238 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[August, 



ST. EDMt'XD'S BURY GATE-TOWER. 



WEST VIEW. 



Much interest has recently been excited among the reatling portion of 

 the public respecting the antiquities of the Great Abbey Church of St. 

 Kdinunrf, at Bury, by the Camden Society's publication of the Chronica 

 Jocelini de Brackdonda. This work contains the earlier auuals of the 

 Monastery, Written by a monk of the bouse, named Jocelyn ; the reader 

 who is curious in such matters may obtain a most vivid and graphic pic- 

 ture of the monastic life in the times of Kings Henry 11 and Richard I, by 

 referring to the republished " Chronicles," or to the interesting and most 

 original analysis of them iu Carlyle's " Past and Present.'' 



Of the Abbey Church little is now preserved. The magnificence which 

 from the existing remains and the testimony of historians, we must suppose 

 to have characterisi-d its architecture, did not preserve it from the effect of 

 Vandalism which accompanied the general Dissolution of Monasteries. 

 The Norman gate tower, the Abbey Gateway and parts of the enclosure 

 walls are now the only vestigia of glories which caused the historian Leland 

 to exclaim enthusiastically, " The sun has not shone upon a monastery more 

 illustrious, whether we consider its wealth, its exient, or its incomparable 

 magnificence. Vou might indeed say that the monastery itself is a town ; 

 so many gates are there, some of them of brass ; so many towers, and a 

 church than which none can be more magnificent, and subservient to which 

 are three others also splendidly adorned with admirable workmanship and 

 standing in one and the same churchyard." 



The growing zeal for architectural restoration has never shown itself 

 more worthily than in the efibrts now making to preserve to posterity so 

 much of the inestimable monumental legacies bequeathed to us by our an- 

 cestors, as yet remains at 15ury St. Kdmunds ; and accordingly we view 

 with great satisfaction the works in progress for repairing and reinstating 

 the Norman gate or campanile. 15y the terms repairing and reinstating, 

 must not be understood merely the removal of rubbish and plaster, and the 

 obliteration of churchwarden " beautifyings," but those substantial works 

 also which are requisite to preserve the building from actual destruction. 

 For it appears from a well written pamphlet now before us, in which are 

 described the present state of the tower and the steps taken for its restora- 

 tion, that it has suffered so much from violence and injudicious repairs as 

 to threaten imminent danger by its fall. The masonry, six feet in thick- 

 ness, displays numerous fissures in every part ; several stones of the prin- 

 cipal arch have fallen out; and the walls have swerved considerably from 

 the vertical. This dangerous condition of the tower has during the last 

 few years been the subject of serious apprehension, and attempts have beeo 



made to repair the evil, or at least prevent it from increasing. In ISU , 

 the parish being threatened with an indictment, some injudicious patchings 

 were commenced, and an elegant " pepper-box" was erected on the top of 

 the tower. The fissures however increased ; in 1818 two of them extended 

 from the very summit to the lower or ground arch. 



The cause of this last disaster appears to have been the vibration pro- 

 duced by the ringing a large peal of bells in the tower. All that was done 

 was however to replace some of the stones which had fallen out, and to 

 JiU up the fissures witU cemait ! They did " but skin and film the ulcerous 



place." , . 



At len-th however the work of restoration was commenced in earnest. 

 A minu'e" report of the state of the building having been drawn up by Mr. 

 Cottingbam a commiltee has been formed for the purpose of superintending 

 the works recommended in that document, and raising funds for defraying 

 the expenses. In the progress of the survey there have been removed 

 nearly ino tons of rubbish and bricks, the weight of«hich added to the 

 insecurity of the building. The adjacent ground has been cleared of the 

 mean tenements with which it was encumbered, and the general work ot 

 restoration is now proceeding in a very satisfactory manner. The Restora- 

 tion Commiltee have published " a [n] historical and architectural notice 

 of the Gate-tower ;" the profits arising from the sale of this notice are to 

 be presented to the restoration fund. This tract, which contains a view of 

 the lower, is exceedingly interesting, and displays great research. We 

 should have liked however to have seen a more minute account of the na- 

 ture of the reparations proposed, and of the advance which has been made 

 in them The following extracts from the architectural description wdl 

 .how how worthy the building is of the efforts made for its preservation, 

 and may perhaps awaken the interest of some of our readers and render 

 them anxious to aid the undertaking. 



'• The Tower is in height, from the plinlh to the parapet, 86feet, and in 

 arei 30 feet 'square. The walls, nearly six feet in thickness, are built with 

 rubble and boulder, and faced with an ashlaring or Barnack stone. The 

 Lsblar stones as usual in the most finished buildings of the Norman era 

 a e hewn o/'.he size which a labourer could carry on^his back, without 

 much inconvenience, to the top of the building; and which the Norman 

 architects, from their knowledge of the principles of equilibrium, knew so 



''' " TheVur^stories of the tower are marked on the exterior by horizontal 

 fascias.or string-courses, of varied mouldings, which go uniformly round 

 the four sides. The first string-course is ornamenled with the chevron or 

 zi-za- moulding, the most comiflon and distinctive characteristic oi Nor- 

 man architecture. Here it is tilplicale, wiih pendant drops somewhat re- 

 sembling the gutiiE of a Doric entablauire. The second string-course ex- 

 hibits the plafn nebule corbel table ; and the third is a simple tile mould- 



'"''"Inthe lower story is a large archway, lofty and wide, for carriages, 

 and in the centre of the South wall is the postern entrance, being a Norniaa 

 transom dourway, the lintel of which has b.en cut out of solid stone. I his 

 doorway has been blocked up and hitherto unobserved, from being princi- 

 callv in thai part of the wall which is below the present road. Ihe prin- 

 tipal entrance of the archway is to the West, under an elaborate deeply 

 recedinu arch, with an angular pediment projecting from the lace ot the 

 tower about five feet. This noble arch springs from three single pillars 

 and a triplicate column on each side; and its mouldings are plain, with the 

 exception of ihe outer one, which exhibitsthe double n.ll billet. Ihe bases 

 of these pillars are bold and plain, but being below the leve of the road 

 have been long hidden ; the capitals are cushion-shaped and plain, vvitli 

 the exception of those to the triple-columns, which are sculptured--that on 

 the South side with a representation, in bold basso relievo, ol a lion Ue- 

 strovin.' a serpent, which is subdued and under his feet ; the other with a 

 human figure between two winged dragons, who are biting their tails. A 

 print of St. James's Church and Tower, engraved by Godfrey m 1779, re- 

 presents the great arch as tilled up, above the capitals, with masonry and 

 sculpture, similar to that of the Abbey Gateway. 



"The pediment is formed by two angular lines exhibiting the cable 

 moulding; and Ihe tympanum is decorated by a kind of diaper work of 

 small sesments of circles in lines, somewhat resembling scale-armour. 



» The^main entrance arch is flanked on either side by a square turret ot 

 three stories, terminated by a pyramidical apex. The lower story has a 

 semicircular niche with the nail head moulding. The second story has a 

 similar niche with the double rod billet moulding on each jamb, and around 

 the curve of the niche. In this niche, in the south turret, was a marble 

 sculpture, which has been removed by Mr. Cottingham as it evidently 

 formed no part of the original edifice. It appears designed to represent tlie 

 castingof the apostate angels out of heaven. rc.„„. 



"The corresponding niche in the north turret had also a piece of stone 

 sculpture, till removed by Mr. Cottingham, which, though of more ancient 

 date, was evidently an interpolation into the original buildmg, tlie souiii 

 lamb of the arch having been cut away to admit of its insertion. It must 

 have been sculptured for the corner of some building, having two sides 

 finished in high relief. It was probably found at some distan period 

 among the Abbey ruins placed here for preservation of which it is sldl 

 worthy. The thud story of each turret is ornamented with an arcade of 



