ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH.

St. Saviour's Church, Lambridge, stands near to Beaufort Buildings, West. It was built in 1827. On the 28th of April of the following year the church was consecrated. The tower consists of three stories, well proportioned, having the angles ornamented, with octangular buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, decorated with panels, crockets, and finials, and rises to a height of 120 feet. The intervals of the choir windows are perforated by quarter-foils, and the side walls are flanked by buttresses, with crocketted pinnacles, between which are five pointed windows, with mouldings rich in tracery, the walls being capped with perforated parapets. The interior is divided into a centre and side aisles, separated by pointed arcades, of five openings on each side, with galleries on the north and south, and pews placed near to the sides. The east window is filled with stained glass, representing the royal arms, those of the united sees, together with the roses, shamrock, and thistle. There are seven hundred free and four hundred appropriated sittings. Eight bells in the tower were cast by Rudhall, especially for the church, the cost being £600, and were presented by William Hooper, Esq. St. Saviour's parish is a rectory patronage, being vested in the Church Patronage Society.

The beautiful reredos was designed by Mr. J. P. Seddon, F.R.I.B.A., and the work was executed by Mr. Harry Hems, who has used eighty tons of Beer stone in its erection. The five panels of the reredos are of polished alabaster, with sprays of exquisitely carved "decorated" leafage worked out of it "in the solid." In the central panel the vesica, which is grounded with gold mosaic, holds a pure statuary marble (polished) Calvary cross, 7 ft. high, and surrounding the vesica are seven white doves, in circular medallions, flying towards the cross. In the flanking panels are circular medallions, also grounded with gold mosaic, in which are the emblems of the four Evangelists. These emblems and the doves are cut out of perfectly white English alabaster, so white that it can scarcely

be distinguished from statuary marble. Higher up between each panel are statues of the Evangelists, and on the face of the octagonal piers, which bound the whole composition, are groups of virgins and martyrs on the right and men on the left. These are respectively St. Ethelreda with the crosier, St. Mary Magdalene with the box of ointment, St. Cecilia with the handorgan, St. Helena with the cross, and St. Catherine with the wheel, St. Peter with a net, St. Paul with a sword, St. Simon with a saw, St. Stephen in a maniple with stones, and St. Matthias with an axe. All these are sculptured in stone. In the upper part of the central gable is a statue of the Virgin Mary, and on either side, over the two nearer panels, adoring angels are kneeling. Winged angels crown the outer octagonal piers, and the Agnus Dei forms the sculptured termination to the central gable. A beautiful simple diaper covers the lower breadth of the reredos. It will also be noticed that the plan of the whole is apsidal, which gives greater width to the composition. The foot-pace round the altar-table is of polished Devonshire marble. The highest point of the reredos is about 25 feet from the floor beneath, and the central alabaster panel measures 8 feet by 10 feet. The decorated cresting

above the cornice is smaller in character than that on the choir screens at Exeter. Some of the statues are amongst the very best work Mr. Harry Hems has produced, even in his extensive and varied art work throughout the kingdom.

A latten shield affixed to the chancel wall bears the follow

ing inscription :- "+ To the glory of God, and in memory of the first Rector, the Rev. William Stamer, D.D., who died the 20th of November, 1866, this Reredos was erected by his only surviving child, Charlotte Matilda Musgrave, and was dedicated on the 20th November, 1886. R.I.P." What we regret is that the chancel, of recent date, is not a setting worthy of so beautiful a jewel. It is commonplace, lacks dignity of architectural design, and already exhibits symptoms of instability.

ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.

St. Andrew's is a new church, built during the incumbency of the Rev. Canon Bernard, and designed by the late Sir Gilbert Scott. It stands on a tongue of land, parallel with the Via Julia, at the end of Rivers street. Formerly this part of the spiritual wants of an important and populous part of the city was imperfectly met by a proprietary chapel, called "Margaret's Chapel," so named after a former Lady of the Manor, Mrs. Margaret Garrard, patron of the living at the time the edifice was built, in 1773. Although designed by the younger Wood, it is destitute of every merit except space, and it is a matter for deep satisfaction that such buildings are becoming one by one disused for church purposes.

The church is one of great dignity and beauty, and is an object, seen from every part of the city, which breaks the skyline, and so supplies just the architectural relief required. It is in the Early English style, and the details are most carefully carried out. Only the body of the church was at first completed, the tower and spire having been since added. The cost of the entire work has been over £20,000, nearly the whole of which has been raised by voluntary contributions.

The interior is well arranged, and is capable of accommodating above a thousand persons. It consists of nave, two side aisles, organ chamber, and capacious vestry. The reredos, pulpit, and font, are of alabaster and marble, well-executed, and are the gifts of private individuals. The organ was built by Bryceson, of London, at a cost of £600, and is a finetoned instrument.

It may be observed, that this part of the parish still forms an integral part of the ecclesiastical parish of Walcot, of which St. Swithin is the "Mother Church," and, therefore, St. Andrew's is a chapel-of-ease only, with the full privileges, notwithstanding, of the parish church, so far as the marriage and baptismal rites are concerned.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.

St. Paul's Church is built partly on the site of an inn, well known for a century and-a-half, called the "Elephant and Castle," and partly on the site of St. Mary's Chapel, built by Wood the elder, the origin of which is not without interest. In 1730, it was proposed to pull down St. Michael's Church, the second on the site, and to erect a new one, for which Wood sent in designs. To Wood's indignant surprise, the plan of an incompetent builder, named Harvey, was preferred. In the following year, when Queen Square was nearly complete, Wood obtained the sanction of the Bishop to build a chapelof-ease in the south-west corner. This chapel embodied the chief characteristics of the design intended for St. Michael's Church.

When the Midland Railway Station was erected, a stipulation was agreed to by the directors, to give additional width to the approach, which involved the removal of the chapel. In the meantime, the exigencies of the parish requiring additional church accommodation, the ecclesiastical parish of St. Paul was carved partly out of St. James's, and partly out of Trinity, and the present church was built and consecrated in 1874. The architects employed were Messrs. Wilson and Willcox, who made the best of a site beset with every conceivable difficulty, and with very limited funds at command. The style is twelfth-century Gothic. The dimensions are 31 feet wide by 96 feet long.

The pediment and pillars of Wood's portico are preserved by Mr. Willcox, and reserved for some structure worthy of them.

ST. MARK'S CHURCH, LYNCOMBE.

The first stone of this church was laid on the 13th of April, 1830, and the edifice was completed in 1832, the consecration taking place on Friday, the 27th of April, in the same year, by the Bishop of the Diocese.

St. Mark's Church was built to meet the necessities of the increasing population on the south side of the river, the

small parish church of Widcombe and the little chapel of St. Mary Magdalene being the only places of worship at that period. The architect of the building was the late Mr. G. P. Manners, the style of architecture being the debased Gothic, prevalent at that time. It has a lofty tower with eight handsome pinnacles, and within has nave and two aisles, with eight lofty pillars, the aisles being carried up to the same height as the nave. A slight elongation of the nave of about 8 feet did duty as a chancel. Heavy galleries on the north and south side and west end made the building dark, but helped to provide accommodation, the building being arranged for about 1200 people. The east window had stained glass figures of St. Peter, St. Mark, St. James, and St. Michael, of no great merit. It was a memorial gift by the late Captain T. Pickering Clarke, R. N. Two handsome communion chairs were the gift of the architect; the communion plate was given by Mrs. Ashman; and other donors assisted in the appointments by various gifts. Since that time the church has undergone considerable alteration. Under the present vicar, the Rev. E. J. Wemyss-Whittaker, it has been entirely re-seated with pitch-pine open seats; the old galleries taken down, and new light galleries, standing back from the pillars some four feet, have completely removed the old heavy appearance; while the throwing open the west tower, and the erection of a chancel with open timber roof, has rendered St. Mark's one of the prettiest interiors in Bath. The organ has been removed from the west gallery to an organ chamber in the south side of the chancel, and a new vestry has been built on the north side. The chancel terminates in an apsidal form with three lofty well-designed windows, the figures of the saints being removed to the north and south windows of the chancel. A handsome pulpit of Bath stone, standing against the second north column, has taken the place of the lofty three-decker of the original design. The