Not far from Norwich are the churches of Keswick and Intwood.  Before 1600 A.D. the latter was deserted and desecrated, being used for a sheep-fold, and the people attended service at Keswick.  Then Intwood was restored to its sacred uses, and poor Keswick church was compelled to furnish materials for its repair.  Keswick remained ruinous until a few years ago, when part of it was restored and used as a cemetery chapel.  Ringstead has two ruined churches, St. Andrew’s and St. Peter’s.  Only the tower of the latter remains.  Roudham church two hundred years ago was a grand building, as its remains plainly testify.  It had a thatched roof, which was fired by a careless thatcher, and has remained roofless to this day.  Few are acquainted with the ancient hamlet of Liscombe, situated in a beautiful Dorset valley.  It now consists of only one or two houses, a little Norman church, and an old monastic barn.  The little church is built of flint, stone, and large blocks of hard chalk, and consists of a chancel and nave divided by a Transition-Norman arch with massive rounded columns.  There are Norman windows in the chancel, with some later work inserted.  A fine niche, eight feet high, with a crocketed canopy, stood at the north-east corner of the chancel, but has disappeared.  The windows of the nave and the west doorway have perished.  It has been for a long time desecrated.  The nave is used as a bakehouse.  There is a large open grate, oven, and chimney in the centre, and the chancel is a storehouse for logs.  The upper part of the building has been converted into an upper storey and divided into bedrooms, which have broken-down ceilings.  The roof is of thatch.  Modern windows and a door have been inserted.  It is a deplorable instance of terrible desecration.

The growth of ivy unchecked has caused many a ruin.  The roof of the nave and south aisle of the venerable church of Chingford, Essex, fell a few years ago entirely owing to the destructive ivy which was allowed to work its relentless will on the beams, tiles, and rafters of this ancient structure.

Besides those we have mentioned there are about sixty other ruined churches in Norfolk, and in Suffolk many others, including the magnificent ruins of Covehithe, Flixton, Hopton, which was destroyed only forty-four years ago through the burning of its thatched roof, and the Old Minster, South Elmham.

Attempts have been made by the National Trust and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to save Kirkstead Chapel, near Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.  It is one of the very few surviving examples of the capella extra portas, which was a feature of every Cistercian abbey, where women and other persons who were not allowed within the gates could hear Mass.  The abbey was founded in 1139, and the chapel, which is private property, is one of the finest examples of Early English architecture remaining in the country.  It is in a very decaying condition.  The owner