in 1347 at Edington; the church, Decorated and Perpendicular, resembles a cathedral in size and stately beauty and is now the parish church. The 14th-century buildings of Bradenstoke Priory or Clack Abbey, founded near Chippenham for Augustinian canons, were incorporated in a farmhouse. Notable churches The finest churches of Wiltshire, generally Perpendicular in style, were built in the districts where good stone could be obtained, while the architecture is simpler in the chalk region where flint was used. Small wooden steeples and pyramidal bell-turrets are not uncommon; and the churches of Purton, five kilometres (3 1/8 mi) northwest of Swindon, and Wanborough, five kilometres (3 mi) southeast, are unusual in having a central steeple as well as a west tower. St. Lawrence's church at Bradford on Avon is one of the most complete Saxon ecclesiastical buildings in England; and elsewhere there are fragments of Saxon work imbedded in later masonry. Examples are three arches in the nave of Britford church, within a mile of Salisbury; the east end of the chancel at Burcombe, near Wilton; and parts of the churches at Avebury, Bremhill, and Manningford Bruce. St John's at Devizes retains its original Norman tower and has Norman masonry in its chancel; while the chancel of St Mary in the same town, is also Norman, and the porch has characteristic Norman stone mouldings. The churches of Preshute, Ditteridge and Netheravon also preserve some Norman features. Early English architecture is illustrated by Salisbury Cathedral, its purest and most beautiful example; and, on a smaller scale, at Amesbury, Bishops Cannings, Boyton, Collingbourne Kingston, Downton and Potterne. Bishopstone has the finest Decorated church in the county, with a curious external cloister and unique south chancel doorway, recessed beneath a stone canopy. Mere, close to the borders of Dorset and Somerset, is interesting not only for its Perpendicular church, but also for a medieval chantry, used as a schoolhouse by Barnes, the Dorset poet. Secular architecture Castles The castles of Wiltshire have been almost entirely swept away. At Old Sarum, Marlborough and Devizes only a few vestiges are left in remnant walls and vaults. Castle Combe and Trowbridge castles have long been demolished, and of Ludgershall castle only a small fragment survives. The ruins of Wardour castle, standing in a richly wooded park near Tisbury, date from the 14th century, and consist of a hexagonal outer wall of great height, enclosing an open court;