FARNHAM HUNDRED 



WAVERLEY 



The infirmary kitchen occupied half the south 

 side of the cloister and extended over the drain. 

 There was a large brick hearth against the east 

 wall, and an oven in the north-west angle. A 

 doorway in the middle of the west wall led by a 

 passage to the infirmary hall. 



The abbot's lodging was apparently arranged 

 somewhat in the scattered manner as at Foun- 

 tains. The misericord served as his hall, and 

 outside the door of it was a block of masonry form- 

 ing the base of a staircase that led to a room, over 

 that to the north of the misericord, which would 

 be the solar. There was a gallery across the east 

 end of this misericord, of which the stone bases 

 of the wooden supports were found, that connected 

 the solar with a room over the chamber at the 

 south end of the infirmary hall. This room would 

 be the abbot's bedroom, and had an added fire- 

 place on the south side, and probably a gardrobe 

 over the pit of the reredorter on the west with a 

 small oratory over the kitchen passage on the east. 

 The site of the first reredorter was made into a 

 passage to connect the lodging with the dorter. 



The lay brothers' infirmary occupied a detached 

 position to the west of the cellarium. It was at 

 first a hall of five bays having aisles separated by 

 arcades resting on circular columns. There was a 

 staircase in the north-west corner leading to a 

 gallery over the aisle, from which the reredorter 

 that ran the full length of the hall was entered, 

 and at its east end was a bridge connecting with 

 the lay brothers' dorter. 



About 1 1 90 the west end was removed and the 

 hall was lengthened three bays westward. North- 

 ward of this infirmary were a number of fragmen- 

 tary foundations of uncertain nature up to a wall 

 that formed the south side of a large court on the 

 west side of the cloister. On the east side of the 

 court against the cloister wall was a wide passage 

 from the stairs of the lay brothers' dorter to a door- 

 way into the church. 



The superior guesthouse, dating from about 

 1 190, projects at an angle from the west end of the 

 later church, from which it was separated by an 

 irregular-shaped chamber, and formed the north 

 side of the court. It was of two storeys in height, 

 the lower of which was vaulted in four bays sup- 

 ported on round columns in the middle, and 

 entered by a wide doorway in the third bay on the 

 south. There was a contemporary building at the 

 west end in the south-west angle of which was a 

 pit of a gardrobe from the floor above. On the 

 south side was a passage in connection with that 

 along the east side of the court. The west side of 

 the court was enclosed by a late narrow building 

 having a gateway in the centre, that may have been 

 stabling for the guests' horses. 



The brewhouse, a short distance to the west 

 of the court, and partly of twelfth century date, 

 consisted of a long hall, vaulted with three bays in 

 the thirteenth century, a large steeping vat on the 

 north-west side, and other chambers difficult to 

 elucidate. 



22 Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. VI. Ixxxix. 143. 

 Anthony, created Lord Montague in 

 155+ {Cal. S, P. Dom. z Mary, 



p. 63) son and heir of Sir Anthony 

 Browne. 



^'i ' Rectory ' because Waverley was 



623 



Northward of this block was another large 

 group of buildings of thirteenth century date, which 

 was perhaps the inferior guesthouse and secular 

 infirmary, and consisted of a small hall placed 

 east and west with a great hall to the north. To 

 the west was a large building with aisles divided 

 by wooden posts, which was subdivided in later 

 times and a small oven was built on the north 

 side. To the north of these buildings was a great 

 barn or garner placed north and south, which had 

 a wide entrance on the east. On the east side at 

 the south end was a small building of twelfth cen- 

 tury date having a fireplace on the east side and a 

 doorway on the north. All these buildings, as 

 well as the brewhouse, showed signs, by the exten- 

 sive use of bricks and other evidence, of having 

 been converted to different uses after the suppres- 

 sion. There were also remains of later work having 

 brick quoins, to the north and west of the church, 

 and the whole group may have formed part of a 

 house before the present mansion was built. 



From 1562 to 1568, when Sir William More was 

 building his new house at Loseley near Guildford, 

 the house now there, he brought many waggon- 

 loads of material from Waverley, which then 

 belonged to his friend Lord Montague.22 As a 

 part of the abbey buildings was occupied as a 

 dwelling house, this must have been brought from 

 the church, and from those monastic buildings 

 which were not suitable for domestic use. The 

 fact is recorded in the accounts for the building, 

 preserved at Loseley. It would be interesting to 

 know what roads were good enough to bear the 

 transport of building stone so far. The stones 

 must almost certainly have been dragged to 

 Farnham and up the Hog's Back, whence only 

 Loseley was accessible, from the north, by what 

 was supposed to be a carriage road up to 100 years 

 ago. The direct route across country is not likely 

 to have been possible. In defence of Lord Mon- 

 tague it may be urged that the total value of the 

 Waverley lands at the dissolution, well under ^^zoo 

 a year, was scarcely sufficient to keep up the whole 

 of the large buildings and to leave any profit to 

 speak of. This was not the only spoliation of the 

 remains ; a great deal more has disappeared than 

 can be so accounted for. The building of the 

 later house, not the present one, in the eighteenth 

 century, probably disposed of some more, and it 

 was a convenient quarry for the whole neighbour- 

 hood. Aubrey, in his Perambulation, clearly saw 

 more remains above ground than at present exist. 

 He describes the walls of a fair church, a chapel, 

 cloisters and a hall, as remaining in ruins, and rooms 

 on the first floor with glass in the windows still, 

 apparently habitable. 



After the dissolution of WAFER- 

 MANOR LEY in 1536, Sir William Fitz 

 William, subsequently Earl of South- 

 ampton, received on 20 July, 1537, a grant of the 

 site of the lately dissolved abbey with the manor, 

 the church and the churchyard, all messuages and 

 lands and the rectory 23 and advowson of the same." 



extra-parochial and the abbey toolc the 

 tithes from the estate. 



Pat. 28Hen,VlII.pt.2,MS.9,i9, 



