ome Clifton Jlnfiquifies. 



By Rev. HERBERT PENTIN, M.A., F.S.A. (Ed.). 



"THE RUINS" IN MILTON ABBEY PARK. 



T the south-west end of the Abbey Church, some 

 distance across the Park, can be seen a 

 picturesque ivy-covered, dilapidated build- 

 ing known as "The Ruins." 



These " ruins " were erected by Joseph, 

 Lord Milton, about the year 1790, and were 

 buijt up of materials (chiefly stone, with 

 some brick), obtained from the destruction 

 of the Old Town in 1786 (see Proceedings, 

 Vol. XXV., p. i). There are also a few carved stone fragments 

 from the Abbey, which probably came out of the church at 

 Wyatt's "restoration" in 1789. 



Lord Milton's object in erecting "the ruins" was to make the 

 landscape more interesting. His tree-planting promised to be 

 a great success; but his endeavour to convert "the Abbot's 

 Pond" into a large lake in front of his mansion had failed. 

 And so a ruin in the valley, with the well-wooded hills rising 

 above, was his alternative picture. 



The plan of "the ruins" is supposed to have been suggested 

 to his Lordship by some foreign genuine ruins known as "La 



