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Meetings have been held by the Committees at Sherborne, Wimborne and Sturminster Marshall, &c. Papers of enquiry have been circulated and the replies tabulated; and in this and other ways some interesting information has been obtained. The following is a digest of various facts relative to the Churches in eight Rural Deaneries which have been obtained in the course of the enquiry :

(The references given in each case to the pages of Hutchins' History of Dorset, and to the Volumes, &c., of the Proceedings of the Dorset N.H. and A. Field Club, may be useful.J. M. J. F.).

BRIDPORT DEANERY.

(16 Churches. 2 returns have been received.)

POORSTOCK ST. MARY. (Cf. Dorset Field Club's Proceedings, Vol. XX., pp. 135-147; Hutchins' History of Dorset, 3rd Edition, Vol. II., p. 135).

Restoration in 1854-59 (Architect, Mr. J. Hicks, of Dorchester), when the galleries were removed, the North Aisle was added and the chancel was re-roofed.

The following ancient features were preserved :—

1. West doorway, remodelled in the 14th century; but still retaining, inside, the Norman jambs, and, outside, trace of arch.

2. Early Norman chancel arch, circa 1100 A.D.

3. The double hagioscope, probably of 15th century. Hooks in S. aisle, apparently showing doorway into the chapel where the baptistry is now.

5. South doorway, which is a fine specimen of 14th century work.

6. Dole table in the churchyard, which is in a good state of preservation.

The steps to the rood-loft were opened in 1915.

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The early 15th century font has been removed from the churchyard into the church, from which it had been displaced in 1867 to make room for a new font of Cornish serpentine marble.

SYMONDSBURY. (Hutchins' Dorset, II., p. 239).

There was much alteration and obliteration of old features in 1818; e.g., the wagon roof of the nave was plastered; Jacobean panelling was removed; galleries were erected, and the (stone) tracery was removed from the windows and was replaced by iron bars.

No changes of importance have been made since 1838. It is hoped that a considerable and much needed restoration of the church will be carried out before long.

BEAMINSTER DEANERY.

(20 churches. 11 returns.)

BEAMINSTER. (Hutchins, II., p. 118; and for Parnham Mansion, D.F.C. Vol. XXI., pp. 229-235).

The Chancel was restored in 1844, when the Grecian balustrade was removed from the Parnham pew. There was a general restoration in 1862, when the N., S., and W. galleries were removed, the nave was re-roofed, plaster removed from the old black timber of the aisles, and the 'Mort-house' was opened into the church. On the S. side (exterior) are remains of the stair turret to the rood-loft, which probably dates from the 13th century. The tower was restored in 1877. The Architect at the restorations of 1862 and 1877 was Mr. W. White, of London.

At the 1862 restoration, the ancient font, said to be of the Norman period, disappeared.

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BROADWINSOR. (Hutchins, II. p. 323).

The church, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in 1868 (Architect, Mr. Allen, of Crewkerne). The nave was lengthened, and the chancel shortened by 10 feet. The Early English arcading on the N. side, and the late Norman arcade on the S. side were rebuilt; but the original piers were retained.

The receptacle for a holy water basin, and the altar tombs, supposed to be Crewkernes, mentioned in Hutchins, and the remains of the ancient rood screen and loft, which had been removed from the church in 1818 and placed in the belfry, have all disappeared.

BURSTOCK. (Hutchins, II. p. 211).

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Reseated in 1870. Further restoration in 1877. The old font was, for a time, replaced by a marble basin from Italy; but has been restored to use. At the 1877 restoration (Architect Mr. P. H. Peters), the W. gallery was removed, the painted panels, on which were ' various Scripture histories,' mentioned by Hutchins, have disappeared, as also has the grave-stone of Hannah, wife of George Gibbs, Vicar, who died in 1772. A tablet, bearing a terrier as inscription, dated 1736, has also gone from the Pilsdon aisle ; but a copy of the inscription is preserved in the Parish Chest of Broadwinsor, and there is another copy in the Registry at Blandford.

WEST CHELBOROUGH. (Hutchins, II. p. 637).

The Church was restored in 1894, when the chancel roof was raised, the chancel arch enlarged, the church entirely reroofed, new E. and W. windows and vestry added, and the square pews removed. Hutchins gives an illustration of the interesting 12th century font.

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CORSCOMBE. (Hutchins, II. p. 90).

The Church was rebuilt and enlarged in 1877 (Architect, Mr. Allen, of Crewkerne); the only portions of the old church remaining being some of the pillars of the nave, the tower, and the S. porch.

HALSTOCK. (Hutchins, IV. p. 463).

A considerable restoration was carried out in 1845, with the addition of a new N. aisle (from designs of Welby Pugin). The foundations of the E. wall of the chancel were discovered in 1897, at a distance of 8 feet beyond the present wall,— the chancel having been thus much shortened in 1773. The altar is worthy of notice. It consists of a wooden slab on a stone wall with a trefoil in front which may be a part of the old E. window.

HOOK. (Hutchins, II. p. 178).

Much altered in 1875 (Architect, Mr. G. R. Crickmay, of Weymouth), when the gallery and old bell tower were removed.

MAPPERTON. (Hutchins, II. p. 158).

Repaired in 1846, when the porch was added, and a new E. window was inserted. When the vestry was built in 1908, the jamb tracery of an old window, now exposed, was found in the S. wall. The bowl of the old font, formerly in an outhouse, has been placed in the vestry. (A drawing of this font is to be found in British Museum Addit. MS. 36321, fo. 146.) Some of the old glass mentioned by Hutchins seems to have been brought from the house of the Hilary family, and from their aisle in Beaminster Church. Hutchins mentions three brass plates on a flat stone in the belfry. These have disappeared.

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NETHERBURY. (Hutchins, II. pp. 104 and 142).

The S. porch was built in 1848. The galleries were removed in 1850. The gravestones of John Strode, of Parnham (1620), on the chancel floor, and of John Gollop (1758) in the W. aisle, are now missing. In 1850 frescoes were found on the spandrils of the nave arches; on the one side the seven corporal works of mercy, and on the other the seven deadly sins. A sketch of them was forwarded to the Cambridge Ecclesiological Society; but the frescoes were not preserved. A fresco of a winged angel was also found on the chancel arch.

SOUTH PERROTT. (Hutchins, II. p. 164).

The church was restored in 1907 (Architect, Mr. Southworth Parker, of Plymouth), when the W. gallery was removed, the E. window inserted in the chancel, and the window in the N. wall of the chancel restored. In opening a doorway in the wall of the S. transept, an arch of late 15th century workmanship was found. This proved the former existence of a chantry on the S. of the chancel, alluded to by John Bangor Russell, of Beaminster, who, in a MS. book written by him about the year 1780, says:— On the south side of the Chancel was formerly a little Isle, built perhaps for a Chantry, which was taken down about 70 or 80 years ago."

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STOKE ABBOTT. (Hutchins, II. p. 147).

The church was restored in 1877 (Architect, Mr. James P. St. Aubyn, of London), when the erection of the N. aisle brought to light some interesting features and led to the following conclusions :-That the chancel walls were early Norman and of the same date as the font. A Norman window was found in the chancel; the early English alterations came later (seen in the lancets inserted in the chancel and in the N. wall of the nave). During the 1877 restoration fragments