The old church has been pulled down, and a new one, modelled in every particular after it, has been built on its site. A church ought doubtless to tell its own date by its style. Yet it is far better that we should copy a moderately good specimen than increase the number of modern abortions. At all events, this is faithfully restored, though utterly spoilt by the heavy galleries which flank it on every side. The Early-English chancel, with its recessed arcade, springing from polished shafts of black Purbeck marble, well shows the beauty of the original design; whilst, on the chancel floor, lies a fine brass of the fifteenth century to John Prophete, which, however, has been most shamefully defaced. The body is robed in a cope broidered with figures of saints—St. Michael, and the Virgin and Child, St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Catharine and St. Faith, St. George and St. Wenefride. The head, with the hood thrown back, rests on a cushion, whilst the cope is clasped with a morse, enriched with an effigy of the Saviour, crowned with a halo of light. [Illustration: The Avon at Ibbesley.] CHAPTER XII. THE VALLEY OF THE AVON CONTINUED.—TYRREL’S FORD, SOPLEY, AND WINKTON. [Illustration: Tyrrel’s Ford.] After we leave Ringwood the road for a mile or two is less attractive in its scenery. Still, here, as in every part of England, there is something to be seen and learnt. The Avon flows close by, famous for a peculiar eel, locally called the “sniggle” (_Anguilla mediorostris_), which differs from its common congener (_acutirostris_) in its slender form and elongated under-jaw, and its habits of roving and feeding by day.[153] The river has, also, like some of the Norwegian streams, the peculiarity of forming ground ice.[154] For the botanist, along the hedge banks, the blue and slate-coloured soapwort is growing throughout the summer and autumn, with purple cat-mint and wild clary. In the waste places the thorn-apple shows its white blossoms; whilst red stacks of fern and black turf ricks stand by every cottage door to remind us how close we are to the Forest. After we pass Bisterne,[155] the road becomes more interesting. To our right rises the range of St. Catherine’s Hills, that is, the fortified height, where remain the four mounds of the watch-towers and the traces of the camp. Presently we come to Avon-Tyrrel and the blacksmith’s forge, built on the spot where Tiril’s horse is said to have been shod, and which pays a yearly fine of three pounds and ten shillings to Government.