is that already incidentally referred to of Sir Guy O'Brien, third husband of Elizabeth de Montacute, daughter of the Earl of Salisbury. The monument is a fine piece of Perpendicular work. It has Sir Guy's effigy in armour.

Adjoining the north transept is a building in the Early English style-probably the Chapter House. It is now used as a school. The only other monastic remains of importance is a fine Gateway a short distance west from the church.

Tewkesbury has another church, Holy Trinity, erected in 1837. There are several Dissenting chapels.

The Public Buildings are of no special importance. There are a Literary Institution, Savings Bank, Market, Dispensary, House of Industry, and numerous charities.

The neighbourhood is pleasant, though very level. During high tides the whole of the meadows adjoining the Abbey Church are sometimes flooded by the two rivers which here unite.

ASHCHURCH, the point at which the Tewkesbury branch leaves the main line, has a homely little church near the station, containing, however, nothing of note.

DEERHURST, about 4 miles from Tewkesbury, on the Gloucester Road, and situated on the bank of the Severn, is a very pleasant and healthy village. The church, originally a Saxon erection dedicated to the Holy Trinity, belonged to a priory established A.D. 715, by a Mercian duke named Dodo, who was also one of the founders of Tewkesbury Abbey. Some scraps of

Saxon work are built into the walls of the present edifice. The remains of the priory are now converted into a farm-house.

KEMERTON, 4 miles north-east from Tewkesbury, is delightfully situated in a hilly part of the county, and watered by a small brook which runs into the river Avon. Its Church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, has, with the exception of the tower, been rebuilt within the past sixteen years. It is a very neat specimen of the Decorated style, and consists of nave, chancel, and north and south aisles: there are a few monuments, none of which, however, need any detail. The Roman Catholics and Wesleyans have chapels here. In the neighbourhood of this village is a quarry of excellent freestone.

WALTON CARDIFF, a hamlet about a mile distant from Tewkesbury, has an old Church in the Early English style, dedicated to St. James. It contains no monuments of importance.

THORNBURY.

INNS: Swan, White Hart.

From Charfield Station (from Gloucester 20 miles; Bristol 17) about 4 miles. May also be reached from Wickwar Station or Chepstow.

THIS ancient town is charmingly situated on the eastern bank of the Severn, in the lower part of the fertile vale of Gloucester. It is a quiet place, of little bustle or trade; but its weekly market brings together a goodly number of farmers and others with the produce of the surrounding country. Its history comprises few facts worth mentioning. Its principal associations are connected with the dukes of Buckingham, proprietors of the manor, of whom one, the builder of the castle, was executed for treason.

The CASTLE is the most interesting object in the town. This edifice, magnificent in its incompleteness and ruin, was begun in 1511 by Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. His attainder in 1521, and execution for high treason, put a stop to the building; and no subsequent owner continued the work. Much of it has gone to utter ruin; but several portions remain almost complete, presenting a very admirable specimen of the architecture of the early part of the 16th century. The most important remnant is the entrance gateway.

Over the arch the following inscription, in ancient characters, is still distinguishable :

"This gate was begun in the yere of our Lorde Gode MCCCCCXI the 11th yere of the reyne of Kyng Henry the VIIIth. by me Edw. Duc of Buckinha Erlle of Harforde Stafforde and Northampto."

The summit of this interesting structure commands a good view of the Severn, and of a large portion of South Wales.

The CHURCH, dedicated to St. Mary, is a fine old building, consisting of nave and aisles, transepts, chancel, and a lofty tower ending in battlements of beautiful open work, and adorned with pinnacles. Some years ago it was restored with considerable taste. In the interior there are several interesting monuments.

Among other buildings may be mentioned a grammar school on an ancient foundation, national and other schools, one or two Dissenting chapels, etc. The town has several quaint old houses.

The neighbourhood of Thornbury is attractive. Several places of more or less interest to the tourist, situated in the surrounding district, may be conveniently noticed here.

OLVESTON, about 3 miles distant to the south-west, and not far from the Old or Aust Passage across the Severn,* *.contains a church in the Norman style.

The

* The Aust Passage is interesting to the geologist on account of a clear and open section of the new red marl in the low cliff there. Dispersed along the shore may be found masses of

edifice, which has been recently improved, consists of nave, aisles, chancel, porch, and tower, the last a very fine object. In the interior is an ancient brass, still in a good state of preservation, to Walter Dennes Knighton, a former proprietor of the manor.

TYTHERINGTON, between 2 and 3 miles to the south of Thornbury, is a village much frequented on account of the beautiful and extensive views in its neighbourhood. The place is of Roman origin (there being some scanty remains of a Roman camp). The Church is an ancient building, containing some good windows, and possessing a fine tower and an excellent peal of bells.

ROCKHAMPTON, with a neat and ancient little Church dedicated to St. Oswald, is about a mile and a half to the north.

TORTWORTH, about 6 miles distant, to the northeast, and within a mile and a half of Charfield Station, has a fine old Church in the Decorated style dedicated

gypsum, which are collected for the manufacture of plaster of Paris. The cliff contains near its summit that very remarkable bed known to collectors as the "bone bed." Perhaps there is no known bed of rock containing so many osseous petrifactions in the same space as this. Its greatest thickness is not more than a few inches, indeed it rarely exceeds one inch, and sometimes turns out to one quarter of an inch. Yet within this very thin layer are aggregated innumerable teeth, scales, and other bones of fishes of several species, with many coprolites, or droppings of fish. From this one locality very numerous fine teeth, and other parts, have been supplied to public and private collections.