76 REPORT ON EXCAVATIONS IN S. MARY’S ABBEY. 
following letters are left ; those in brackets are somewhat 
defaced, the rest are fairly clear. 
(left side) . . . (m) srfovti sacvc p quit’ pfcssor t qitonba 
$bba —... a qut. 
(right side).u* ate pptc. 
This inscription may be read as follows—• 
“ William Seford sacrse paginis professor et quondam Abbas 
hujus Monasterii qui .... (cujus) animae propicietur.” 
(William Seford, professor of the Holy Book and formerly Abbot 
of this Monastery, who . . . . . to whose soul (God) 
be merciful). 
This sepulchral slab, which was found a little south of the 
centre of the choir, is evidently that of William Seveyr, Sever 
or Seford, who became Abbot in 1485. In 1495 he was made 
Bishop of Carlisle, but continued to hold his Abbey in coin - 
mendain. In 1502, he was translated to the see of Durham, 
and then resigned his abbacy. He died on May 14th, 1505, 
and was buried at S. Mary’s Abbey. Bishop Seford is the 
Abbot who carried on a long and somewhat acrimonious con¬ 
troversy with the Corporation of York, at the end of the 15th 
century, on the subject of the rights and privileges of the 
Abbey, a constant subject of dispute. 
The most important work of the year has been that 
undertaken to preserve the foundations already exposed. So 
fragmentary and so friable were these that one winter made 
considerable ravages, and the weather would soon have 
obliterated the results of our labours. It was therefore 
necessary to protect the remains from damage and decay, 
either by returning the excavations and re-turfing the surface, 
or by otherwise preserving them. The Committee appointed 
to carry out the work decided that to maintain them in a 
way that would leave them open for inspection would be the 
most popular and interesting. Various proposals were sug¬ 
gested and discussed, and the advice of Mr. St. John Hope, 
and others whose experience in such work is well known, was 
obtained. They unanimously recommended that the rubble 
foundations should be outlined and levelled up in ordinary 
brickwork, and coped with flagstones. This has been done, 
