T}ie Norman Work on tlie Outside. 139 



on the south side of the church, nothing remains except the 

 fragments of the outer wall and the entrance lodge, built by 

 Draper, with his initials still carved on the window label. A 

 modern house stands on the site of the Refectory ; and in 

 digging its foundations, some tombs of the fourth century were 

 found.* Other traces remain only in the names of the places, 

 as Paradise Walk, by the side of the mill stream, and the 

 Convent meadows, where, in an adjoining field, are the sites 

 of the fishponds of the brethren. 



The church stands at the south-west of the town, on a rising 

 ground between the two rivers, its tower alike a seamark to the 

 ships and a landmark to the Valley. But the first thing which 

 strikes the visitor is not so much the tower, as the deep, 

 massive north porch, standing right out from the main building, 

 reaching to its roof, with its high-recessed arch, and its rich 

 doorways dimly seen, set between clusters of black Purbeck 

 marble pillars, and ornamented above with a quatrefoiled niche. 



Standing here, and looking along the north aisle, the eye rests 

 on the Norman work of the transept, the low round arches inter- 

 lacing one another, their spandrels rich with billet and fishscale 

 mouldings ; whilst beyond rises the Norman turret, banded with 

 its three string-courses, and enriched with its arcades, the space 

 between them netted over with coils of twisted cables. 



This is true Norman work, such as you can see scarcely any- 

 where else in England. And imagine what the church once 

 was — a massive lantern-tower springing up from the midst, the 

 crown of all this beaut}'. 



Beyond all this lovely Romanesque work, rises the north 

 choir aisle, with its quatrefoiled parapet, whilst above gleam 



* Archceologia, vol. v. pp. •224-JO. 



T 2 i;50 



