. Henry Nicholson Ellacombe hon. canon of Bristol, vicar of Bitton and rural dean, 1822-1916 a memoir . ning for them. There are few parish churches which cannot giveexamples of the same thing, and it scarcely seems toomuch to say that there was at least as much, if notmore, destruction of ancient buildings before thesixteenth century as in the disastrous destruction ofthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We haveproofs of the utter destruction of many churches builtbefore the fifteenth century in the number of Normanand Early English fonts which alone in many churchesbear witness to the ex
. Henry Nicholson Ellacombe hon. canon of Bristol, vicar of Bitton and rural dean, 1822-1916 a memoir . ning for them. There are few parish churches which cannot giveexamples of the same thing, and it scarcely seems toomuch to say that there was at least as much, if notmore, destruction of ancient buildings before thesixteenth century as in the disastrous destruction ofthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We haveproofs of the utter destruction of many churches builtbefore the fifteenth century in the number of Normanand Early English fonts which alone in many churchesbear witness to the existence of earlier county in England can show such fonts, butperhaps Devonshire can show them in the greatestabundance. Throughout the monotonous church archi-tecture of the county the old Norman font in manychurches alone tells the tale that there was a time whenthere was as little monotony in the churches as thereis in the scenery. I cannot better show how from one century toanother the work of destruction was carried on in ourparish churches, but always with the view of substitu-. CHURCH RESTORATION 283 ting something better and more beautiful, than bytaking one church ; and I take one with which I ambetter acquainted than any other, the church of , Bitton, Gloucestershire.^ In pre-Norman times the church was a long and verylofty church. The exact date of the foundationcannot be fixed, but Professor Freeman said that itmight be placed any time after the fifth century. Thenin the eleventh century the church was altered by theusual additions of a western front, north and southdoors, and a chancel arch placed within the older Saxonarch. At the end of the thirteenth century cameBishop Button, who, to build a beautiful mortuarychapel in memory of his parents, pulled down a largeportion of the north wall of the nave, and did nothesitate to chop up Norman windows and other Normanwork, and even Norman monuments. Then came anunknown builder at the end of the f
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