By C. E. Talbot, Esq. 853 



have communicated with the cloister ; and, immediately to the east 

 of it in the same bay, a square-headed doorway which may have 

 communicated with a staircase to the dormitory. In the sixth bay 

 from the west, close to Sherington's ' tower, there is a doorway of 

 the fifteenth century ^ with a four-centred arch walled up, which 

 communicated with the sacristy. There appears to have been a 

 string-course,^ running along the wall internally, just below the 

 windows, and continued throughout the six bays. There were prob- 

 ably vaulting shafts, which may have been detached, as I cannot see 

 any marks such as might have been left if attached shafts bad been 

 cut away. 



The evidence on which these statements about the north wall are 

 made is as follows. The south side of the house was altered in the 

 year 1827. Before that date the north wall of the church remained, 

 from its west end as far as the octagonal tower built by Sir William 

 Sherington. In the course of the alterations a portion of the old 

 wall was taken down, to the level of the cloisters, the lower part 

 being left; and a rectangular projection was built out, with a large 

 oriel window and a buttress, for the purpose of gaining more room 

 in the gallery over the cloister. Near the west end of this gallery 

 an oriel of smaller size was inserted, and between these two points 

 a doorway was made, opening into the cloister, with a shallow oriel 

 over. Another buttress was built between this and the last-men- 

 tioned oriel. Thus the traces of the abbey church are by no means 



* This name was usually spelled Sharington in old times, but it may at the 

 Bame time have been pronounced Sherington. It is Sheringtone on Sir William's 

 monument in Lacock Church. It was derived from Sharrington in Norfolk, 

 and I think that familiarity with the name Sherrington in this county may have 

 had an influence in changing the pronunciation. 



2 It must, however, have succeeded an earlier one, as the corresponding door- 

 way in the sacristy is Early English. If the church was only six bays long, 

 this doorway must have been inconveniently near the high altar, supposing the 

 latter to have been at the extreme east end. I think, therefore, we have here 

 an argument in favour of there having been at least seven bays. 



' The evidence consists of two horizontal courses of freestone, of which the 

 upper and narrower is that from which the projecting string has been out away. 

 The remains of the westernmost window show that it ran just below the splay 

 of the sill. 



