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to convey them to Battle, tbe object being to pay a visit to the fine 

 old Abbey, the Duke o£ Cleveland, the present owner, having 

 kindly extended the privilege to the Society of allowing its members 

 and their friends to enter an hour before the general public were 

 admitted. 



Acting as guide to the party, Mr Wonf or (assisted by one of 

 the gardeners of the Duke) took them into almost every nook 

 and corner, and fully explained the chief features of the interesting 

 pile. 



Battle Abbey is most closely connected with our national history, 

 having been erected by William the Conqueror, in commemoration 

 of the victory he gained over Harold at the Battle of Hastings, 

 which decided the fate of the kingdom and completely changed the 

 whole of its civil and political institutions. The Abbey is erected 

 on the site of the battle, which gives the name to the town, and in 

 the grounds still grows an oak, planted on the very spot where 

 Harold fell. In the oldest documents among the muniments, the 

 Abbey is called "The Monastery of St. Martin of Bataille;" but 

 the orthography of the town has undergone many changes. It was 

 first Battaille, then Bataile, Batayle, Battayl, Battele, Battell, 

 Battel, and now Battle. What the name of the place was previously 

 to the Battle of Hastings is unknown ; it is uncertain whether it 

 bore any peculiar appellation, further than that it formed part of 

 the Hundred of Hailesalted. The privileges enjoyed by the Abbot 

 were very great, even to having conferred upon him the Royal 

 power of pardoning any condemned thief whom he should pass or 

 meet going to execution. The Conquerer intended to have endowed 

 the Monastery with sufficient maintenance for 140 monks, but the 

 building was not completed at his death, and it does not appear 

 that more than 60 monks were ever on the foundation. 



The once sacred edifice is, as a matter of course, nearly 

 demolished, but much remains to give an idea of its former 

 magnificence. The gateway, which faces the principal street of the 

 town, is one of the finest in the kingdom. It is in i-eality a squai-e 

 tower, its height being half as high again as its width, with an 

 octagon turret at each angle. The basement is divided into a 

 double avenue by clustered columns, the roof being supported by 

 gi'oined arches, with rooms, two storeys high, ovei'. For a 



