Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/425

THE ABBEY CHURCH UF DORCHESTER. 831 were met with on account of the extraordinary circumstances of the parish. The churcli was formerly a pecuhar and impropriation in private hands, but the titlics had been sold and dispersed among a great number of individuals, so that there was no one responsible Lay Rector, and in any case, considering the curious tenure by which the choir is held, it might be very doubtful on whom the repairs would legally fall. Besides this, the parish was then a sort of ecclesiastical oasis, it had no Ordinary whatever ; since the sale of the property the impropriation had been divided, but the juris- diction had completely vanished ; no Official of the Peculiar had been appointed for years, so that it was very doubtful whether there were any legal churchwardens. In these circumstances, it was by no means clear to whom to apply for the necessary permission to commence the work. How- ever, the Perpetual Curate and the acting Churchwardens entered zealously into the scheme ; and the gentleman who was supposed, if any one, to be chargeable to the repairs of the chancel, gave every facility in his power, which, in one not a member of the Churcli of England, deserves to be recorded to his great honour. Consequently no practical difficulty was found. A subscription was accordingly opened, collections Avere made in the parish of an amount most creditable to one so poor, and immediately after the long vacation, the most necessary portion of the work, the repair of the sedilia and piscina and south window of the presbytery, was commenced. These were completed in March, 1846. The principle pursued throughout has been strictly con- servative, a diligent repair of what remained, and careful adaptation of what was necessarily new. In this first portion of the restoration, the only absolutely new work required were four finials and four small statues, to have entirely omitted w^hich would have left the sedilia very imperfect. This much being effected, the eftbrts of the Society were directed to the restoration of the remainder of the presbytery. This, as involving a new roof, and the completion of the mutilated east window, was a very serious undertaking. Little doubt could be entertained but that the design for the east window originally made, and of which an engraving is given in Mr. Addington's work, contained a centre-piece far too elaborate for the remarkably bold work of the tracery below. A question had also been raised by a writer in the