rN 
238 
has preferved, permits him to lay out the 
money which might have been expended 
on the journey, either in the conftruétion of 
a new church, or the repairs and enlarge- 
ment of the old one. “The words of the 
letter are <¢ Deinde precipimus tibi fub 
nomine fanctz obedientiz et poenitentiz 
nt eXpenfas quas ad iter iftud paraveras 
pauperibus eroges et cenobium monacho- 
rum, in honore fanéti Petri, apoftolorum 
principis, aut novum conftruas aut ve- 
tuflum emendas.”’ But in the deed of 
Edward, which is given by the fame 
writer, it is exprefsly ftated that he had 
not only cauled the old church to be deftroy- 
ed, but a NEW ONE FROM THE VERY 
FOUNDaTIONS, ¢o be built and dedicated 
iz its room. ** Itaque deécimari precepi 
-omnem fubftantiam meam, tam in auro et 
argento quam in pecudibus, et omni genere 
poffefficnum, et defirvens veterem, NOVAM 
A FUNDAMENTIS BASILICAM confruxt, 
confiruciam dedicari fect 5 kal. Jan.” 
Sulcardus tells us it was finiflied in a few 
years, that it was fupported by many pil- 
lars and arches, and that the fefhion of it 
was in the fhape of a crofs ; a hint which 
fufficiently explains the remark of Matthew 
Paris that it was built ‘* zowvo compofitionis 
genere,’ and ferved as a pattern much 
tollowed in the ereétion of other churches.* 
In iluitration of this pafiage it will be re- 
membered that the Saxon as well as the 
Norman churches ufually had the tower 
in the centre ; and that the tranfepts were 
an addition of the latter. 
A. conje&ture has more than once been 
hazarded that the abbey of the Confeffor 
ftood upon a plot of ground different from 
the prefent firucture; but its traces at 
this day are too few and too contufed to 
fettle the point with accuracy. Certain it 
is that the mott ancient remains, (though 
none of them can be referred with any pro- 
bability beyond the age of the Confeffor) 
are to -be found in the neighbourhood of 
what is called the Little Cloifter, particu- 
jarly in the apartments ef Dr. Iiiffe and 
* Camden has given another cefcription of -. 
the church, tranflated from a manofcript of 
the very period. ‘* The principal area or 
mave of the church ftood on lofty arches of 
hewn ftone, jointed together in thé niceft , 
manner, and the vault was covered with a 
ftrong double arched roof of ftone on both 
&ces. The crofs which embraced the choir, 
and by its tranfept fupported a high tower in 
the middle, rifes firit with a low firong arch, 
and then fwells out with feveral winding 
fiaircafes to the fingle wall up to the wooden 
roof, which js carefully covered with lead.” 
Mr, Gough’s edition of Camden, vol. ii. p. 7. 
2 
The Mntipiar), No. £1. 
[April 1, 
Mr. Dakins; where the capitals and wavy 
mouldings af the Confeffor’s period may 
be plainly feen. - 
An undercroft, clofe by, in which the 
ftaindard-money of the kingdom is depofit=" 
ed, is perhaps, the moft perfeé& reliét ; al- 
though the dificulty of acceis renders it 
but little known: and others might, no 
doubt, be found concealed behind modern 
buiidings and convenient improvements. 
Nothing of this kind, however, can be dif 
covered in the Chapter-houfe, which was 
erected ‘in 1250*; though in the cellar 
beneath one part cf it, belonging to Mr. 
Hughes, are the remains of what was pre- 
bably part of the work of Abbot Laurence, 
in the reign of Henty If. after the great 
injury which the Conteffor’s building had 
received by fire. The pillars in the centre 
are round and maffive; without capitals ; 
but have a fort of fillet immediately under 
the fpringing of the arches, which are be- 
tween the femicircular and pointed; and 
extend far beyond the limits of the building 
over them. 
What more of the buildings of the 
‘monaitery befide the church itfelf; cwed 
their ere€tion to Edward the Confeffor, it 
is at this diftance of time difficult to fay75 
though it feems very certain there. were 
cloitterst. Geoffrey de Mandeville, who 
diftinguifhed himfelf at the battle of Haft- 
ings, mentions his having buried his firft - 
wife Athelais within them, as well as his 
intention of lying there himéfelf. 
Henry IiId’s firt buiiding was a 
chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, begun on 
Whitfun-eve, 12203 on the fite of which 
* «¢ A,D. 1250. Edificavit dominus Rex 
capituium incomparabile,” MATT, WESTM. 
A fingle {fpecimen of the ancient paintings that 
adorned it, remains uncovered on the wain- 
fcot. 
+ The Confeffor’s church is fuppofed to be 
introduced with the figure of the King in the 
Bayeux Tapeftry, engraved by Dr. Ducarel in 
the Anglo Norman Antiquities. But nothing 
appears that can afford a good idea of what it 
might have been ; we can only fee that it was 
a lofty ftru€ture in the beft ftyle of Saxon 
building. . 
t Mr. Widmore fuppofes that the tomb, 
moved from the old ftruéture to the prefent 
cloifter, and marked for Abbot Lavurentius, 
1176, belongs to Vitalis ; that marked for 
Vitalis 16082, to Abbot Hurney 1222; that 
called Giflebertus Crifpinus’s 1114, to Gervale 
de Blois; and the remarkable Jarge ftone 
known by the name of Long Megg, marked 
for Gervafe de Blois, to have been laid over 
the twenty-fix monks who died of the plague 
in 1349 and were buried in one grave. 
the 
Ee Oe 
Oe ee ee 
