The beautiful fir woods that are such a feature of the surrounding landscape make rambles in any direction most delightful.  By-ways may be taken eastwards to the Stratfields—­Mortimer, Saye and Turgis.  The second is well known as the residence of the great Duke of Wellington and his successors, who hold it by presenting a flag to the King on the anniversary of Waterloo.

About three miles south of Silchester is an interesting church at Bramley.  It is more than probable that the ruins of the former place were used by the builders of this church.  The older portions, the north side of the nave and the font, are Norman.  Part of the chancel is Early English and the tower, built of brick, just antedates the Civil War.  The ugly Brocas chapel on the south side was erected in the opening years of the nineteenth century.  It contains a “monstrous fine” sculpture of one of the family and bears on the roof their gilded Moor’s head crest as a vane.  The most interesting detail in the church is a series of wall paintings, including one of the martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket.  The west gallery was added in the early eighteenth century and is a handsome erection.  Not far away is the fine old Manor House, now divided into tenements, but still a gracious and dignified “black-and-white” building.

A by-way going westwards through “Little London” eventually leads to a number of interesting villages, among them Pamber and Monk Sherborne, which form one parish.  The church used by Pamber is a remnant of the old Priory church founded by Henry I, and consists of the ancient choir and tower dating from the end of the twelfth century.  Within are a few relics of this period, including several old coffin slabs, a font and a wooden cross-legged effigy belonging to the thirteenth century.  Monk Sherborne Church has a Norman door and chancel arch and also a piscina of this period.  The remainder of the much-restored fabric is mainly Early English.

For our present goal—­Kingsclere—­the way is circuitous, but extremely pleasant. (In fine weather it is possible to take a short cut by field paths for the greater part of the distance.) After crossing the almost obliterated Port Way, as the road from Silchester to Old Sarum is called, and nearly eight miles of cross country rambling from Bramley, a main highway is reached at Wolverton, where the church is reputed to be a work of Sir Christopher Wren.  This is unlikely, but the design of the tower is familiar to anyone acquainted with London City and dates, with the remainder of the fabric, from 1717.  The red-brick walls relieved by white stone are a little startling at first in such an out-of-the-way village, but their effect is not unpleasing, and when the church is entered its fine proportions will be admired by anyone not slavishly bound to the worship of “Gothic.”  The powers that once ruled here evidently thought otherwise, for several attempts have obviously been made to do away with some of the classic details.  The fine contemporary woodwork of the chancel and other irreplacable details were destroyed or seriously damaged by a destructive fire about twelve years ago.