Battle Abbey 
our feet still remains a barrel-vaulted cham¬ 
ber, the crypt of the hospitium. 1 he rest 
has perished, having been destroyed in order 
to make way for Sir Anthony’s Manor House. 
This, too, has vanished, with the exception 
of the two stair turrets, which stand out gaunt 
and solitary, sole relics of the Tudor mansion. 
A wing of the house extended westward 40 
feet beyond these turrets. 
From this terrace you can see the field of 
Senlac, at the time of the Conquest a wild, 
rough, bare down covered with heather and 
furze. Here, on this very spot, the Saxons 
took their stand. Over there, on our left, is 
Telharn Hill, where the Norman host rested 
on the eve of the battle. We need not again 
follow the fortunes of the fight, in which 
30,000 men are said to have perished, after a 
battle which lasted nine hours. 
We will now pass on to the monastic build¬ 
ings, and try to rear in imagination the 
glorious minster that once stood there. 
Scarcely a wall remains. Its length was 315 
feet, and its ground plan was in the shape of 
a cross. The wall on the right of the wood- 
yard is the south wall of the south aisle. On 
the south side of this was the old cloister 
court, now a very charming flower garden. 
1 he vaulted cloisters surrounded this on its 
four sides. On the north side of this court 
was the south aisle of the church, on the east 
the south transept, chapter-house and dormi¬ 
tory, on the south the refectory, and on the 
west the existing house, which then consisted 
of the Beggars’ Hall, a fine vaulted room, and 
the Lay Brothers' Dormitory. A buttress, a 
jamb, some cinquefoiled arcading, are all 
that remains of the refectory. The interior 
arches of the west walk of the cloister are 
seen on the front of the house. 
1 he great monastic dormitory remains, a 
long imposing building, though roofless. It 
is 150 feet in length. Its lancet windows 
(twenty-four in number) and buttresses show 
that it was constructed in the Early English 
period. Beneath this are three vaulted cham¬ 
bers, with Purbeck marble pillars, the uses of 
which can only be conjectured. One is said 
to have been the scriptorium and library 
which had a charcoal fire burning in its centre 
for the monks to warm themselves and dry 
their parchments. The fragments of a stone 
seat are seen surrounding one of the rooms, 
and a large cross of white stone is inserted in 
one of the walls. The form is unusual, as the 
arms are slightly raised. I he volute appears 
THE DRAWING-ROOM 
