possibly this building was originally a fine old coaching inn, for it stood close upon the roadway. Oh! the comfort of a well-built home like this, with a roof fit to weather the storms of centuries, and thick walls, so charmingly warm in winter and so delightfully cool in summer, wherein you may dwell in peace, and bills for repairs are almost an unknown thing.
The church here is a box-like structure, small, primitive, and ugly, and we merely went to view it because the rector at Water Newton had told us that the ancient font thereof was curious; it being carved round with men fighting—scarcely an appropriate ornamentation for a font in a Christian church though, one would imagine! Quite in keeping with the rude interior of this tiny fane is the wooden gallery at one end, with the most suitable inscription:—
This Loft Erected
January 1st, 1804.
I have only to add that it is an excellent example of the Churchwarden era of architecture, and you seldom find a structure of the period more ugly.
At Wansford we crossed the river Nene on a fine old stone bridge of thirteen arches, if we counted them aright: a solid bit of building pleasing to look upon and making a pretty picture from the meadows below with the clustering, uneven roofs of the village for a background. Over the centre arch let in the wall we noticed a stone inscribed P. M. 1577. Wansford is curiously called locally "Wansford in
