39 SOME FURTHER NOTES ON BURTON ABBEY PLAN. 
in place of the temporary wooden Church, in which he was baptized 
by Paulinus, in 627. Weare able to date Saxon Churches with tran- 
septs and a central tower, to the last century of the Saxon period. 
Our Abbey Church was certainly started at this period, Ethelred 
dying 1016, so there is a fair probability of this being some of 
Wulfric Spot’s original work. 
I think I have given you all the information I can on our little 
excavation, and hope you will be able to agree with me that there 
was some use in the work, even if it had all to be covered up again. 
I now turn to the main part of this paper, namely, to try and 
throw some light on Hollar’s drawing (Plate 1, Fig. 2, Vol. III, part 
3) of the ancient Monastic Church of Burtun. I have had so many 
questions asked about it, that I begin to think it may be a little 
difficult to read by those who do not often handle drawings of this 
sort. 
To begin with the Inscription: it states it to be the Church of 
Burton-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, formerly the Conventual 
Church, seen from the South-West, and is dated 1661, that is to say, 
112 years after the suppression of the Collegiate Church, and 121 
years after the surrender of the Monastery in 1540, and 17 years 
after the explosion of gunpowder which took place in 1644. The 
drawing, please note, shows the South side, which seems to have 
remained much as it left the builders’ hands, after Nigell, 5th Abbot, 
1104-1114, began the new work, at the West part of the Church. 
The North side must have been different, for John Ibstocke, 24th 
Abbot, 1348-1369, rebuilt the North side of the Parochial Church, 
having first pulled down the same. This was during the decorated 
period, and would be, without doubt, of that style of architecture 
when rebuilt. Hollar’s drawing shows the South side, and is Norman 
work ; it also shows that the nave arcade consisted of the usual 
arches and pillars, with a triforium above, and over that the clere- 
story. The aisle roof may have been vaulted, or it may not. I 
