The Abbey-church. 141 



King died, not having accomplished much, and was suc- 

 ceeded by Adrian de Castello : but the work seems to 

 have been carried on by Birde, who devoted so much of his 

 own means to it that he died in poverty in 1525. By that 

 time the structure had been so far advanced that the choir 

 was vaulted, and thefafade probably completed. 



When this zealous builder rested from his labors, they 

 were continued by his successor in office, Prior William 

 Hollway, who made strenuous efforts to complete that which 

 had been so well begun. But the sun of monastic prosperity 

 had long been sinking to its setting ; and a radical change 

 was at hand. In 1536 the word went forth that the monas- 

 teries were to be suppressed; and, three years later, the Abbey 

 of Bath was surrendered to the king. 



Very soon thereafter the church was offered to the city 

 for a nominal sum. The offer being declined, all the glass, 

 iron, bells and lead were sold, and, in 1542, some of the 

 monastic estates were granted to one Humphrey Colles, who 

 re-sold the site and buildings of the Abbey to Matthew 

 Colthurst, whose son Edmund, in 1560, presented to the 

 city "the carcass of St. Peter's Church," with some of the 

 adjoining land, for a parish-church and church-yard. 



The structure remained dilapidated and dismantled for 

 twelve years, until a military officer, Peter Chapman, began 

 to repair it in or about the year 1572.* Little, however, was 

 done but to roof the tower and a portion of the eastern end, 

 and to glaze the clerestory-windows of the choir. Twenty- 

 five years later the restoration was vigorously prosecuted by 

 William, Lord Burleigh, and Thomas Bellot, by whose 

 efforts the church was fitted for divine service. But the 

 greater part of the nave and its aisles was still unroofed. 

 See p. 69. 



