Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/457

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE.
335

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 335 William of Worcester adverts to the 'new south door' on other occa- sions, in describing with whimsical exactness the precise number, direction and length of the lanes leading past this church. In p. 174 of the printed edition he speaks of the ' tertia venella eundo ad ecclcsiam S. Stephani per portam rneridionalem novam ecclesioe.' Again, he mentions a ' quinta venella eundo ab domo incipiente coram portam meridionalem ex novo factam ecclcsise.' Several other doors on the north and west side and in the tower are also mentioned, but none are noticed with any allusion to their recent con- struction. The position of all can, I believe, be traced in the present build- ing, but it would be difficult to find any place for the accommodation of the south porch in the north wall of the cimrch, or any assignable reason for removing it from the north wall, if it ever stood on that side. The north wall of the nave is bounded by the open church-yard, and presents no indication of any displaced door, nor any convenient site for one. The result seems to be that the author of the Itinerary has referred to tliis porch four times, identifying it either by his section of it, or by the manifest date of its erection. He calls it (in English or Latin) the south porch three times, and the north porch once. The chances are therefore, at least, three to one in favour of an original southern position. It must be owned that the question is one of minor moment, and (whatever be the solution of it) certainly one which in no degree affects the value or character of Professor Willis's excellent treatise. But I cannot help observing that the inaccuracies which he has pointed out in Nasmyth's copy of the MS., and the large omissions which Cole's unfinished tran- script of the same MS. proves Nasmyth to have made, induce regret that William Bottoner did not meet with a more conscientious editor. Even his pedometrical propensities are not without interest : they .supply the only proof, of which I am aware, that the cathedral church of Bristol probably never much exceeded its present length, and was therefore never completed." The communication, for which we are indebted to Dr. Charlton, given in this number of the Journal, and read at one of the London meetings, has been followed by several interesting notices of similar memorials and sculp- tured crosses, existiijg in various parts of the kingdom. We hope that Mr. Chalmers, of Auldbar, who has for some years collected examples of the early sculptures in North Britain, will not defer giving to the public the results pf his enquiries ; and we have much pleasure in stating that a volume, specially devoted to the illustration of incised slabs, and monumental memorials with crosses Hory and symbolical devices, has been prepared by the Rev. Edward Cutts, and is nearly ready for imblication. Upwards of two hundred examples have been engraved for this work, which has long been a desideratum amongst archajolcgical monographs. At the December meeting of the Institute iIr. J. O. Westwood commu- nicated rubbings of the north and south sides of the larger of the two crosses at Sandbach, Cheshire, remarkable for the peculiar style of their sculp- tured ornaments. The north side bears representations of a number of