FARNHAM HUNDRED 



WAVERLEY 



Abbey at its foundation,* and does not extend 

 across the southern branch of the Wey to the great 

 oak, now, erroneously, called the King's Oak at 

 Tilford.» 



The ruins of the Abbey ^ are picturesquely 

 placed near the river, after the manner of Cister- 

 cian houses. They have suffered much from 

 spoliation. The precinct of the abbey was situ- 

 ated towards the north-east side of the manor, and 

 contained sixty acres, bounded on one side by the 

 river, on the other by a strong wall ten feet high.* 

 In this wall were one or more gatehouses, and 

 attached to the principal gate was a chapel of St. 

 Mary.5 The chief buildings of the monastery 

 were on the south side of the precinct near the 

 river, a portion of which was deflected through a 

 culvert passing under the buildings for drainage 

 purposes. 



The ruins now standing above ground are not 

 extensive, and are of a scattered nature, but the site 

 they covered when complete, to an extent of about 

 eight acres, has been thoroughly excavated by the 

 Surrey Archaeological Society under the direction 

 of Mr. Harold Brakspear, who is responsible for 

 the plans now published. 



The original monastery has left suificient indi- 

 cations to show most of the plan of the buildings 

 surrounding the cloister, and was upon an unusually 

 small scale. The cloister was 95 feet square, and 

 on the north side was the church, consisting of a 

 short presbytery, transepts with eastern chapels, 

 and a long aisleless nave ; on the east side the 

 chapter house, parlour and dorter, with a rere- 

 dorter ; on the south side was the frater and the kit- 

 chen ; on the west side was the range of building 

 for the use of the lay brothers, with a reredorter. 

 These buildings were of the simplest character ; 

 the walls were plastered inside and out, and the 

 floors were considerably lower than the later level. 

 Their small size must have been from the first 

 very inconvenient for the number of monks who 

 so quickly joined the new community. Within 

 fifty years of the foundation an entire rearrange- 

 ment of the buildings on a larger scale was com- 

 menced, and took about a century to complete, the 

 result being the new monastery shown on the plan. 

 The new church was begun in 1203 by William 

 of Broadwater." In 1214 the five altars at the east 

 end were dedicated,' followed in 1226 by the two 

 altars in the north transept.s In 1231 those in 

 the south transept were hallowed," and later in the 



same year the monks entered their new quire from 

 the old with great devotion.'" After this the old 

 church was pulled down, and the new one com- 

 pleted and consecrated in 1278." It consisted 

 of an aisled presbytery of five bays having five 

 projecting chapels beyond its east end ; '' tran- 

 septs of four bays having three eastern chapels to 

 each ; an aisled nave of ten bays, and a central 

 tower.i3 The high altar was in line with the first 

 pair of piers from the east end. The quire occu- 

 pied part of the crossing and two bays of the nave, 

 and had a wide stone screen forming the pulpitum 

 at the west end with two flanking chapels in the 

 nave. The main entrance was at the west end of 

 the nave, and there was a doorway at the north end 

 of the transept. Another doorway in the first 

 bay of the south aisle of the nave led from the 

 cloister and another in the ninth bay from outside 

 the cloister, chiefly for the use of the monks and 

 lay brothers respectively. The floors were paved 

 with plain and encaustic tiles, of which some 

 patches remain in position. Only three inter- 

 ments were found, one in the middle of the presby- 

 tery, opened some years ago, one in the last bay on 

 the north side and one in the seventh bay on the 

 north side of the nave. In digging amongst the 

 ruins about 1720 a heart was found ' preserved in 

 spirits,' which is supposed to have been that of 

 Peter des Roches," Bishop of Winchester, whose 

 body was buried in his cathedral church, and his 

 heart and bowels at Waverley.'" 



The cloister, after 123 1, was about 124 feet 

 square, and surrounded by alleys having lean-to 

 roofs supported on open arcades towards the court. 

 The chapter house (capitulum), finished about 

 I194,i» adjoined the south transept of the church, 

 and was vaulted in one span into three bays. At 

 17 feet from the east end was found the base of the 

 lectern. Only one interment was discovered 

 inside the building, being that of William, abtot 

 of Ford, who died at Waverley in 1262 ; " but 

 six coffins were in the cloister alley outside, and all 

 except one were of wood. 



The next room to the south was the parlour 

 (auditorium juxta capitulum), which still retains 

 part of its barrel vault. Beneath the floor is a 

 length of the lead pipes that conveyed the water 

 to the lavatory. Southward is a small chamber 

 entered from the dorter, which was possibly that 

 of the prior, and above it and the parlour was the 

 treasury. 



1 V.C.H. Surr. ii. 



2 Sec account of Tilford. 



' The excavations undertaken by the 

 Surrey Archaeological Society from 

 1897 onwards, by the kind permission 

 of Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Rupert 

 Anderson, the owners, excavations only 

 carried on so successfully by the zeal and 

 care of the Rev. T. S. Cooper, formerly 

 secretary to the society, with the advice 

 of Mr. St. John Hope and Mr. Brak- 

 spear, have laid bare the whole scheme 

 of the buildings, and have enabled Mr. 

 Brakspear to construct a plan, with the 

 approximate dates of the various por- 

 tions shown. The final excavations, in 

 1904, have revealed the part of the ruins 



occupied as a dwelling house after the 

 dissolution. 



* John Aubrey, Natural Hist, and 

 Antiq. of Surr. (London, 1718), iii. 

 360. 



5 Register of Hy. Woodlock, Bishop 

 of Winton, 138. 



« Ann. Men. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 155. 



' Ibid. 282. 



8 Ibid. 301. 



8 Ibid. 309. 



10 Ibid. 310. A new great bell was 

 procured, which suggests the completion 

 of the central tower. 



11 Ibid. 390. 



12 The whole of the solid walls of 

 the eastern parts were carried on con- 



621 



struction arches between the buttresses 

 under the ground level. 



1' A tower is mentioned, Ann. Man. 

 (Rolls Ser.), ii. 340, in 1 248, when a boy 

 fell from its paripet (tabulata lapidea) 

 and sustained no injury. 



1* Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surr. 

 iii. 144, note 5. 



15 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 319. 



1' In this year William Maldut, 

 Baron Hanslape, was buried 'ante 

 ostium capituli,' Ann. Mon. (Rolls 

 Ser.), ii. 249, which is hardly likely to 

 have occurred if the building was in 

 course of construction, and its character 

 precludes it being of later date. 



1' Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 353. 



