was not the Church of the Prior?/. 



19 



the roof of the high altar, 8 s - 6 d ." What is meant by the great 

 choir ? These points I have not been able to make out. 



Amongst the items, in 1541 or 1542, is the following : — " To 

 take down the great wall that was partition of the mid choir, to 

 have out the lead that there was cast, and to break down one part 

 of the great cloister. To have the lead 6ut of the fratery and to 

 ryde the same at both ends " ; also : — " Item — pair trace harness 

 to draw the lead out of the Church and Fratery, to the beam and 

 from the beam, 6d- " ; and : — " Item, William Welchmon, Harry 

 Eussall, John Sadlar, Thomas Hulle, at Alen's being at Amesbury 

 one day, to weigh certain sows [of lead] in the church, in the 

 fratery, a part of the sherts [or sheet] lead in the hall, a part of 

 the small sows in the plombery, 6d. a day, finding themselves, 2s." 



As Canon Jackson says, the papers " certainly describe considerable 

 havoc in stripping off lead, pulling down a spire, selling paving 

 tiles, &c," and yet we are expected to believe that, after all this, the 

 Church was re-roofed and used as before ; that an oak screen of the 

 Perpendicular period remained uninjured, to be removed by Mr. 

 Butterfield and preserved by the late Mr. Edwards, and that a small 

 brass, to the memory of Edith Matyn, of date 1470, escaped the 

 spoilers of the 16th century, to be removed by Mr. Butterfield and 

 buried, as I have been told, beneath the present floor of the 

 Church. 



Document No. 5 deals with lead sold, in 1541 and 1542, and the 

 last printed item is the interesting one : — " Over and above, John 

 Howell, plumber, laid upon the chancel of the Parish Church and 

 upon the gutter of the new convent kitchen 5 clothes [or sheets] 

 weighing 11 cwt." The new convent kitchen was therefore 

 apparently reserved for the Earl of Hertford's use, and may be the 

 kitchen attached to the prioress's lodging, as the convent kitchen 

 was " deemed to be superfluous." 



Whilst this work of demolition and melting was going on, the 

 Earl of Hertford came down to Amesbury, as payment is made 

 for cleaning the " hall chambers, the court, the convent chambers, 

 and the filthy places there " [that is to say, the other places that 

 required cleaning] " against my lord's first coming to Amesbury, 



c 2 



