THE CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 47

THE CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY.

THE KAISER'S "FRIEND." A New Zealander, serving with the Engineers' foroea from tho dominion, has sent tho following account of a visit to Christchurch priory, England: "I was down at Christchurch yesterday looking over the priory. It is very interesting. It is all pre-Reformation work —the older part dating right back to William Rufus There is some wonderful stone carving, considering the limitation of tools in those days, and the later work is a mar vel of ingenuity patience. On the "misere" are many quaint and grotesquo wood carvings—some of them satirical and some illustrating tho methods used in building. There is an effigy of Richard 111, with a devil on each side of him—all tho work of the monks of the time. On one of the tombs it is stated .as ono of a man's striking- virtues that he had only one wife, which would therefore appear to bo a distinction in that period I The architecture of the place is massive Gothic, and tho effect —lights, etc. —is striking, though sepulchral and cold. The Kaiser's name is in the visitors' hook, and he wrote it 'William,', not 'Wilhelm'—as a compliment, I suppose. Just below' his name is that of Raemakers, the cartoonist, tho Kaiser remarking 'this is a friend of mine.' I wonder if he thinks so now that Raemakers is damning him all over the world with his cartoons! The custodian told mo that Bishop Julius had frequently been there—on pilgrimage, I suppose, to the parent of his own • Christchurch. The Avon River runs close beside the priory, and tho whole made a very beautiful scene on tho calm winter evening."