( 136 ) 



About two miles from Souley, a ftrange 

 ruin attracts the eye, on the left. It appears 

 like the two ends of a barn, the roof of which 

 has fallen in. But the curiofity of it is, it's 

 amazing fize. From one gavel-end to the 

 other it extends eighty-one paces. The name 

 it is known by, is St. Leonard's; and it is 

 commonly fuppofed to have been a barn 

 belonging to the monks of Beaulieu, who 

 placed here a little eftablifhment of their fra- 

 ternity, to gather the fruits of the country 

 in thefe parts. The veftiges of different build- 

 ings, and the walls of a fmall chapel, ftill 



remain. In a picturefque light this ruin 



is of no confequence. We walked round it, 

 and tried it in every mode of perfpeclive, if 

 poflible to make a drawing from it, but the 

 two vaft gavel-ends would enter into no kind 

 of compofition. 



Large barns were the common appendages 

 of abbeys j and the veftiges of fome of them 

 ftill remain. There is a grand building of 

 this kind at Battle-abbey in Suflex; tho I 

 fhould think it is more ornamented, than was 

 requifite for a barn. There is another very 

 large one at Cerne in Dorfetfhire. But the 

 nobleft edifice, I believe, in England, under 



the 



