The churches of the island, looked at as antiquities, are disappointing, for though there is a good deal of Norman work in some of them they have often been very fully "restored." Brading holds itself to be the oldest church in the island, and there is in it much Norman work, and even fragments of something older. There are also some interesting tombs, including that to Sir John Cherowin, who died in 1441. The best known of all the churches is perhaps that at Bonchurch, always attractive to visitors. The surroundings are perhaps responsible for this as much as the little old building, now disused, and said to be in danger of slipping into the sea, even though this is the "sole wholly Norman structure on the island." It was built in 1070, restored very fully in the seventeenth century, and finally disused in 1850. The beauties of the neighbourhood are well described by Mr. Hope Moncrieff: "The mildness of the climate is attested by huge arbutus growths, recalling those of Killarney, by fuchsias like trees, with trunks as thick as a strong man's wrist, and by scarlet geraniums of such exuberance that a single plant will cover several square yards of wall in front of a house.... The road is much shut in between walls of private grounds, within which are enclosed some of the finest spots, such as the 'Pulpit Rock,' a projecting mass of sandstone marked by a cross, and another known as the 'Flagstaff Rock.'" The new church, with "its sadly beautiful graveyard," is on the hill above. The church at Shalfleet should certainly not be omitted, for its Norman tower with the carved tympanum ranks high among its kind. The rude sculpture represents a figure resting his hands on two animals, and the subject has been interpreted as David contending with the lion and the bear. At Whitwell Church, oddly enough, the present chancel was originally a chapel dedicated to St. Rhadegund, and the south chapel was the chancel. A quaint memory is enshrined in the name of Godshill, one of the prettiest of the island villages, of which the story is told, as it has often been told of other places, that at the building of the church the stones laid in place by masons at the foot of the hill on the selected site were miraculously transported to its summit night by night, as a sign that the church was to stand there, and there it was accordingly built. It is in a very striking situation, hardly sufficiently indicated by the picture, and it contains a painting of "Daniel in the Lions' Den," attributed to Rubens. The inhabitants of the charming little cottages chiefly live in summer-time on the profits of making tea for visitors, and are strenuous rivals.