THE 



WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. 



MULTORTTM MANIBTTS GRANDE LEVATOR ONUS," — Ovid. 



COLLECTIONS TOWARDS THE 



Ijistorjr of t\t fakitxtiw ^Wfg of jStauleg, 



With 



TEXTS OF A CALENDAR OF THE MUNIMENTS, AND OF SOME UNPUBLISHED 

 CHARTERS OF THE ABBEY, PRESERVED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



By W. de GK Birch, F.R.S.L. 



pJgHE Cistercian Abbey of Stanley, in Wiltshire, is perhaps as 

 little known as any of that interesting Order. It is not 

 my intention to write the history of the House, for that work has 

 been already performed, in a fairly satisfactory manner, by the Rev. 

 W. L. Bowles, in his " Parochial History of Bremhill in the county 

 of Wilts/'' London, 1828. The editors of the new edition of Sir 

 William Dugdale's " Monasticon Anglicanum " have drawn their 

 account of the abbey principally from this work; and, in all 

 probability, the amount of literary information respecting the 

 monastery would never have received any very extensive additions, 

 if an accidental discovery of a very important nature had not enabled 

 me to identify a manuscript, among the untold treasures of the 

 British Museum, with the fortunes of Stanley Abbey. This manu- 

 script, of which I shall presently give a detailed description and 

 transcript, forms the bulk of my paper, which I here offer to the 

 Wiltshire Archaeological Society for publication, for I feel sure that 

 that body is fully aware of the great importance of printing original 

 documents bearing so directly upon the mediaeval archaeology of the 

 county, and of the increasing necessity of putting on record everything 

 we can find to throw a light, however faint, upon the monastic age, 



VOL. XV. NO. XLV. Y 



