66 EPPING FOREST. 



done wrong, and they were amerced twenty marks, 

 which the abbot remitted, and, on their submission, 

 he assoyled them from the excommunication." 



Waltham Abbey did not escape the heavy hand 

 of Henry VIII., but, along with the rest of the 

 monasterial foundations, the canons, abbots, and 

 monks passed away, and their rich lands and for- 

 estal rights were surrendered to the king in 1540. 

 The present abbey, which is a conspicuous feature 

 from the high ground of the Forest overlooking 

 the valley of the Lea, is but a fragment of the 

 splendid old abbey, enriched and embellished by 

 a long line of kings. As has been already shown, 

 a sanctuary of some sort stood here from very 

 early times. The abbey was completed in the 

 iitla century, but many additions continued to 

 be made to it by pious worshippers, until it was 

 shorn of its glories at the time of the surrender. 

 What remains of it is said to be "the earliest un- 

 doubted specimen of the Norman style of archi- 

 tecture now existing in England." 



Originally in the form of a cross, with a massive 

 tower rising out of the intersection of the nave and 

 transept, all but the western part of the nave was 

 either destroyed or fell to the ground when left 

 unsupported by the rest of the structure. The 

 work of destruction must indeed have been carried 

 out eagerly for us to find this extract from the 

 church-warden's accounts in 1556: "Anno 1556. 

 Imprimis for coles to undermine a piece of the 

 steeple which stood after the first fall, 2 s." The 

 present building has been carefully restored in 

 recent years, and some of its ancient beauty again 

 brought to light. The columns, each one differing 

 from its neighbour, are well shown in the accom- 



