124 NOTES ON COLDINGHAM 



ceasing source of delight to the eye of the stranger, and 

 the blue slated and red tiled roofs, set off by the mass of 

 greenery at the back, make up a pretty picture. But it is 

 ever to the church that the eye turns ; it looks so lonely, as 

 if seeking for something it had lost, as it stands there shorn 

 of its nave, its transepts, its grand tower, its chapels, chapter 

 house and refectory, its outbuildings, too, all indicating the 

 life of a community which, while serving God day and night 

 in this magnificent temple, did not neglect to be diligent 

 in business. Thus it mutely appeals to our reverence for 

 its great past, and we feel as if ashamed to gaze in 

 thoughtless curiosity on this lingering memorial of the once 

 glorious Priory. 



Of the lovely choir there are only the north and east walls 

 left to give a slight idea of what the building was when 

 complete. The architectural style is that of the transition 

 from Eomanesque to Early English, showing it to have 

 been erected towards the end of the 12th century; and "the 

 beautiful triforium is unique, from the way it is connected 

 with the windows and introduced into what maj' be called 

 the clerestory." 



When the present church — the original choir — was put 

 into something like order in 1855, the lowering of the floor 

 revealed the foundations of a still older church with an apsidal 

 termination of the chancel, the low wall of about two feet 

 in height being plastered on both sides. The space between 

 this wall and that of the wall of the present church was 

 filled with dead bodies, one of which was wrapped in a 

 woollen covering folded, over the feet, the material untwilied 

 and like a blanket. The whole of this ground, indeed, was 

 full of human bones — pieces of shoes, shoe latchets, and 

 shreds of clothing being mixed up with them. In one part 

 was the body of a man of large size, the ribs from the 

 back bone to the front measuring 18 inches, or 36 inches 

 all round. 



In the centre of the south transept were found (under an 

 accumulation of rubbish) the gravestones, inscribed with crosses 

 and swords, now set up on the outside of the same transept 

 wall, the inscriptions, unfortunately, fast disappearing from 

 exposure to the weather. 



