177 



The style of the building was Decorated. A great number of window 

 heads were found, some having the ball flower. The window heads were 

 equilateral, the door jambs were deeply recessed and moulded, and the spandrels 

 beautifully ornamented. Most of the shafts of the columns were octagonal. 



The buildings of this date were generally carried out by freemasons, who 

 derived their science from the same central school. The result of this was that, at 

 each successive period of the Masonic dynasty, every church or monastery 

 erected resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place, however 

 distant from it, as much as if both had been designed by the same artist. 



This building, judging from details found, was very elegant. A large 

 portion of it was paved with Norman tiles of every variety of design, some having 

 inscriptions, and representations of birds, dragons, the Crucifixion, and circles and 

 scrolls in endless variety. 



Mr. Wright, in his history of Ludlow, says: — " Peter Undergod founded 

 the hospital of St. John the Baptist near the bridge which led over the Teme to 

 Ludford, and furnished it with friars of the Order of St. Augustine." 



The site on which the church was buUt he bought of Walter Fitz Nicholas. 

 Besides other revenues, he endowed it with the fulling mill, which appears to have 

 stood near it, and which he had bought of Gilbert de Lacy, and with all his lands 

 at Ludford. * • • « 



The charters of Peter Undergod and Walter de Lacy have no date, but the 

 royal confirmation is dated the 18th day of July, 5 Henry III. (1221), 658 years 

 ago. 



On the south side of the building were two fish ponds already alluded to ; 

 one has been filled up, and the other remains as perfect as the day it was 

 excavated : it is perfectly rectangular, with slopes of about IJ to 1 and about 4^ 

 feet deep ; and, taking the site altogether, it is one of the most beautiful that 

 could be selected, the Teme being in the foreground, about 300 yards distant, and 

 about 50 feet below the level of the site. 



The site of this building stands 285 feet above the level of the sea, and 80 

 feet below the level of the Castle Green. 



It is difficult to account for the scanty furniture that was in the monastery 

 at the time of the dissolution, considering that they had the revenues derived 

 from that splendid Ludford estate, in addition to the fulling mill. The Bishop of 

 Dover obtained a commission from Cromwell in 1538 to visit the houses of the 

 different orders of friars to receive their resignations. I extract the following 

 from Mr. Wright's history of Ludlow : — 



•' From Shrewsbury the visitors proceeded to Ludlow (August 23rd, 1538), 

 where they received the surrenders of the only two monastic houses there ; these 

 were convents of the Augustine and White Friars, the former situated near Old 



