In dealing with the introduction of church architecture into our own land, the task would be much simplified if one could state with certainty when the first church was built on British soil. Some historians assert that the Church of England as it is constituted to-day dates no further back than the moment when S. Augustine and his followers landed on the shores of Kent in the year 596, yet one is probably justified in assuming that a church existed in these islands for centuries previous to the arrival of the Roman missionaries. Unfortunately we have no records to guide us as to the date of this earlier settlement, and the name of the first Christian missionary to heathen Britain has still to be discovered. "We see," says the quaint old historian, Thomas Fuller, "the light of the word shined here, but see not who kindled it." The first Christian building of which we have any record was probably that erected at Glastonbury before the year 300, but that this was the first Christian settlement cannot be alleged with certainty. There are many traditions concerning the introduction of Christianity into Britain, some of which may probably have some bearing on the truth, but the whole subject is involved in considerable obscurity. One of these numerous traditions is to the effect that the British King Caradoc, after being taken prisoner to Rome, was allowed to return, on condition that several members of his family remained as hostages; and whilst serving in this capacity, his mother, son, and daughter are stated to have become converts to Christianity, the doctrines of which faith they spread in their native land on their return thereto. Another tradition is to the effect that S. Paul himself visited Britain and laid the foundation of the Christian faith. We are also told by eminent church historians that the father and grandfather of S. Patrick were Christians, in which case S. Patrick himself would from a very early age have been brought up in the tenets of their faith. He is said to have been seized by pirates in the Clyde and taken to the north of Ireland, and eventually to Gaul. He was subsequently restored to his friends, whom he wished to convert to the Christian faith, and for this purpose his father sent him to be taught in the schools of Tours, Auxerre and Lerins. Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the Irish and organized an efficient ecclesiastical system in Ireland. [Illustration: A Rood Screen with a Restoration of the Rood. Kenn, Devon. _Photograph by Chapman._]