The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-15 00:00:00

WEYIIILL HOP FAIR.

This fair was resumed on Thursday and continued
yesterday with the sale of hops, and business com-
menced rather briskly. The general value and the
extent of the demand for hops at this fair being now
fully ascertained, both hop growers and salesmen
evinced a disposition to make a reduction in the
prices previously asked ; and buyers submitting to
a moderate advance on prices made on hops at late
country markets this reciprocal concession was
produetive of a steady demand and easy sale.
Factors were disposed to break bulk and growers no
longer insisted on buyers taking whole growths,
and thus anything approaching monopoly exer-
cised by speculators and extensive buyers was re-
duced to a fair competition. London agents and
factors were chiefly engaged in country rows, and
ale brewers were represented in the Farnham hop
row, selecting requisite samples for pale and other
choice ales ;'hop merchants also bought largely,
and had many choice samples on sale. Surrey hops,
as usual, obtained higher prices than the growth
of any other county; the singularity of this fact is
worthy of remark. Surrey has no pretensions as
a hop county—the adjoining. county (Sussex) pro-
duces hops immeasurably in excess of the former ;
and Kent, the admitted hop garden of England,
more than doubles both the above counties, and is
in the highest state of cultivation. Yet the pecu-
liarity of the soil in a small division of Surrey pro-
duces a sample of hops, which for colour and
condition no other county call equal. The district
in which these famed plantations are is in the
,vicinity of Farnham, some gardens being close to
the Tillage from which they take their name,
" Farnbams." Before the close of the second day's
fair for hops a large sale of this prodigious accu-
mulation of land produce was effected, and many
gatherings of hop plantations were sold and re-sold
to meet the convenience of buyers. Prices ran as
follows : Sussex hops varied in price from 58s. to
665. per cwt. ; good useful qualities were sold at
GOs. Kent samples ranged from 603. per cwt. and
upwards ; Wealds fetched GOs. to 70s. per cwt., and
choicest pickincs, 775. per ditto; 'Middle and East
Dents, 90s. to l lOs. per cwt. Country hops realised
765. to 935. per cwt.; superior samples went still
higher. Farnham made on the average £5 to £6
per cwt., and crack gatherings even exceeded flea
figures. The fair remains open to-day (Saturday),
but the chief of the business is over. A vast
amount of business has been transacted. Hop
growers have been firm in the prices asked. Kent
growers have held over for Maidstone fair on Mon-
day next, and Hampshire and Surrey hop-planters
look forward for Andover fair in this county
(Hants), which is held on the 17th of November for
the sale of hops. The cheese-fair remains open; a
moderate business has been done, but trade is grow-
ing dull. Several large strings of valuable cart colts
have turned out unsold, and are in transit to Kent
fairs. Weyhill annual fair will conclude this after-
noon, after occupying a whole week, durinr, which
an enormous amount of business has been done and
a mint of money had changed hands, the value of
hops alone forming no very contemptible item in
the aggregate amount.

It may be of interest to our readers to be ac-
quainted with a curious discovery lately made at
Christchurch, Hants. The noble priory church at
hat place ranks in size with the cathedrals of G las-
gow and St. Patrick's, while it exceeds those of Wells
Oxford, Bristol, Manehe4er, Bath, Ripon, and Car-
lisle. The nave and transepts were built by the
architect of the nave of Durham, Bishop Flambard,
while Dean of Twineham. A crypt has long been
known to exist under the south transept, but a
similar building under the north wing has only re-
cently been laid open during the progress of the
restoration set on loot ny th energetic curate, the
Rev. Z. NaSh, and conducted under the superintend-
ence of the well-known architect, Mr. B. Ferrey, of
London. The. crypt is apsidal, measures 30ft. by
12ft., and is 9ft. 7in. high. The vault is supported
by two broad arches, resting on pilasters with
rounded edges. At the east end the diagonal ribs
spring from short pillars with simple bases and
capitals. The walls are 7ft. thick, and pierced on
the south and west by loops ; the north-east splay
having a stair-like graduation. On the south side
are two ambries. In the east wall a door of a much
later date, once fitted with folding doors, opens
upon three steps, which are closed by a wall. It is
'not certain whether they led up into the yard or
formed the approach to a secret locker and recep-
tacle.fer sacred vessels. The apse in the story above
was shorn away to give place to two decorated
chapels built by the -111ontacutes, Earls of Salisbury..
But one remarkable circumstance is connected with
the opening of the crypt—the discovery of about
1,500 human bones laid with great regularity and
care. The crypt of the Lady Chapel at Hereford
was designed to be a carnary; and there were char-
neLlionsts at Worcester and Norwich serving as
similar repositories. Under the chancel of Hythe
Church, in Kent, there remains still a large collec-
tion of bones. In Switzerland" ossuaires" are found
in the canton of Appenzcl, and at Stettin is a
bone-house attributed to the year 1,111, a date
contemporaneous with the probable period of the
construction of the crypt at Christchurch. The
Swiss bear-houses were the receptacles of skulls
and bones which, after a certain period, were disin-
terred to make room for other burials. The priory
church has fallen, in the course of years, into a
state of dilapidation which requires immediate
attention. A committee has hem formed to
effect the necessary repairs, and if supported by
the inhabitants of the county and those interested
in church architecture, to carry out a restoration
not inferior to the works accomplished in the neigh-
bouring minsters of Romsey, Sherburne, and \Vim-
borne. The expenses are estimated at £5,000 in
order to make drains, to repair the outer walls,
roofs, buttresses, and windows, and to restore the
carved stonework of the nave, aisles, transepts, and
north porch. Such workss in France arc under the
care of the Government ; in this country they are
dependent on the voluntary offerings of the people.