WOODSPRING PRIORY. 115 



than the wall into whlch it was built, and appears 

 from the capitals of its shafts nearly to correspond in 

 style with that in use aboiit the time of the dedication 

 of Woodspriug. The opinion of the Ai'chiEological Insti- 

 tute of Great Britaiu and Ireland, to which it was sub- 

 mitted, was, that it probably contained the most valuable 

 relique possessed by the Priory, — some of the blood of 

 Thomas a' Becket, and that the monks, foreseeing the 

 desecration of their conventual church, had deposited it in 

 the parlsh chui'ch of Kewstoke, hopiug by that means to 

 preserve from profauation a relique, in their eyes, of the 

 greatest sanctity, being no less than the blood of their 

 murdered patron, St. Thomas of Canterbury. 



This invaluable reliquary is, by the kiudness of the Eev. 

 R. C. Hathway, the Vicar of Kewstoke, at present in the 

 Museum of the Society at Taunton, and is perhaps the 

 most curious discovery of the kind that has been made in 

 England for many years. 



