Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/297

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE.
271

by the Central Committee to be inserted in the programme of the next General Meeting of the French Society; and the presentation of the first volume of the Archæological Journal, made on the part of the Committee by Dr. Bromet, was acknowledged by a special vote of thanks, with the presentation in return of the last volume of the Bulletin Monumental, published under the direction of the Society.

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St. George.—Brinsop Church.

The Rev. Richard Lane Freer forwarded a note on the sculptures in Brinsop church, Herefordshire. The church is dedicated to St. George; and the accompanying representation of the patron saint, from a drawing by Mr. Gill of Hereford, is now built into the north wall within the church, opposite the south door. It has been the tympanum of a doorway, perhaps of the principal entrance. The face of the figure is mutilated as well as the right arm. This relievo is 3 feet 6 inches high, and 4 feet wide. Above are the sculptural decorations of the arch of a door; and the way in which the subjects are mixed together would lead to the supposition that the present arrangement has been made by chance. They are for the most part carved on separate stones, sometimes two on one, so that if they were at any time thrown together, they may have been built into their present position without regard to the original design. In this arch there are two of the zodiacal signs, Taurus and Pisces; Sagittarius occurs in a rude circular arch above the north doorway. Mr. Freer considers these and other sculptured decorations of the building to have belonged to an edifice of earlier date than the present one; and though perhaps part of the old walls may remain, it appears probable that the early church had been either destroyed, or so neglected, that it became necessary to erect a new one, when these antiquities were placed in the walls for preservation. The holy-water stoup in the wall on the right side of the south door, within the church, is of the fourteenth century, but an armed figure in stained glass in the east window, said to be Bishop Cantilupe, would direct us to the thirteenth century, as the period of the erection of the present building.