repeated it upon the brasses of his tomb,-imploring in both instances the supplications of the faithful on that account.98 Dr. Nash asserts, that this tower "was purchased by the townsmen for their own uses, and thus escaped the general wreck of the dissolution."99 The doctor's assertion appears, however, to rest upon a passage in Willis; where it has, confessedly, no better foundation than supposition.100 But, in the absence of any known document to the contrary, the probability is, that it was presented to the townspeople by Sir Philip Hoby, or his heirs: it being assuredly included in that sweeping clause of the royal grant, which conveys to the said Philip "the house and site of the late dissolved monastery of Evesham; and all messuages, houses, pools, vineyards, orchards, gardens, land and soil, lying and being, as well within as without, and next and near the site, fence, compass, circuit and precinct of the same late monastery." "101 The site of the conventual cemetery extends athwart the eminence now occupied as a bowling green and pasture ground; its public entrance being then, as now, the archway of the cemetery gate-tower. It also still retains its former popular appellation of "the Cross Churchyard;" from whence we may infer that within this enclosure stood the preaching-cross, where sermons were customarily delivered in the open air the churches of monasteries and cathedrals having originally been restricted to ritual services. At Worcester, the place for sermons is known to have been the cross which stood in the cathedral close; and it was not till the destruction of that cross during the civil wars, that the place for sermons was appointed within the cathedral, and then it was situated at the bottom of the nave; 102 the introduction of preaching places into the choirs of our 98 Orate pro anima Domini Clementis Lychfeld sacerdotis, cujus tempore turris Eueshamiæ ædificata est."-Compare Wood's Athena Oxon. i. p. 4; also Abingdon's MS. as cited in our account of abbot Lichfield's grave, given in chapter viii. 99 Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. i. page 410. 100 Except the beautiful tower, standing separately; the new erection of which might occasion the inhabitants, together with our abbot Lichfield, to plead its ransom, by purchasing it for their own use, when all the rest went down under the axes and hammers of the abhorrers of idols. '-Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. i. page 97. 101 Office Copy of Letters Patent, dated 30th July, 34th Henry VIII. 102 Green's History of Worcester Cathedral, page 141. At Canterbury, collegiate churches being wholly of modern date. the public preaching-place was till lately the chapter room, still called "the Sermon House;" and at Bristol, within the writer's memory, the whole congregation used to remove into the nave at the conclusion of the service to hear the sermon. There is yet another fragment pertaining to the once splendid church of Evesham, which-when such scanty vestiges remain-it would not be right to leave unnoticed. This is a large and richly sculptured marble lectern, or reading-stand, which a late writer in the Archæologia regards as that noted in one of the registers as made by Thomas de Marleberg, then sacristan;103 which was placed in the aile at the back of the presbytery, where the tomb of St. Wulsin stood.104 But from the extreme simplicity of the mitre, crosier, and costume of the principal figure, we are rather disposed to identify it with an earlier period, and to regard it as the lectern which another register informs us was made by abbot Adam, for employment in the chapter-room.105 This opinion will appropriate its construction to the reign of Henry II. instead of that of Henry the Third. It is formed from one solid block of English marble, of very considerable weight, and is about two feet six inches square on 103 Paper from Edward Rudge, esq. F. S. A. in vol. xvii. 104 De bonis operibus prioris Thomæ," in Cottonian MS. Vespasian B xxiv. 105 "Et Lecticum Capituli ipse fecit."-Acts of Abbot Adam, in De Gestis Abbatum, Harleian MS. 3763. H its upper surface. The sides and back are elegantly sculptured with ramous foliage intermixed with heads of cherubim in high relief. The front is similarly adorned, but from its centre issues a halflength figure with tonsure and cassock, having the right hand uplifted in that peculiar form with which the Romish bishops accompanied their benediction, the left hand grasping the crosier or pastoral staff. The latter circumstance proves the figure to have been intended for a bishop. The only distinction between mitred abbots and prelates, in full array, having consisted in the position of the crosier; this being held by an abbot in his right hand, but by a prelate in his left. The editors of Dugdale's Monasticon, new edition, remark, from a paper in the Archæologia, that this figure must have been intended for bishop Ecgwin-because he "was the only abbot of Evesham who enjoyed that dignity." 106 The supposition which regards the figure is probably correct; the remark accompanying it is not so: because Elfward, abbot of Evesham in Canute's reign, was also bishop of London, holding his abbacy in commendam.107 The above curious relic lay for several years unregarded in an open yard, whence it was afterward purchased at an auction with other stone, after which it remained for some time unnoticed. It is now in the possession of Robert Blayney, esq. of the Lodge, near Evesham. Having thus completed our survey of the church, we proceed to notice the remaining edifices of the convent. The monastic structure immediately adjoined the abbey church and cemetery; occupying, with its courts, gardens, fishponds, orchards, homestead, and park, the remaining portion of the peninsula; being bounded by the river on the east, west, and south, while at the north a strong and lofty wall, stretching entirely across, insulated the monastic domain from encroachment or intrusion. This wall, built by abbot Chyryton, may readily be traced from the Avon near the bridge to the ancient gateway near the present vicarage-house, and again from the almonry to the ferry. It is in several places nearly entire, often twelve feet high, and uniformly about three feet in thickness. 106 Dugdale's Monasticon, edition by Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, vol. ii. page 5. 107 See account of Abbot Elfward, in chapter v. of the present volume. In the governing charter of the borough it is distinctly noticed as "the abbey-park wall." The monastery itself with its subordinate buildings extended east and west from the second fishpond 108 to the present horse-road beyond the almonry remains. The first or great quadrangle was entered through the grand gateway, which stood upon the site of the present abbey-house. Included in this quadrangle-which must have reached from thence about midway toward the chapter-house archwas the private residence of the abbot; much of which was built by Henry Lathom, and which comprised a hall, parlour, chambers, and chapel. The grand gate-house itself was built by abbot Chyryton, was embattled and strengthened by a tower or turret at the south; it likewise included a chapel, as well as apartments for the watch. The second or cloistered quadrangle adjoined the former at the east. It had the nave of the church and one walk of the cloisters at the north; and on the east side, the chamberlain's residence, the chapter-house, and the library built over the eastern cloister by abbot Brokehampton. The south side was most probably occupied by the dormitory or sleeping-room for the monks, built over the southern cloister, uniform with the library over the eastern walk; the refectory or dining hall would then lie parallel with the south cloister on the ground floor, the kitchen, buttery and cellarage being, for convenience, also near. The outer quadrangle, called in the grant of Henry VIII. the almonry court, and there described as adjoining the gatehouse,109 stood without the monastery, at the west; having the almonry apartments yet partly standing, on the north, and the granary built by abbot Adam, with "a range of buildings called the storehouse," on the east and south.110 As the stabling and inferior offices would probably here adjoin the granary and storehouse, this quadrangle would at the same time be that which 108 "The lodging commonly called the chamberer's chamber, adjoining upon the abbots' pools, east."—First Grant from Henry VIII. to Philip Hoby, esq. 109 "The buildings called 'almery,' adjoining to the gate at the coming unto the said late monastery on the north.' --First Grant to Philip Hoby, esq. 110"All the range of buildings, called the storehouse, butting upon the tower of the abbey-gate north, and the garner south, and upon the almery west."-First Grant of Henry VIII. we find occasionally referred to as "the basse-court of the monastery," and also as the barton-court. This court would therefore have been entered by that embattled gateway erected by abbot Chyryton in the Barton, described as looking toward the town. 111 Of these extensive and multifarious erections, we now proceed to note their present scanty remains; from which alone, as the antiquary Grose has well observed in noticing this abbey, we have every reason to conclude it of such magnitude, that out of Oxford and Cambridge there was not to be found so great an assemblage of religious buildings in the kingdom." 112 The grand gateway was standing at the time of Mr. Abingdon's visit, about the year 1640. He thus notices it-"Let us but guess what this monastery, now dissolved, was in former days, by the gatehouse yet remaining; which, though deformed with age, is as large and stately as any at this time in the kingdom." "113 As late as 1711, it is described in a deed of that date as "the abbey gatehouse with a way through the same;" having been at that time unfortunately leased by John Rudge, esq. for a term of 200 years to a person named Rogers, who was so far lacking in good taste, that dismantling this proud relic of the abbey he converted it into a dwelling, known as the abbey-house; which with the adjoining garden-ground was, in 1836, conveyed to Edward Rudge, esq. in fee, and was soon after divided into tenements. The extraordinary thickness of the walls of the building, together with its peculiar form, give reason to believe that, externally, a considerable portion of the original fabric, incorporated with more modern workmanship, still remains. During the removal of later outbuildings, in 1836, a portion of the southern wall, which had escaped the plaisterer and thus retained its original appearance, was exposed. This wall is formed of similar material to that constructed by abbot Chyryton as the park-wall, and is undoubtedly an undisturbed portion of the grand gate-house built by him. The northern wall, retaining an ancient window in its upper part, formed 111 "Et unam portam in Bertona versus villam, et bene desuper kernellatum."De Gestis Abbatum, Harleian MS. 3763. 112 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. ii. 113 MS. Survey of Worcestershire, in Library of Antiquarian Society, Somerset House. |