79 
Decorated, and two little windows in the north aisle are Perpen- 
dicular, This Nunnery of Benedictines was originally founded by 
Ethelfleda, daughter of King Edward the Elder, son of King 
Alfred about the year 945. The Danes burnt the original wooden 
buildings, and the present church dedicated to SS. Mary and 
Ethelfleda, was completed when Mary, daughter of King Stephen, 
was Abbess. From the commencement this Nunnery always had 
Princesses or ladies of high rank as Abbesses, and was the High 
School for noble girls during several centuries. The precincts 
Were a sanctuary, and the Abbess exercised the rights of holding 
courts of justice and of hanging malefactors. The latter power 
having fallen into disuse Henry III., in the 47th year of his reign, 
restored it by Charter to the Abbess Amicia. 
The last Abbess Elizabeth Ryprose surrendered to Henry VIII. 
in 1539 when the revenue was £528 8s. 10$d. None of the 
conventual buildings are standing, except the church, which is. 
peculiar among all large Abbeys as having no west facade or 
entrance. The Lady Chapel has also disappeared, but the four 
Decorated windows, now inserted in the eastern end of the 
Norman portion, are parts of the original extension. There are 
many coloured windows in the church and monuments to the St. 
Barbes, and Lords Palmerston and Mountemple, their successors. 
in the ownership of the neighbouring park of Broadlands. 
The present Marquis of Lansdowne has erected a handsome » 
monument with recumbent figure over the tomb of his ancestor, 
Sir William Petty. 
The town has erected a statue of the last Lord Palmerston in 
the market place, and close by is still the Swan Hotei signpost, 
from which, on March 12, 1644, according to a note in the Abbey 
register, William Morris, a soldier of Cromwell, was hung for 
pilfering. 
Leaving Romsey at 3.46 p.m., the party reached Bath at 6.55, 
and it will be long before another excursion can be arranged 
which will offer as much interesting antiquarian information, or 
so many objects worthy of scientific observation. 
