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411 
has done more within the last few months to elucidate monastic 
remains than any other county. This Cistercian Abbey of 8. Mary 
of the Cliff, at Old Cleeve, has been, by the permission of the owner, 
Mr. Luttrell, of Dunster Castle, and under the superintendence of 
an able antiquary, the Rev. Makenzie Walcott, F.S.A., recovered 
from the state of ruin and degradation in which it had been 
involved since the Dissolution. Some present here this evening 
may have in years past visited those very picturesque and 
interesting ruins, which have been described and illustrated in the 
“Proceedings of the Somerset Archzeological and Natural History 
Society,” (vol. vi., p. 89), but which were then in a lamentable 
state of filth and decay, having been turned to the purposes of 
farm buildings. The entire plan of the Abbey has now been laid 
bare, and many interesting tiles and fragments of sculpture been 
recovered, An account of the conventual buildings, together with 
an accurate plan, is given in the December number of the “ British 
Archeological Journal” (1875, p. 402), and the writer of this 
description, Mr. Walcott, has just read another paper on it to 
the ‘Royal Institute of British Architects,” in London, an 
abstract of which appears in the Bristol Times and Muror, of 
Monday, Feb. 7th, 1876. 
It may be in the recollection of some members of this Club 
that nearly ten years ago a portion of the remains of the Abbey 
at Keynsham was laid bare, in the process of clearing sites for 
villas. Happily, through the exertions of the Club, some of the 
remains were rescued from destruction, and what could not be 
purchased was recorded in their “ Proceedings,” and an account 
also sent to the Society of Antiquaries. These remains have 
now attracted the attention of the Archzological Association, 
at their’ meeting in Bristol in 1874, and a paper upon them 
has appeared in the Journal (June 30, 1875), in which drawings 
and details are given, but these fall far short of what has been 
done at Old Cleeve by Mr. Walcott, whose plans and explana- 
tions help us most materially in understanding the arrangement 
3 
