138 FORD ABBEY. 



the place determined to return once more to their former house of 

 Waverley. On their return, passing by the manor of Thorncombe, 

 their pitiable demeanour was observed by the Viscountess Adeliza, 

 who ascertained from them the cause of their return. Touched 

 with grief and compunction that the pious intentions of her brother 

 Richard should have so miscarried, she, with words of solemn 

 piety, placed her manor of Ford at their disposal, then, as now, 

 fruitful and well wooded, with the silvery Axe stretching away to 

 the sea. 



Here, then, at Ford as it was then called, but afterwards West- 

 ford the monks lived for six years, during which time convenient 

 buildings were raised for them in the place intended for the 

 monastery then called Hartescath or Hartes-bath, but now Ford. 

 The present structure was finished in 1148 the 12th year of King 

 Stephen. The lady Adeliza, who had died a few years previously, 

 was buried in the new monastery, whither also were removed the 

 bones of her brother Richard, the founder of the Abbey. Pro- 

 tected by the families of d'Averinges or d'Avranches and the 

 Courtenays, who were patrons of the abbey for centuries and oft- 

 times were buried there, the pious monks of Ford continued to 

 elect in turn their long list of abbots until the final decrees of 1539 

 put an end to the monastery itself. Monuments were erected in 

 honour of various members of the Courtenay family, but no 

 account remains of what became of them on the dissolution. 

 There is now at Ford Abbey, on the chimneypiece in the saloon, 

 a small marble tablet or shield having dolphins as supporters one 

 of the badges of the Courtenays evidently monumental the 

 tradition being that it formed part of a monument either in the 

 church or chapel of Ford. 



In the monastery thus formed in 1148 and dedicated to the 

 Virgin Mary, the community consisted of an abbot and twelve 

 monks, the order being Cistercian and very strict in its rules. 

 Among the more famous of the early abbots of Ford was Baldwin, 

 surnamed Devonius from his county, who within a year of his 

 admission in the abbey at Ford was chosen abbot. Henry II. 



