By Harold Brakspear, F.S.A. 547 



began, as soon as he got possession, to pull down Stanley for the 



same purpose.^ 



Aubrey, writuig about 1665, says that: — 



"Here is now scarce left anj' vestigium of Church or house. Mem. 

 Old Mr. Ansted, natus 1588, told me he was born in this abbey." ^ 



If this memorandum is correct some part of the abbey was con- 

 verted into a dwelling-house at the Suppression, which is rather 

 borne out by finding the head of a dragon, one of the supporters 

 of Henry VIII., in the late excavations. This was found on the 

 site of the western range of buildings which may have been con- 

 verted into a house, as the occurrence of a stout wall across its 

 south end can hardly have been for anything monastic, and in 

 addition the foundations of the outer walls for the great part 

 remain, indicating a different period of demolition from that of 

 the rest of the buildings. 



From the Bayntons the site descended to Mrs. Starkey, of 

 Bromham, at whose death it was purchased by the Marquess of 

 Lansdowne, the present owner. 



The position of the principal buildings has always been known, 

 though every vestige of them above ground has long disappeared. 

 A level square marked the site of the cloister, and as the ground 

 sloped down to the river on the north, the church must have been 

 on the south side. On the east side of the cloister were higli 

 mounds, on the south the frater was marked by a deep sinking, but 

 on the west the site was fairly level. Eastward were further 

 sinkings and mounds marking the position of the infirmary 

 buildings. 



At the end of 1905 the Marquess of Lansdowne was approached 

 by the writer, through Mr. H. Herbert Smith, his lordship's 

 agent, with the suggestion that some excavations should be made 

 on the site. This suggestion meeting with approval, and the 

 tenant's consent being readily obtained, four men were at once 



' This suggestion was made some years ago by my friend, Mr. C. H. Talbot, 

 of Lacock Abbey, vide Wills Arch. Mag., xv. 326. 



■ Wiltshire Collections (Devizes, 1862), 113, 114. 



2 N 2 



