secretary, as already laid down for them. And here it may be said that throughout the proceedings of the meeting car drivers loyally obeyed the printed directions given them, with the result that there was no confusion or delay throughout the three days. The arrival at Cheney Court was signalised by the worst downpour experienced during the meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Northey were away from home but their house was generously thrown open to 160 people with dripping mackintoshes and umbrellas, and the housekeeper was most kind in showing them round and doing all in her power for them. The garden arranged in terraces and zig-zag paths down the steep slope of the little combe at the head of which the fine old house stands, with its trickling stream and lily pool, must be delightful in fine weather, and even in its damp and sodden condition won much admiration