Agreement for Building a Chapel at Lacock. 351 



And among the Yearly Alms : — 



" To the poor iu money on the feast of Saint Petronilla the Vir^n, from the 

 foundation of Sir John Blewett, Knt. on the appropriation of the rectory of 

 Lacook£2 1«. 8d." 



The original document is in good condition and clearly written^ in 

 Norman French. I at first supposed that it must have been at one 

 time among the records at Lackham House ; but it has been pointed 

 out to me that this copy, sealed by Sir John Bluet, would have been 

 the one retained by the abbess and convent. I cannot feel confident 

 that I have deciphered the whole beyond a doubt ; but, with the 

 exception of the endorsement, I have been able to compare my copy 

 carel'ully with the original a second time,^ and have made it as ac- 

 curate as possible. The contractions of the original are printed at 

 length. I have to express my obligation to the Rev. Canon Jackson 

 and the Rev. Canon Jones for assistance in ascertaining the meaning 

 of some words that were not familiar to me. 



Before treating of the chapel itself, it wiU be desirable to give 

 some account of what is known about the abbey church ^ to which it 

 was attached. The existing remains of the Abbey of Lacock consist 

 of the domestic buildings lying to the north of the church ; and, as 

 the latter has been removed, the only traces of it that remain are 

 found in the south wall of the present house. The church was a 

 work of the thirteenth century, vaulted with stone. Its west wall 

 was in a line with the west side of the cloister court ; and from this 

 point it extended eastward at least as far as the eastern wall of the 

 sacristy and chapter-house, in which distance there were six bays, 

 and it is very likely that it projected beyond that line by one bay. 

 It is obvious that it was not cruciform ; but the structural evidence 

 would leave it an open question whether or no it had a south aisle. 



1 "When the document was exhibited in the temporary museum, at the late 

 meeting at Salisbury. As it was under glass I could not re-examine the en- 

 dorsement, which was not visible. The latter is not very clearly written, and 

 is probably of the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It will be noticed that the 

 name Bluet is there spelled Blewett, as in the Valor Ecclesiasticus. 



2 1 have given a short description of it in this Magazine (vol. xii., p. 228) in 

 a paper on Lacock Abbey. The description here given contains facts not then 

 ascertained. 



