cture, the little chapel of St.
Lawrence at Bradford-on-Avon. Until 1856 its existence was entirely
unknown, and the credit of its discovery was due to the Rev. Canon
Jones, Vicar of Bradford. At the Reformation with the dissolution of
the abbey at Shaftesbury it had passed into lay hands. The chancel was
used as a cottage. Round its walls other cottages arose. Perhaps part
of the building was at one time used as a charnel-house, as in an old
deed it is called the Skull House. In 1715 the nave and porch were
given to the vicar to be used as a school. But no one suspected the
presence of this exquisite gem of Anglo-Saxon architecture, until
Canon Jones when surveying the town from the height of a neighbouring
hill recognized the peculiarity of the roof and thought that it might
indicate the existence of a church. Thirty-seven years ago the
Wiltshire antiquaries succeeded in purchasing the building. They
cleared away the buildings, chimney-stacks, and outhouses that had
grown up around it, and revealed the whole beauties of this lovely
shrine. Archaeologists have fought many battles over it as to its date.
Some contend that it is the identical church which William of
Malmesbury tells us St. Aldhelm built at Bradford-on-Avon about 700
A.D., others assert that it cannot be earlier than the tenth century.
It was a monastic cell attached to the Abbey of Malmesbury, but
Ethelred II gave it to the Abbess of Shaftesbury in 1001 as a secure
retreat for her nuns if Shaftesbury should be threatened by the
ravaging Danes. We need not describe the building, as it is well
known. Our artist has furnished us with an admirable illustration of
it. Its great height, its characteristic narrow Saxon doorways, heavy
plain imposts, the string-courses surrounding the building, the
arcades of pilasters, the carved figures of angels are some of its
most important features. It is cheering to find that amid so much that
has vanished we have here at Bradford a complete Saxon church that
differs very little from what it was when it was first erected.

[Illustration: Saxon Doorway in St. Lawrence's Church,
Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts.]

Other Saxon remains are not wanting. Wilfrid's Crypt at Hexham, that
at Ripon, Brixworth Church, the church within the precincts of Dover
Castle, the towers of Barnack, Barton-upon-Humber, Stow, Earl's
Barton, Sompting, Stanton Lacy show considerable evidences of Saxon
work. Saxon windows with their peculiar baluster sha