FORD ABBEY. Ixxxi. 



window is of much later date, being Perpendicular in style, and it is believed to 

 have been inserted by Thomas Chard, the last Abbot, as the upper panel of the 

 left-hand side depicts a stag's head, whilst the companion panel, parallel to it, 

 contains faint traces of the oft-repeated monogram, T. C. 



The next feature in point of antiquity is what is now termed the " Monks' 

 Walk," a range of ivy -clad buildings running back for nearly four hundred feet 

 from the eastern end of the Abbey in a northerly direction, and it is thought that 

 a similar range ran parallel to it. The remaining wing is on the eastern side, and 

 consists of two storeys, the lower of which possesses some beautiful Early- 

 English work, and the upper one was probably the monks' dormitory. In the 

 centre is an archway of fourteenth century date, and along the entire length of 

 the wing is a series of lancet windows, almost perfect on the western side, but 

 destroyed or built up on the eastern. Hearne thus notices this wing : 



" 'But now, though one of the chief uses of the cloisters was for walking, yet in 

 Religious Houses they had sometime galleries for the same end. We have an 

 instance of it in Ford Abbey in Devonshire, which is one of the most entire abbeys 

 in England ; in the east front whereof, which is the oldest of the two fronts 

 (though the south front be the chief est), there is a gallery called the Monks' 

 Walk, with small cells on the right hand, and little narrow windows on the left." 



Great as is the antiquarian interest of these fragments of what we may reason- 

 ably presume to have formed part of the original foundation the greater 

 part of the existing fabric is the work of Abbot Chard. The best view 

 of the building is obtained from the front, where nearly all that meets the 

 eye affords a striking instance of the consummate taste and devoted per- 

 severance of this remarkable man under circumstances that may well have 

 discouraged the boldest. The storm which culminated in the dissolution of the 

 monastic houses was gathering ; but instead of being filled with dismay, as were 

 so many of his fellow churchmen, Thomas Chard spared no effort to beautify his 

 beloved abbey, so that the very glamour of her loveliness might enchant the eyes 

 of the spoilers and turn them from their purpose of ruthless spoliation. To a 

 great extent his work was preserved, for, although the abbey did suffer, and that 

 grievously, yet it escaped the wanton wreckage by which most of these 

 foundations throughout the land were devastated. 



The first portion of Chard's building to claim attention is the cloister, late 

 Perpendicular in style, with mullions and window tracery which present an 

 appearance at once good and bold, and show no signs of the debasement and 

 formality that are so characteristic of the late buildings of this period. Above the 

 windows a frieze of stone-work depicts on shields the arms of various benefactors 

 to the Abbey as those of Courtenay quartering Eivers, Poulett, the Bishop of 

 Exeter, etc. ; and on many shields appears either the monogram or the name of 

 Thomas Chard. 



An excellent account of the cloisters and, indeed, of the whole Abbey is 

 contained in a very rare little volume, entitled a History of Ford Abbey, written 

 anonymously many years ago, but acknowledged by ecclesiologists to be the work 



