THE STORY OF
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THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
By the same Author :
THE ROMANCE OP SYMBOLISM. Illustrated. Foolscap Qu.rto,
cloth. Price 7/6 net.
OLD ENGLISH HOUSES OF ALMS. Illustrated. Koy.l Qu«rto,
(ill top. Price 21 - net.
LONDON. FRANCIS GRIFFITHS.
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The Story of Ford Abbey
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
TO THE PRESENT DAY
By
SIDNEY HEATH
ILLUSTRATED
LONDON :
FRANCIS GRIFFITHS
34 MAIDEN LANE. STRAND. W.C.
1911
LIBRARY
Pkolo h F.
l.MKAMi. luUHK, KOKU ABBEY.
*• So*. Ckanl.
l-'actHg page 5.
Dedicated to
MR. & MRS. FREEMAN ROPER
OF FORD ABBEY
CONTENTS
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . u
INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. 13
CHAPTER I. FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY . . 24
II. GENERAL PLAN . . . . . . 32
III. CHURCH AND CHAPTER HOUSE . . 37
„ IV. THE ABBOTS OF FORD . . . . 42
V. THOMAS CHARD . . . . . . 49
VI. THE DISSOLUTION . . . . 56
„ VII. ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT FORD ABBEY . . 61
VIII. POST-DISSOLUTION OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS 66
IX. FORD ABBEY AT THE PRESENT DAY . . 72
APPENDIX . . THE PRIDEAUX PARDON . . . . 78
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL VIEW OF FORD ABBEY ... ... ... Frontispiece
ENTRANCE TOWER, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... Page 5
BACK VIEW, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ... „ 12
FORD ABBEY CLOISTER ... ... ... ... „ 14
GENERAL VIEW, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... „ 17
BACK VIEW, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ... ,, 21
THE PRIORY FARM, OKEHAMPTON ... ... ... ,,24
GENERAL VIEW, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ,,28
GENEALOGICAL TABLE FROM MONK'S MS ... ... ,,30
PLAN OF FORD ABBEY AND ITS ENVIRONS ... ... ,.31
ENTRANCE HALL, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ,,32
DINING ROOM, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ,,37
STAIRCASE, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ... ,,44
SPANDRILS OF A CLOISTER WINDOW ... ... ... ,.49
TOWER FRONT, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ..49
PANELS OVER CLOISTER ... ... ... ... ,,53
SCREEN AND STALL IN CHAPEL, FORD ABBEY ... ,,53
DETAILS FROM GATEWAY TOWER ... ... ... tt 55
MONK'S WALK, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... go
DETAILS FROM CLOISTER ... ... ... ... gx
DRAWING ROOM, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... f> 64
SEAL OF FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ... 66
CEILING, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... ... >f 59
THE YEW HEDGE, FORD ABBEY ... ... ... tt 76
THE PRIDEAUX PARDON ... ... ... ...
12 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dr. Pring's Memoir of Thomas Chard is a mere hash up of Oliver
and Dugdale, and is of but little v;ilue, as the author gives the abbot
of Ford all the offices and preferments held by his namesake the prior,
as, indeed, do all the modern writers on Ford. A small volume
published in 1846 under the initials " A.W." contains a good deal of
fairly accurate architectural description, as also does a valuable
paper by the late Gordon Hills in 1864, published in Collectanea
Archeeologica. The same remarks apply to Some Architectural
Works of Inigo Jones, by H. Inigo Triggs and Henry Tanfier, junr.
(Batsford).
In a special degree the thanks of the author are due to Mr. and
Mrs. Freeman Roper for permission to make an exhaustive study of
the structure, take photographs, and make drawings.
WEYMOUTH, 1911-
BACK VIEW, FORD ABBEY.
/•(icing page 12.
THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
INTRODUCTION
B
lEFORE turning to a detailed account of
the monastic house of Ford, it may be of
interest to give a slight sketch of the
monastic orders in England, which may
possibly help the mind to realise fully the great
power, both social and religious, possessed by
the mediaeval monasteries, and at the same time
. convey some idea of the general conditions of
their rule, and of the buildings erected for the
accommodation of the inmates.
A monastery may be briefly defined as a home for those who
professed the monastic life, and the word is used also to denote abbeys,
priories and nunneries, as the arrangements of the various buildings
differed but little from each other. Monks are thought to have been
unknown, by name at least, for the first 250 years after Christ, those
who up to that time lived a life of seclusion from the world being
known as ascetics.
The mission of S. Augustine to England in A.D. 597 was the means
of introducing the Benedictine rule into this country, although a
system of monasticism had for many years been established in the
land. Abbot Gasquet says : — " The Celtic monastic system was
apparently in vogue among the remnant of the ancient British Church
in Wales and the West Country on the coming of S. Augustine. Little
is known with certainty, but as the British Church was Celtic in origin
it may be presumed that the Celtic type of monachism prevailed
amongst the Christians in this country after the Saxon conquest."
The monks originally were mostly laymen who enjoyed all things
in common. They took no part in civil affairs, and during the days
when great austerity was observed, they generally avoided settling
I4 INTRODUCTION
near a town, building their houses in the waste and barren parts of
the country.
At the head of the establishment was the Abbot (abbas — father).
The word was used from the earliest times " as a title appropriate
to designate the superior of a religious house, as expressing the patern;tl
qualities which should characterise his rule. S. Benedict says that
" an abbot who is worthy to have charge of a monastery ought always
to remember by what title he is called," and that " in the monastery
he is considered to represent the person of Christ, seeing that he is
called by His name."1
The second superior of the house was the prior, whose duty it
was to take the abbot's place during his absence, to supervise the
discipline of the house, and to look after the government <>f
the monastery in general. The prior's assistant in the duties of his
office was the sub-prior, who had no special position in the community,
except that in the absence of the abbot and prior, their duties devolved
upon him. An English writer says : " The sub-prior should be
remarkable for his holiness, his charity should be over-flowing, his
sympathy should be abundant. He must be careful to extirpate
evil tendencies, to be unwearied in his duties, and tender to those in
trouble. In a word, he should set before all the example of our Lord."
In large monasteries were usually third and fourth priors, also called
circas or circatores claustri, that is, watchers over the discipline of the
cloister. " Their duty chiefly consisted in going round about the
house and specially the cloister in times of silence, to see that there
was nothing amiss or contrary to the usual observance. They had
no authority to correct, but they kept their eyes and ears open in order
to report. They did not go about necessarily together, but according
as special duties might have been assigned to them by the abbot.
When, in the course of their official investigations, they found ,mv
of the brethren engaged in conversation or work out of the ordinary
course, it was the duty of one of those so engaged to inform the official
of the permission they had received."1
Other officials of a monastery were often known by the name
of obedientiaries, and sometimes the prior and sub-prior were included
under this name. But as a rule they were not so called, as they
assisted in the general government of the monastery. The
:Ufe(F. A.
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Photo by}F. HizginsGr-Son, Chard. FORD ABBEY CLOISTER,
Facing page 14.
INTRODUCTION 15
obedientiaries had various duties, and often exercised great power
in their own spheres. According to the size of the monastery, so the
number of obedientiaries varied, but it may be of interest to mention
a few here, with their respective duties.
The cantor or precentor was one of the most important officials
of a monastery, for on him devolved the management of the numerous
services in the church, the selection of the music to be sung, and the
portions of Scripture to be read. He recognised no superior but
the abbot in anything pertaining to the church services. Besides
this, he was also librarian and archivist. In the absence of the precentor
the succentor, or sub-cantor fulfilled his duties.
To the sacrist was committed the care of the church fabric,
together with the sacred plate and vestments, and such shrines or
reliquaries as the monastery possessed. He had also to supervise the
lighting of the entire establishment. In his duties he was assisted
by the sub-sacrist or secretary, who had charge of the offerings made
to the church, and had also to see that the stock of wine for the altar,
incense, candles, or wax was replenished when necessary. He was
also to purchase materials for the repair of the fabric, and was the
custodian of the monastic treasures. Other assistants of the sacrist
were the treasurer and the revestiarius, the former of whom, as the name
implies, was in charge of the church plate and valuables, while the latter
was chiefly concerned with the vestments, the curtains, or other
hangings belonging to the church. Connected with the domestic part
of the establishment were the cellarer, whose chief duties were to
see that the stores were not running short, and to superintend the
servants ; the kitchener, who presided over the entire kitchen
department, and had to keep a strict account of the expenditure
in provisions ; and the refectorian, who had charge of the refectory.
To each monastery an infirmary was attached, and the official
in charge was known as the infirmarian. According to an old Custumal,
the infirmarian " must be gentle, and good-tempered, kind,
compassionate to the sick, and willing as far as possible to gratify
their needs with affectionate sympathy." For the relief of the poor
an almoner was appointed, whose principal duty was to distribute
the alms of the monastery among the poor who came to the monks
for relief.
The official deputed to attend to wayfarers and extend to them
16 INTRODUCTION
the hospitality of the house, was the guest-master, or hospitarius ;
while the duty of the chamberlain or camerarius, was to overlook the
garments of the monks, repairing them when necessary, and substituting
new ones when the old were past repair.
One of the most important officials in a monastery was the master
of novices, who, as his name implies, had under his supervision those
who were desirous of entering the religious life, and drilled them in
the rule of the house during their year of probation.
Besides these regular officials, many were weekly servers, who
took it in turns to draw water, to wait on the brethren at meals, and
to be generally at the disposal of the refectorian.
The daily life of the inmates of a monastery was a strenuous one.
In most establishments, matins began at midnight, when the signal
for rising from slumber was the ringing of a small bell. Following
Matins came Lauds, or Matutinal Laudes, the morning praises, as they
were supposed to be, celebrated at the dawn of day. Prime was
said about seven, and at about half-past eight, except on days of
fasting, the bell was rung for mixtum, or breakfast, and while the monks
were engaged at their morning refection, the bell was kept ringing
•for the morning Mass. The daily Chapter was held immediately on
the conclusion of the Mass, and from this the monks passed to
a discussion on the general business of the house. The Hi^h Mass,
or Magna Missa, began at ten o'clock. At about eleven the mid-day
meal was served, during which the monk whose turn it was to be
" reader " read passages of scripture to his brethren. In the summer
after dinner the monks were allowed to retire to the dormitory for rest
or sleep, as they began their day an hour earlier than in the winter,
thus shortening their night's rest. The whole time of the monks was
not spent in religious exercises, for from twelve o'clock to five in
winter, and from one to six in summer, they were employed in
manual labour, and outdoor exercise. On the conclusion of their
work the bell was rung for Vespers, followed by supper. The evening
reading took place in the Chapter House, and was known as the
Collation. The last service for the day was Compline, said at seven
o'clock in the summer and eight in the winter. Then the monks
trooped forth in solemn silence to their dormitory, to rest until the
matins bell roused them once more to begin the arduous round of a
conventual day.
INTRODUCTION 17
The uses of monasteries were many and various. They were the
only schools, strictly speaking, in the country, and these were generally
superintended by the almoner, and had no connection with the
claustral school of the novices. " There, young clerks were to have
free quarters in the almonry, and the almoner was frequently to see
them set to argue one against the other, to sharpen their wits. He
was to keep them strictly, or, as it was called in those days of belief
in corporal punishment, " well under the rod," and he had to find,
out of the revenues of his office, all " discipline rods," both for the boys
and for use in the monastic chapter. On feast days, when there were
no regular lessons, these young clerks were to be set to learn the Matins
of the Office of the Blessed Virgin ; or to practice writing upon scraps
of parchment. If they did not learn, and especially if they would
not, the almoner was to get rid of them, and fill their places with those
who would."1
In the great monastery of Jarrow, Beda, " The Venerable Bede,"
wrote his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, and on account
of his school of six hundred monks, Green has called him, " the father
of our national education."
To the almoner also, as denoted by his name, was intrusted that
most important work of all monasteries, the giving out of food and
clothing to the poor who came to beg alms in the name of Christ. The
monasteries were the chief support of the needy, for " Poor Laws "
as we know them, were not passed until thirty years after the
Dissolution. Besides providing for those in need, the monastery was
always ready to extend hospitality to travellers and wayfarers, for in
those days to " entertain strangers " as well as friends was a practical
part of religion. The usual time allowed for a traveller to receive free
hospitality " was apparently two days and nights, and in ordinary
cases on the third day the guest was expected to take his departure.
If for any reason a visitor desired to prolong his stay, permission had
to be obtained from the superior by the guest-master. Unless prevented
by sickness, after that time the guest had to rise for Matins, and other-
wise follow the exercises of the community. With the Franciscans,
a visitor who asked for hospitality from the convent beyond three days
had to beg pardon in the conventual chapter before he departed, for
his excessive demand upon the hospitality of the house."2
1 English Monastic Life ;r. A. Gasquet).
'Ibid.
i8 INTRODUCTION
As the monasteries nearly always possessed a secular infirmary,
apart from the one for the sick brethren, \\T may rightly presume that
to the monks came the diseased in body, as well as the distressed in
mind. S. Thomas' Hospital, London, was originally a religious house,
until the Act of Henry VIII. transformed it into a secular foundation.
In pre-Reformation days there were various religious orders
existing in England. Abbot Gasquet classifies them under four
headings, viz. : (i) monks, (2) canons regular, (3) military orders,
and (4) friars. The monks embraced the orders of the Benedictines,
the Cluniacs and Cistercians, the two last being offshoots of the
great Benedictine body ; and the Carthusians. The Canons Regular
were clergy who formed themselves generally under the rule of S.
Augustine, and lived a life similar to that of the monks. In England
they became known as August inian Canons, Premonstratensian
Canons, and Gilbertine Canons. The military orders were the Knights
Hospitallers and the Knights Templars. Abbot Gasquet says :
" The Hospitallers began in A.D. 1092 with the building of a hospital
for pilgrims at Jerusalem. The original idea of the work of these
knights was to provide for the needs of pilgrims visiting the Holy
Land and to afford them protection on their way The
Military Order of the Templars was founded, according to Tanner,
about the year A.D. 1118. They derived their name from the Temple
of Jerusalem, and the original purpose of their institute was to secure
the roads to Palestine, and protect the holy places.
During the reign of Henry VIII. there were in England six hundred
and sixteen houses of religion, while of the religious orders there were
186 Benedictines, 101 Cistercians, 173 Augustinians, 28 Knights
Hospitallers, etc. In Yorkshire the Cistercians were the chief traders
in wool with the merchants of Flanders.
The various orders of Friars differed from the monks in that they
had no settled habitation, and therefore did not live as families, but
travelled from place to place preaching.
Through their influence, schools and hospitals were founded,
and at Oxford the schools they established eventually developed into
the famous University. In their earlier days they seem to have devoted
their lives to the service of the poor, but as was the case with most
religious movements, the enthusiasm which had sustained the early
adherents to the cause began to wane, and at the end of the four-
INTRODUCTION 19
teenth century, owing to their self-indulgence, they ceased to be of any
real benefit to the community. As Gardiner says, " The friars were the
last helpful gift of the mediaeval church to the world. Like the old
monks in their self-abnegation, and in their complete renunciation of
the pleasures and interests of the world, the friars introduced an
entirely new element into the ecclesiastical system. The monk stood
apart from humanity for his own soul's welfare, crucifying the flesh
in order that the spirit might live, and indirectly teaching by example,
and not, except accidentally, by direct word or guidance. The friar's
work was carried on, not in retired cloisters, but in the busy haunts
of men. He lived not for himself, but for others. Wherever men were
most wretched, struck down by the most loathsome of diseases, or
pinched and hunger-starved by famine, there the little mission chapel
of the friars was raised."
During the reign of Ethelwulf in 839, the monasteries suffered
greatly from the invasions of the Danes, who seem to have shown a
special partiality for the good things of these rich, but defenceless
houses. In the time of Edwy the Fair (955-959) the country witnessed
a violent personal quarrel in consequence of the king's marriage with
Elgiva, which was declared by the monks to be uncanonical.
The king thus found himself in opposition to Dunstan, a monk
who had been made Abbot of Glastonbury by King Edmund, and who
found that the unsettled condition of the country brought about by
the Danish wars had caused so lax a state of discipline in the
monasteries, that he immediately began their reformation by expelling
the secular canons from the cathedrals, establishing the Benedictine
order of monks, and founding forty new abbeys and their attached
schools.
There were two classes of monasteries in this country, the National
and the Foreign Orders, the former being composed of the Benedictines
and Augustinians, and the latter of the Cistercians and Carthusians.
The National Orders submitted more or less to episcopal control, but
the Foreign Orders recognised no authority but that of the Pope.
The authority of the English bishops over the monastic houses was
considerably weakened by the custom that sprang up of appointing
foreigners to the headships of these establishments. As the Roman
see gradually, and by an infinite variety of methods, increased its hold
on the English Church, the Pope, particularly during the reign of King
20 INTRODUCTION
John, proceeded to appoint Italian monks to vacant ecclesiastical
offices of all degrees in such numbers that the native clergy were in
danger of being ousted from all the richer benefices of the Church.
The national spirit, however, revolted against this importation of
foreign clerics, who were treated in a very- characteristic manner.
" Certain maddc fellows " went round their glebes, threshed out their
corn for them, and gave it to the poor, and altogether showed such
hostility to the intruders that it became evident that they had powerful
friends in the background. " After that," says Godwin, " the Italians
were not so eager upon Church benefices."
It has become customary with certain modern critics to affirm
that the conditions of life during the Middle Ages were deplorable
from every point of view. The clergy, no less than the sturdy yeomen,
have been described as living wholly vicious and well-nigh barbarous
lives. This impression is quite erroneous concerning the greater
part of the population, as a study of the social laws and the architecture
of the period will quickly prove, and has probably arisen from the fact
that people have always been more disposed to comment on that
which our mediaeval ancestors had not than to give them credit for
possessing that which they had. To understand properly any age
or any custom and to estimate fairly its character and influence, we
must, by the force of sympathetic imagination, transport ourselves
into that age, acquaint ourselves with its leading activities, and
endeavour to think and feel as the people who lived under its dominion
felt and thought. It is futile to measure a past age by the standards
of our own.
With regard to the personal life of the monks, the Rev. G. F. Nye
writes : " Some tilled the soil, and cultivated the waste land. Others,
again, were the architects who designed and erected the magnificent
structures in which they dwelt, the stately ruins of which for strength
and artistic beauty have seldom been equalled — never excelled —
and often, indeed, presenting architectural features which have been
the despair of modern architects of the world. Their busy lives taught
men that to subdue the earth, to labour with honest and skilful hands
for daily bread, was work for God too."
Certain it is that the old monks were a great influence for good
— they taught the ignorant, relieved the poor, and by their material
industry showed the people around them that Christianity had its
s
X
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'Ji
INTRODUCTION 21
practical as well as its purely devotional and ascetic side. Their
buildings were equipped with chapels, cloisters, dormitories, kitchens,
granaries, and store houses ; and between the time of the Norman
Conquest and the reign of Edward III., some twelve hundred of these
establishments were erected.
During the twelfth century the Church grew greatly in power
and in wealth, while the advent of the friars proved to be of great and
substantial benefit to the poorer classes, for the friars did much to
counteract the self-indulgence that had by this time crept into the
majority of the religious houses.
In the time of Henry VII., nearly one-third of all the land in the
country was held by the Church, which was the great power in England,
being able to keep the nation in peace, or to give its voice for foreign
war. Besides this, it was the great repository of learning ; and
after the death of so many barons in the Wars of the Roses, the number
of Spiritual Lords was nearly twice that of the Temporal Lords in the
Upper House. The Church also exercised control over the legal
jurisdiction of the country, and any criminal able to read had the
right of demanding that his case should be taken out of the Civil
Courts and tried in the Courts of the Church. The monasteries were
numerous, their united revenues amounting to many millions. The
first attack upon these religious houses came from Wolsey, who in 1523
obtained Bulls from the Pope authorising him to suppress forty of the
smaller monasteries, that is, those whose revenues were under £200 a
year, and to devote the sum to the support of schools and colleges.
On the fall of Wolsey, Cromwell worked hard to replenish the Royal
Treasury. He was a man who appears to have obtained an extra-
ordinary influence over the King, to whom he suggested that he should
style himself " Head of the Church." Pleased with this advice,
Henry appointed him Vicar-General and Chancellor, with power to
visit the monasteries and report as to the value of their possessions.
This he did in a manner so thorough that he was known throughout
the country as the "Hammer of the Monks." The visitations of
I535-° were ostensibly undertaken with a view to the reformation
of the monastic houses, but this thin veil of disguise was quickly
discarded by the commissioners, who proceeded to take possession of
everything that could be turned into money for the Royal Exchequer.
The reformation of the houses was far less in the minds of the king's
22 INTRODUCTION
agents than the prospect of plunder, and this especially applies to the
pillage of the parish churches in the reign of Edward VI. ; for by
that time there were no " superstitious relics " remaining, and many
of the pillagers were honest enough to acknowledge that their object
was to gain " a great masse of money " for the needs of the king.
In 1536, after the break with Rome had taken place, the great
attack on the monasteries began by the passing of a Bill in Parliament
dissolving the smaller houses, and granting all their property to the
Crown. Three years later, another Act was passed suppressing the
larger monasteries, whose revenues also went the way of the former.
Cromwell's memoranda, still in existence, give a good idea of the way
in which the property was divided. " Item, to remember Warner for
a monastery — Mr. Gostwick for one, Kingsmill for Wharwell. Freeman
for Spalding, myself for Laund," and so on.
By these means the king became possessed of an annual revenue
of £30,000, and of about £100,000 in exchange for the jewels and
treasures taken by his agents, the net gain to the Crown being equal
to about one and a half millions of our present money. No part of
this sum was at any time restored to the Church, but a very sin. ill
portion was eventually used for the founding of Grammar SchonK.
Some of the abbots and monks endeavoured to hide their treasures,
others attempted to sell the property to laymen, but these incidents
coming to the ears of the commissioners, twelve abbots were executed
as an example to others.
After the monastic property and revenues had been dissipated,
Henry turned his attention to the cathedrals, parish churches, and
the valuable chantry revenues. The exact number of the chantries
thus confiscated will probably never be known, but in S. Paul's
Cathedral alone there were as many as forty-seven, possessing an annual
revenue of some £12,000 a year of our present money, and the total
value of all the confiscated chantry revenues must be computed at
several millions of pounds.
There is little doubt that the people, especially the poor, suffered
greatly at the dissolution of the religious houses, for their thriving
villages were now turned into barren sheep-walks, arable land became
pasture, and the destitute could no longer ask for alms at the door of
the almonry of the monastery. Thousands of peasants were thrown
out of work, and poverty became general among the lower classes.
INTRODUCTION 23
This condition of things continued until the end of the century, when
the founding of almshouses and hospitals by wealthy merchants or
benevolent persons throughout the country did something to alleviate
the sufferings of the poor.
Even in the darkest days of English monasticism it is gratifying
to find how rarely the individual conduct of an archbishop or abbot
caused any actual scandal to dim the bright escutcheon of the Church.
There were certainly prelates who appear to have been more influenced
by worldly ambition than by religious zeal, and yet a larger number
whose religious ardour, brooking no opposition, led them into acts
of bigotry and intolerance. There were also not a few whose martial
instincts were but partially hidden under clerical vestments, men who
fought equally with both the temporal and the spiritual arm. Some,
too, were courtiers and bon vivants at the time they professed the austere
monastic rule ; but there were few of them who failed to stand the
only test by which they can be judged to-day — the respect of their
contemporaries — and fewer still who disgraced their office by sensual
profligacy or actual crime.
CHAPTER I
FOUNDATION AND EARLY HI>TORY.
IN 1842, for the convenience of county
business, the parish of Thorncombe, con-
taining the fine old monastic house of Ford,
was transferred from the county of Devon
to that of Dorset.
The latter shire was already singularly
rich in ecclesiastical remains, the legacies
of pre- Reformation days, when this little
southern county was, for its size, the richest
monastic county in England, and even at the
present day it possesses three great Minsters
of non-cathedral rank — Sherborne Abbey, Wimborne Minster, and
Milton Abbey. In Saxon days Sherborne was an episcopal see for
more than three hundred years, until the Bishopric was transferred to
Salisbury. The Benedictines had their abbeys of Abbotsbury, Cerne,
Shaftesbury, and Winterbourne Came, and the Cistercians those
of Bindon and Tarrant Crawford. There were many minor foundations
FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY 25
of which almost every stone has vanished, but enough is left in ruins
to show that in ecclesiastical remains, history, and associations, the
county of Dorset is almost without an equal among our English shires.
Ford Abbey was a welcome addition to the list, being one of the
earliest Cistercian houses erected in the country. The year 1136,
in which the community settled at Brightley, before removing to Ford,
is one to be long remembered as having witnessed the foundation of
the Cistercian Abbey of Warden, Bedfordshire ; the restoration of the
monastery belonging to the same community at Melrose ; and the
foundation of the Hospital Church of S. Cross, at Winchester ; a record
that has hardly been excelled in the annals of our history.
It appears that a knight of Devon, one Baldwin de Brioniis, having
rendered many services to William I., that monarch, with the generosity
he displayed in disposing of his conquered territory, presented Baldwin
with so many estates that he is computed to have possessed the largest
revenue of any man within the county of Devon. Having made him
a man of wealth, William bestowed upon him in marriage his niece
Albreda. The son of this union, Richard, in 1133 began to build an
abbey or priory at Brightley, in the honour of Okehampton, Devon,
and on the completion of the building in 1136, he requested Gilbert,
Abbot of Waverley,* in Surrey, to send him twelve of his Cistercian
monks to establish a community in the new monastery. Accordingly,
the twelve brethren journeyed thither on foot in procession, with the
Cross uplifted, and were received at Brightley with great kindness
by Richard. Their patron, however, did not live long after he had
accomplished his desire, and the little community somehow failed to
carry on the work owing to the " great want and barrenness of the
soil," so that in 1141 they resolved to return to Waverley. They are
said to have petitioned to be removed because the ground at Brightley
produced only " thyme and wild nightshade," which, if so, does not
increase one's appreciation of their farming, or on the other hand,
of their veracity, for the very name Bright-ley — meaning the " bright "
or " clear " pasture — seems to indicate its reputation as a pleasant
and fruitful spot. The site had been chosen by Richard from among
his vast estates, and it is indeed just such a place, in the lowlands
by the river, in which the farmer monks of those days delighted to
• The monks of Waverley were the first of this great order to settle In England, baring
established themselves there in 1139,
26 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
live and work. The more probable explanation »f tli.-ir exodus is that
Richard's successor in the barony did not regard the ((immunity
i.iM'iirabh •; in many < barters of this date a clause i- mx-rted
prohibiting the alienation of burgages to houses of religion, and it is
well-known that the legislature had to interim- in later times. As
has been seen, the monks in 1141 set out to return to Waverley, but
passing by the Manor of Thorncombe, they were met by Adelicia, the
sister of Richard and successor to his estates. The popular and
touching story is to the effect that Adelicia, observing the manner of
their return on foot and in procession, as before, called them to her.
and learning from them of the failure of her brother's enterprise, was
overcome with grief, and exclaimed to the weary abbot and his monks,
" Far be it from me, my lord, and you, holy fathers, that so damnable
a reproach and so shameful a danger should alight upon me as that what
was by my lord and brother Richard, out of a pious and devout
affection, so well and solemnly begun for the honour of God, and the
salvation of all of us, I, his sister and heir, and to whom at his decease
he bequeathed all, should want either will or power to perfect. Behold
my manor where you now are, which is very fruitful and well-wooded,
and which I give you for ever, in exchange for your barren land at
Brightley, together with the mansion house and other houses. Stay
there until a more convenient monastery may be built for you upon
some other part of the estate, nor will we be wanting to you in this,
but will give you our best assistance to carry on that building."
It may seem rather a thankless task to question the veracity of
this oft-repeated and touching tradition, but the incident is rather
too dramatic to have been purely accidental, and one cannot help
thinking that the whole affair, if it happened as related, was to a great
extent pre-arranged.
The house at Brightley never appears to have grown to any
notable dimensions, and the present remains are very scanty indeed ;
for had the edifice been of any size or architectural character, there
would be indications of worked stone, however slight, in the walls
of the adjacent hamlet, if of nothing more important. In any case there
must surely have been a chapel to receive the remains of their patron,
Richard, before these were removed for burial to Ford, together with
those of another Richard, the first abbot.
It has been stated that the only remaining relic of the old Priory
FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY 27
is a round-headed granite arch in one of the walls of the barn at the
farm now occupying the site, but there is little doubt that portions of
the walls of the monastic domestic buildings are also incorporated in
the more modern structure. The fact that the barn orientates
with remarkable precision and that the arch is in the West wall leads
one to suggest that this may have been the chapel, of which the arch
was the doorway. It is deeply splayed internally, and bears much
resemblance to similar openings in the older part of Okehampton
Castle. This farm is still known as the Priory Farm, and belongs to
the Okehampton Charity Trustees, and there are many indications
that it is the only existing link with the original holding of the monks
at Brightley. Whether this be so or not, the fragments of Brightley
Priory will always be of interest by reason of their having formed the
germ of the famous house of Ford.
To return to the pious Adelicia, we find that her generous offer,
whether pre-arranged or spontaneous, was gratefully accepted by
the monks, who were soon installed in a temporary house at Westford,
whence they superintended the erection of the monastery ; and after
seven years, in 1148, the house was so far completed that they were
able to inhabit it. The site they had selected was in a valley, on the
left bank of the river Axe, at a place called, according to Leland,
" Hertbath " (balneum cervorum), which, from its contiguity to a
passage across the river, became known as Ford. The monastery
was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
A fairly accurate account, but one containing some serious errors,
of the early history of the abbey, is to be found in an ancient MS.,
entitled " FUNDATIONIS ET FUNDATORUM HISTORIA," which appears
to have been compiled by a monk belonging to the community some
time before its suppression by Henry VIII.
The date of the foundation as given by the monk is probably
correct, and is supported by the charter of the first year of Richard I.,
in which the king confirms to the Cistercian community the gift of the
church and manor of Thorncombe conferred upon them by Adelicia.
In 1141, the brothers took up their abode in Thorncombe, and the
monk speaks of " fit and regular offices " having been built to which
the community removed from their temporary residence at the manor
house, in 1147. This is many years too eaily for any part of the
building at present existing, although considerable portions of it are
28 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
undoubtedly those of the original abbey. This discrepancy may be
accounted for by taking the " fit and regular offices " to be only
temjxirary monastic edifices, for \vhi< h tin- ( isterrian rule provided
as carefully and thoroughly as for the permanent building, which
generally took many years to build.
The site chosen by the monks was influenced largely by the position
of the river Axe. A river was an almost invariable accompaniment
to a Cistercian monastery. On the high ground at Ford a small spring
formed a stream which flowed northwards into the river, and by
throwing up banks in the course of this stream, the monks formed
three or four fish ponds, on different levels, and these ponds, in a
modernised form, remain to the present day. The stream was also
used in the industrial court, where it worked the corn mill, the saw
mill, and the other mechanical appliances of the abbey.
The monastery of Ford was at first well endowed, and several
great families enriched the abbey coffers from time to time. The
Courtenays were naturally the greatest benefactors, being the patrons
of the foundation from their connection with the family of the original
founder. Another old Devonshire family, the de Pomeroys, of Berry
Pomeroy Castle, near Totnes, also became powerful protectors of the
monks of Ford.
On the death of Adelicia in 1142 the inheritance of the patronage
of the monastery passed, according to the monk's MS., to Alicia,
daughter of Adelicia, and wife of Ralph Avenel ; then to Alicia's
daughter Matilda, wife of Robert de Avranches ; and thirdly to
Matilda's daughter Hawisia, who married Reginald de Courtenay,
after which, through their son Robert de Courtenay, it preceded in
regular descent in the line of the Courtenay family.
Many genealogists, including Sir William Pole, have disputed
the descent of the Courtenays as traced by the monk of Ford, without
however substituting any complete pedigree in its place. This erroneous
genealogy, having been repeated by all the chroniclers of Ford Abbey,
and disputed but not amended by many antiquaries, the whole subject
has hitherto been involved in chaos. If, however, the more modern
writers on Ford had but consulted the MS. papers of Tristram Risdon
(1608-28) in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter (since
published in book form) the slips made by the monk would have been
obvious. The truth appears to be that Baldwin had three children,
CO
03
Q
K
o
w
w
a
w
FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY 29
Richard, Adela or Adelicia, and Emma. Adelicia married but had
no children, Emma married first William Avenell, and secondly William
Averinches or Avranches. On the death of Baldwin in 1155, his son
Richard succeeded to his estates and dying in 1162 the property devolved
on his son Baldwin. This Baldwin fought under Henry II., and as a
reward for his valour the king gave him the daughter of Ralph de
Doliz in marriage, together with the honour of Chateau Reaulx.
Baldwin dying without issue, the manor of Okehampton passed to
Adelicia, his aunt, and on her death to her nephew Ralph Avenell,
the son of Emma by her first husband. Ralph, having annoyed
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, by disdaining to marry his daughter,
the latter raised a title against him for the barony of Okehampton,
and nominated Matilda, daughter of Robert de Averinches, who was
Emma's son by her second husband, as the rightful heir ; for it seems
that during the lifetime of Richard, Emma's brother, he became so
fond of his nephew Robert, that he caused his knights and freeholders
to consider Robert as his heir. For this reason, incited by the Earl of
Cornwall, Robert's daughter Matilda brought a suit against Ralph
Avenell, when the jury found that by right of " attornment " and
the homage of fealty done to him by the knights and freeholders of
Richard, the barony belonged to Robert and his descendants. Matilda
married Robert Fitz-Roy, brother of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, and
the illegitimate son of Henry I., by whom she had one daughter Matilda,
who married Reginald de Courtenay.
This Reginald de Courtenay came into England with Queen
Elinor, wife of Henry II., and on him the king bestowed the barony of
Okehampton. He married Matilda, daughter of Robert Fitz-Roy,
a marriage of which there was no issue. Reginald, however, had
previously married Matilda Donjon, by whom he had two sons, Reginald
and Robert, the first of whom married Hawis de Ayncourt, by whom
he had a son Robert, who, on the death of his mother Hawis, in 1219,
succeeded to the honour of Okehampton, and through whom Ford
Abbey proceeded in regular descent in the line of the Courtenay family.
The following genealogical tables will help to show where the
monk went wrong in assigning to Alicia, who died without issue, the
children of her sister Emma, an error which figures in all the published
accounts of Ford Abbey, and one which has hitherto caused endless
confusion.
30 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
Genealogical Table from the Monk's MS. :—
Baldwin
Richard Adelida
Alicia— Ralph Avenal
Matilda— Robert Avranches
Hawisia — Reginald Courtenay
Robert Courtenay
Genealogical Table of the Author (based on Risdon) : —
Baldwin
Richard
Adelitia Emma
(l) William Avenal (a) William Avranches
Ralph Avenal Robert Averinchea
Matilda— Reg. de Courtenay— Matilda
Reg. Courtenay — Hawis Robert Courtenay
Robert Courtenay — Mary de Redvera
CHAPTER II
GENERAL PLAN
LTHOUGH the order of the Cistern. ms
not of English foundation, its
subsequent development was considerably
influenced by an Englishman, S. Stephen
Harding, who received his education at
Sherborne School, Dorset, and afterwards
made his profession in the Cluniac
monastery of Molesmes. This order,
however, with its growing wealth and
self-indulgence, failed to satisfy the deep
religious nature of the Dorset monk, who,
leaving Molesmes, took up his abode at
the new settlement of Citeaux, where he appears to have realised his
ideal of the monastic life.
He rose to be head of this community, which he governed for
twenty-five years with great ability and remarkable success. Here
he received S. Bernard and thirty monks into the order, and he lived
to see, before his death in 1134, several other houses founded on the
model he had" inaugurated. The system of the Cistercian order was
mainly the work of Harding, who devoted his whole life to restore
monasticism to the high position from which it had fallen. The
severest austerity and a strict observance of rules marked the early
days of the Cistercian brotherhood, who led a life in marked contrast
to the Benedictines and the Cluniacs. As a rule Cistercian buildings
were plain, simple structures, which in their general arrangements
I
X
sa
K
O
K
r-
GENERAL PLAN 33
adhered to one common and normal plan. It would be difficult to
select any particular house of this order as the typical example, yet
the variation of all their buildings is of so slight a character that it
is comparatively easy to assign to any part of a house once belonging
to them its specific name and its original uses.
Mr. Bond tells us that it is probable that all the plans of Cistercian
Churches in England were drawn from one or other of the mother
churches in Burgundy. " One reason for this is that the daughter
abbeys of the Cistercian churches were not independent of one another
like those of the Benedictines. All were founded subject to a periodical
and strict visitation carried out from or on behalf of the mother-abbey.
Thus from first to last there was kept up a regular intercourse and
communication with continental architecture, which in the case of
the Benedictines did not exist. Moreover, the Cistercians were
constrained far more than any other order to manual labour.
Instead of study, as with Benedictines and Cluniacs, they
were enjoined manual labour. This we know often took the form
of manual labour in putting up their own monastic buildings and
churches. They worked so much with their own hands at building,
especially the fratres conversi that they must have known far more
about planning and building construction than Benedictines or
Cluniacs ; and no doubt frequently learnt to take a genuine interest
and pleasure in the operation of building."
Ford Abbey followed the general plan of such buildings, and has
retained, in spite of much alteration and re-building, a considerable
portion of its monastic architecture and plan.
The principal entrance was from the westward, and the wall
bounding the monastery on this side appears to have started from the
bank of the river. This wall would enclose the industrial court, an
invariable accompaniment of a Cistercian foundation, in which the
endeavour of the brethren was to be self-supporting. They also worked
at their several trades, smithing, carpentry or building, and their
skill in the last two was devoted to repairing or extending various
parts of the edifice. They were their own bakers, brewers, and millers,
and the industrial court would contain sheds and buildings for all
their various occupations.
To the left of this court was the barn for the storage of the rich
crops from the monastic lands. This building is still standing, and
34 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
shows considerable remains of fourteenth century work. At this
point we come to a massive and lofty wall, no doubt part of the original
enclosure of the inner precinct containing the strictly monastic edifices.
Through it, and somewhere at this spot, must have been the gateway,
for a sort of gatehouse exists a little to the left, where a porter, either
monk or layman, always superintended the ingress and egress of
the inner precinct.
The cloister court would be entered by a gateway on its western
side. Of this cloister only the north wall remains, although those
portions of the buildings which originally bounded the court remain
on the east and west sides respectively. Generally the north walk
of the cloister was the place in which the novices were daily instructed
in the rule, and here was often a recess for the seat of the claustral
prior. Here, too, would be the separate seats and desks, known as
carrells, where the monks sat to read.
Still standing near the centre of the eastern side of the Ford
Abbey cloister court is the Chapter House in situ.
Adjoining the chapter house on the south there would be, judging
by other houses of the order, the Sacristy, intervening between the
chapter house and the church. It opened into the latter, the north
transept of which joined immediately on to it, but no traces of the
sacristy remain. The north wall of the church must have enclosed
the cloister on its south side. The position of the church was to the
south of the other buildings, a position rendered essential by the
necessity of having the domestic buildings and offices in close
proximity to the river. Had the river been to the south we should
have found that the church had been placed to the north of the domestic
buildings, as at Fountains, Cleeve, etc. At the south end of the
eastern boundary of the cloister there was a doorway, now blocked up ;
and, immediately opposite, another doorway. The interior of this
portion of the house is now so filled up with stairs and modern fittings
that the remains of these doorways are scarcely visible, except on
minute examination, but if once discerned they are quite obvious,
as also are the ancient vaulting shafts. Here no doubt would be the
entrance frr.m the cloister court to the private gardens, placed to the
east of the monastery. This entrance passage crosses the end of a
wing, 168 feet long, running due north from the chapter house. The
wing was originally in one length, with the exception of the passage
GENERAL PLAN 35
just mentioned, and was divided by a row of eleven columns down the
centre ; the whole covered with groined vaulting. All the columns
remain entire, as also does the vaulting with the exception of one
bay next to the passage, which, together with the division wall, have
been destroyed to make room for the modern stairs leading to the upper
floor.
During the monks' occupation the ground floor of this wing
was devoted to various purposes, such as the brothers' parlour and the
noviciates' school. The upper floor was the monks' dormitory, to
which access was gained by an arched stairway still existing but walled
up. In the western wall of the dormitory running northwards from
the old stairway, are thirteen lancet windows ; a figure that corresponds
with the number of brethren who occupied this apartment. Hearne
describes this wing thus : — " But now, though one of the chief uses of
the cloysters was for walking,yet in Religious Houses they had sometime
galleries for the same end. We have an instance of it in Ford Abbey,
in Devonshire, which is one of the most entire abbeys in England ;
in the east front whereof, which is the oldest of the two fronts (though
the south front be the chief est), there is a gallery called the Monks'
Walk, with small cells on the right hand and little narrow windows
on the left."
Still keeping on the upper floor we find that the southern portion
of this wing opened into the library, situated over the chapter house,
through which, above the sacristy, was a communication with the
north transept of the church, containing the night stairs used by the
monks when taking part in the midnight services, or those held at an
early hour in the morning — the exact times varied in the different
orders.
There appear to have been two infirmaries in the monastery,
one for the use of the monks, the aged, infirm, and sick, the other
for laymen. In the Monasticon, already referred to, the author speaks
of land given in the twelfth or thirteenth century, to support three
poor persons in the secular infirmary, which would be properly placed
in the western part of the monastic precinct, but all traces of this
building have disappeared. The monks' infirmary was adjoining the
northern end of the east wing, and was entered by means of a door
with a double opening in the east wall, now blocked up. This door
would afford access also to the necessary offices of the monastery.
36 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
under which passed a stream of water which acted as the main sewer.
The stream was obtained by a dam in the river, which diverted a supply
of water into an artificial watercourse across the meadows and garden ;
the overflow escaped under the out-offices and wing of the building.
On the north side of the cloister and at right angles to it was the
refectory, adjoining which was the lavatory, but whether this latter
was a mere recess or a structure of great beauty, as often found, it is
impossible to say. The position of the refectory with regard to the
cloister was in accordance with the regulations of Cistercian houses ;
the great exception being found at Cleeve Abbey, where the refectory
is parallel with the cloister and not at right angles to it.
Attached to the refectory on the west was the kitchen, the original
fireplace being at the south end. An ingeniously contrived staircase
of stone at the back of the fireplace gave access to the hall above the
refectory, and to all the upper portions of the west wing. An invariable
feature of monastic refectories was the pulpit, from which a monk read
to the brethren while dining. Examples of refectory pulpits remain at
Beverley, Shrewsbury, Chester, etc.
This west wing extended southwards towards the church, and
northwards as far as or possibly beyond the stream or sewer. The
ground floor contained the entrance to the cloister court and was vaulted
in a double avenue corresponding to the east wing. Here were situated
the abbey storehouses, and rooms for the lay brothers when engaged
on indoor employments, and here was in all probability that very
important part of all mediaeval houses, whether religious or secular,
the guesten-hall. or hospitium, where the monks extended hospitality
to all needy wayfarers or to visitors and honoured guests. The
hospitality did not end with food and entertainment, for above the hall
were dormitories for the guests, the lay brothers, and domestics.
The sewer from the east wing passed under the domestic court
to the north of the refectory and kitchen; under the north end of
the west wing ; and then through the industrial court and farmyard,
finally emptying itself into the river.
DINING ROOM, FORD ABBEY. l-'a. mg /;•
CHAPTER III
CHURCH AND CHAPTER HOUSE
T may be taken as a general rule in Cistercian
monasteries that the church was raised a
few steps above the cloister, and the form
of the ground at Ford Abbey makes it pretty
clear that this arrangement was adhered
to there. No trace of the church remains,
but by comparing the general plan of Ford
with other establishments of the order, it is
easy to conjecture its exact position and form. It may here be
mentioned that the chapter house has been frequently written about
as the chapel, but although it is at present used as such, in regard
to both position and plan, this portion of the structure would be
entirely contrary to the well-defined rules of the Cistercian order in
regard to a church or chapel. It is therefore an error to suppose
that it originally fulfilled that purpose, and its having been mistaken for
the church may be accounted for by the fact that the old historians
have made but few references to " the Church of the Blessed Virgin
Mary of Ford." Heame, however, mentions it in his account of
Godstow Abbey, when he says : — " There were private chapells in
many other religious houses, one whereof (to instance no more) is now
to be seen in the easternmost end of Ford Abbey before mentioned,
and is made use of as the family chapell ; the Abbey Church itself,
which stood at the east end of the said south front, about two hundred
feet above the chapell (commonly called the Oratory] being so entirely
demolished that the oldest man living in those parts (as I am assured
38 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
by a very ingenious friend) does not renvmber to have seen any part
of it standing, though in making the gardens they often dig up human
bones."
Dr. Oliver tells us that the church was consecrated on December
igth, 1239 — almost a century after the monks settled at Ford. In
the ancient MS. of the monk it is related that several interments of
patrons of the abbey took place in the church m.my years before 1239.
and Dr. Oliver's date may be that of a re-consecration, for the founder
of this community, Richard Fitz-Baldwin, is said to have been buried
here. Both he, and Richard, the first abbot, were in the first
instance buried at Brightley, but afterwards Adelicia gave orders
for their remains to be disinterred and removed to Ford. Adelicia
herself died in 1142, and was buried in the new abbey church, all three
interments being, if we are to believe the monk, " in the presbytery,
beyond which now the high altar is erected." Hawisia de Courtenay
died in 1219, and was buried on the south side of the presbytery,
while her husband, Reginald de Courtenay, who had predeceased her
in 1194, was buried on the north side. The next recorded interment
is in 1242, that of Robert de Courtenay, who was buried in the
presbytery " with great devotion and honour." The monk describes
his monument as being that of an armed knight with a Latin inscription
in verse. Camden states that this monument was in the form of a
pyramid, on which was engraved an effigy in armour, erected to the
memory of " Robert, Lord Courtenay (ob. 1242), who married Mary,
youngest daughter of William de Redvers, Earl of Devonshire." On
it was this inscription : —
" Hie jacet ingenui de Courtenay gleba Roberti
Militis egregii virtutum laude referti
Quern genui strenuus Reginaldus Courtiensis
Qui procer Eximius fuerat tune Devoniensis."
Camden's account, however, must not be too readily accepted,
for epitaphs were rarely used at that date, and the construction of the
inscription points to its being at least two centuries later.
The last recorded interment is that of Robert's son, John, who
died in 1273, and was buried near his father, before the high altar.
John Courtenay was as distinguished for his piety as his ancestors,
and equalled them in his devotion and goodwill to the monks of Ford.
His firm belief in the efficacy of their prayers is shown by the following
CHURCH AND CHAPTER HOUSE 39
story. Once, as he was returning from a long voyage, he and all on
board his vessel were in imminent danger of shipwreck, and despaired
of saving their lives. Then John Courtenay spoke words of encourage-
ment to them. " Mariners," he said, " be not afraid, but take courage,
behave yourselves like men, and lend us your assistance who are
ready to be ship-wrecked but for one hour, and by that time my monks
of Ford will be risen to their prayers, and will intercede for me to the
Lord, so that no storms, or winds, or waves shall be able to shipwreck
us."
Their ship being brought safely to land, the crew, who a short
time before had been filled with despair, were full of joy, and they,
together with the Lord John Courtenay, gave solemn and devout
thanks to God for their safety.
Hugh Courtenay, who succeeded John, was a very different man
from his predecessor. He took away all the cattle belonging to the
monks which were in the grange at Westford, and caused their oxen
at Westford and Orchard to be loosed from the plough, and driven
away to Dartmoor. The second time he visited Orchard, the people
of the abbey threatened to shoot him, and were successful in driving
him away.
It was customary for founders, patrons, and persons of rank
to be buried in the church of the monastery, while the abbots were,
in many cases, interred in the cloister, between the church and the
chapter house, and occasionally in the chapter house itself. In later
times the abbots were usually buried within the church.
The foundations of the church would probably have been traced
out by the monks at a very early period of their building operations,
and such progress would be made that the eastern part could be used
for services long before the complete dedication, that is, if such took
place in 1239. There is therefore no reason to question the statement
of the monk as to these early interments.
Although no traces remain, the church probably followed the
usual Cistercian plan. The rule of the order enacted that an abbey
church was to have no aisles or triforium, and but one low tower,
but this precept was soon neglected.
Mr. Francis Bond tells us that of the normal Cistercian plan with
unaisled apsidal presbytery as found on the Continent we have no
example in England, but that the other three types are all represented.
40 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
According to the same authority " the earliest in England and by far
the most common is that with short aisleless presbytery, as at Kirkstall
and originally as at Fountains, and Dore." In these cases the transept
has one, two, or three rectangular chapels on the east side of each
arm, which are separated from one another by solid walls, and this
plan is the most common throughout Europe. Mr. Bond also tells us
that in England it appears in the very first house built by the Cistercians
— that of Waverley, in Surrey, founded in 1129 — which has been proved
to have been a church with aisleless nave and aisleless rectangular
presbytery, and with a transept containing only one chapel in each
arm. Some authorities, including Mr. Harold Brakspear, think that
this plan was that of the first church of Tintern, founded two years
after Waverley.
Strangely enough in Bond's interesting papers on " Mediaeval
Church Planning in England," contributed to " The Builder," no
mention whatever is made of Ford Abbey, which, founded in 1141,
must be regarded as one of the most important of the Cistercian
foundations in this country.
The width of the nave at Ford was probably the same as that of
the transepts, a proportion observed in all Cistercian churches of an
early period, and the same width was followed for all the main portions,
not only of the church itself, but of the monastery as well.
Each aisle would be about half the width of the nave, so that from
these various measurements the church plan can be readily
re-constructed. The length was subject to greater variations, for
when the cloister court formed an oblong from west to east, its length
was generally sufficient for the nave of the church without its over-
lapping the western wing of the domestic buildings. In those cases
where the court was nearly square the nave would probably cover the
end of the western wing, as it might have done at Ford. The chancel
was usually long enough to have a window on either side beyond
the chapels attached to the transepts.
The church would naturally be subject to slight alteration and
reconstruction from time to time, and the most likely alteration
to have taken place would be the lengthening of the chancel eastwards,
a relaxation of the rule governing the simple plan of the churches
begun even before the time the one at Ford appears to have been
dedicated.
CHURCH AND CHAPTER HOUSE 41
The fittings and furniture of a Cistercian church were to follow
the austere rule applied to the larger fabric. Upon the altar there
was to be but one candlestick, and that of iron, the crucifix was to be
of painted wood, the chalice of silver-gilt, and the vestments of the
simplest kind.
Adjoining the north transept of the church, as we have seen,
was the sacristy, and to the north of this again, the chapter house,
in which, after the Chapter Mass, the daily Chapter was held, when
the blessing of God was invoked upon the day's work, the lives of the
martyrs were read, and faults against the rules of the monastery
confessed and corrected ; and all the important business of the day
was here transacted.
This chapter house still shows considerable fragments which testify
to its Norman origin. It is a noble apartment, with a pointed vault
of two bays having shafts and ribs of transition Norman character.
The wall ribs are enriched with the usual chevron ornament of the
period, although even here the portions that remain bear evidences
of mutilation, and are partially obscured by a pulpit and wall panelling.
The quoins also on the exterior of the eastern end exhibit marked
characteristics of the Norman style. The room was originally lighted
only at the eastern end, but no trace of this window remains, the one
now in position being of fifteenth century date. When this window
was inserted the exterior of the eastern wall was completely cased
over, in much the same manner as the western wall was treated in
the seventeenth century. Notwithstanding this disfigurement the
usual characteristics of a Cistercian chapter house may still be
recognised. In the centre was an entrance arch, where now is a
doorway, and on either side a smaller arch not reaching to the ground,
into which stone window frames have been inserted. These three
arches originally formed an open arcade, protected by the cloister
which ran along the front. Notwithstanding the external seventeenth
century dressings and other alterations, this old chapter house has
retained much of the work of the twelfth-century builders, and the
date of its erection may be fixed as being between 1165 and 1170.
In its upper storey was the library, a large and lofty room since the
raising of the roof (when the whole abbey was converted into a mansion),
and one that contains but faint traces of its mediaeval condition.
CHAPTER IV
THE ABBOTS OF FORD
HE head of a monastery was the Abbot, a
name which appears to have been first given
as a title of honour to aged or distinguished
monks. The word is derived from Abba.
the Chaldee or Syriac form of the common
Semitic word for Father, and was chosen
to designate the head of a monastery
because he stood in the relationship of a
father to the community. The abbots of
the greater houses held their estates under
the monarch, as barons, and as such they
were entitled to the political rank of this class, in virtue of which they
sat and voted in Parliament. According to Fuller, sixty-four abbots
and thirty-six priors were called to Parliament during the reign of
Henry III., but this number being thought too many, it was reduced
by Edward III. to twenty-five abbots and two priors, to whom were
afterwards added two abbots, bringing the total up to twenty-nine.
On the death of an abbot of one of the greater monasteries, two of the
brethren were deputed by the community to carry the intelligence
to the king, and to beg leave of him to elect a successor. During the
vacancy of the office the Crown administered the revenues of the
monastery. The abbot could be elected by his future subjects in one
of three ways : — " (i) By individual voting, per viam scrulinii ; (2)
by the choice of a certain number, or even of one eminent person,
to elect in the name of the community, a mode of election known as
THE ABBOTS OF FORD 43
electio per compromissum ; and (3) by acclamation, or the uncontra-
dicted declaration of the common wish of the body."1 No one could
be chosen for the office until he had reached the age of twenty-five
years ; and the appointment was for three years, or for life, according
to circumstances connected with the endowment, etc.
When the abbot had been duly elected, he was accompanied
by the community in procession to the church, where he was proclaimed
as their new superior, after which the Te Deum was sung. But even
yet he was allowed to take no part in the administration until after
his confirmation and instalment.
When the election had taken place and the necessary documents
recording it had been drawn up, some of the brethren were despatched
again to the King, or in the case of the smaller houses, to the founder
or patron, to obtain his consent to the choice of the community.
" In the event of this petition being successful," says Abbot Gasquet,
" the next step was to obtain confirmation from the ecclesiastical
authority, which might either be the bishop of the diocese, or in the
cases of exempt houses, the Pope. In either case the delegates of
the community would have to present a long series of documents to
prove that the process had been carried out correctly. First came
the royal license to choose ; then the formal appointment of the day
of election ; the result of the election ; and the method by which it
was effected ; the letter signed by the whole community, requesting
confirmation of the elect in his office, and sealed by the convent seal ;
the royal assent to the election, and finally an attested statement
of the entire process by which it had been made."
Should the election not prove satisfactory, the ecclesiastical
authority either called for another election, or appointed someone of
his own choosing to the office.
The monastic system according to the Rule of S. Benedict was
based entirely upon the supremacy of the abbot. Implicit obedience
to the authority of the superior was enjoined upon the brethren,
and his commands were to be obeyed without question or hesitation.
Upon this principle the success of the entire system depended.
There was no limitation to the number of houses over which an
abbot could preside, provided that they belonged to the same, or a
kindred community.
1 English Monastic Ijfe (F. A. Gasquet).
44 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
During the eleventh century some of the wealthy and more
powerful monasteries began to claim exemption from the visitations
of the bishops of the dioceses wherein they were situated, and to
put themselves under the direct authority of the Pope, and having
gained partial exemption from episcopal government, the abbots
practically exercised quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over their own
houses and estates. They were also allowed to consecrate priests
from members of the minor orders, by benediction
From the earliest times, all abbots appear to have been entitled
to carry the pastoral staff1 as the badge of their office, within the
domain of the monastery, when such was exempt from diocesan juris-
diction, and during the tenth and eleventh centuries it became
customary for them to wear the ring, mitre, gloves, and sandals, and
all the insignia of a bishop.
The Monasticon Deiomensis gives the names of the abbots of Ford,
which form apparently a very complete chain.
The first abbot of the community, Richard, was never actually
at Ford, he having died at Brightley before the removal of the brethren
from that place. He was, however, buried at Ford, and was succeeded
in the abbacy by Robert de Penynton. who was appointed before the
removal to Ford in 1141, and remained in office until after 1168. The
third abbot, Baldwin, was one of the most notable men who ruled
at Ford, as well as one of the most enlightened prelates of his
time. He remained at Ford until he was promoted to the see
of Worcester in 1181, but his stay in the Midlands was of short duration
as three years later he was translated to the Archbishopric of
Canterbury. His name is closely connected with the long and bitter
feud that played an important part in the early annals of " the Mother-
City of the Anglo-Saxons." It appears that Baldwin, together with
Hubert Walter, attempted to found a great church and college of
secular canons, who were to form in future the chapter of the
Archbishop ; for the community of Christ Church, Canterbury,
consisted of regular monks whose influence and power had grown
so enormously since they had acted as guardians of the shrine of the
1 The crook of « timtl whea borac More • btihnp wu turned outward*, bat revened or taraed
tarwardi whea anted before u abbot. The >Uff u * (yrnbol of fcntodtrtxai wm» carried
Man the preUto ka all roactiom performed wilhia inch jumdictioa.
STAIRCASE, FORD ABBEY. facing page
THE ABBOTS OF FORD 45
new and popular martyr, S. Thomas a Becket, that they proved to be
a veritable thorn in the side of the Archbishop. The monks of Christ
Church naturally regarded this as an infringement of their prerogative,
and as an attempt to supplant them by a community much more
likely to be influenced by King and Archbishop, inasmuch as they
would be but slightly under the Papal jurisdiction. This new college
was at first established in the parish church of Hackington, in spite
of the stubborn opposition of the monks, who immediately appealed
to the Pope. The Archbishop promptly suspended them, and Henry II.
visited Canterbury in person to allay their fears and to entreat them
to withdraw their appeal and settle the matter by arbitration. When
they refused the King begged Baldwin to cancel his order of suspension,
because " he was in despair at losing so many valuable intercessors."
To oblige Henry, Baldwin granted them a general absolution, but
was as far as ever from being deterred in his original project. Instead
he made arrangements for the college to be removed to a site opposite
S. Dunstan's Church, and the foundations were laid on February i8th,
1187. The new building was still called Hackington College, and
this name appears on many old documents in reference to this plot of
land in the parish of S. Dunstan. In the end the monks proved
victorious, for the Pope ordered the destruction of the college. Even
then, however, the indomitable Baldwin was not to be denied, for he
made another transfer of this unfortunate foundation to Lambeth,
but this also was destroyed by Papal authority. As a writer Baldwin
will always be remembered as the author of DE SACRAMENTO ALTARIS,
a work written in Ford Abbey before he was appointed abbot. It
is a work of peculiar interest from its having been printed at Cambridge
by John Siberch in 1521, the year when the first printing press was
introduced there, and its being the fourth book printed by Siberch.
To the historical student Baldwin is better known for his celebrated
tour through Wales in 1188, on a mission to preach a crusade for the
recovery of Jerusalem. His success there is said to have been
remarkable.
Hoveden, an old chronicler, gives the following description of the
crowning of Richard I. by Baldwin in Westminster Abbey, on September
3rd, 1189 : — " The archbishop covered his head with a linen cloth,
hallowed, and set his cap thereon, and then, after he had put on his
royal garment and his uppermost robe, the archbishop delivered him
46 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
the sword with which he should beat down the enemies of the church ;
which done, two earls put his shoes upon his feet ; and having his
mantle put upon him, the archbishop forbade him, on the behalf of
Almighty God, to presume to take upon him this dignity except he
faithfully meant to perform those things which he had there sworn
to perform. Whereunto the king made answer that by God's grace
he would perform them. Then the king took the crown beside the
altar and delivered it to the archbishop, which he set upon the king's
head."
Having thus crowned Richard I., Baldwin accompanied that
monarch to the Holy Land, where he showed the same pluck and
endurance that had characterised his clerical rule ; and at the head
of his own retainers he saved the Christian forces from total defeat
before Acre. He died broken-hearted in Palestine, and was buried
in the city of Tyre. The generally received opinion is that this famous
man was of humble origin, but Dr. Hook has thrown a doubt on this
point and has suggested that from his name he may have been
connected with the family of the founder of Ford Abbey. It seems
very improbable, however, that his connection with so illustrious a
man as Richard Fitz-Baldwin should have remained unrecorded,
especially as he was born only some twenty years after the death
of Richard.
Baldwin's successor at Ford was one Robert, but he did not
hold the office for long, as in 1191, John de Ford, or Devonius, became
abbot. He seems to have travelled much, and " came home the richer
in knowledge and in manners," so that, as Fuller states, " Ford Abbey
had more learning therein than three convents of the same bignesse
anywhere in England." Of this abbot Prince wrote that he " carrys
the signature of his country in his forehead." His birthplace is
unknown, but Dr. Oliver tells us that he " resigned in 1191, Bindon
Abbey," to become abbot of Ford, which he retained until his death
in 1 220. He wrote many theological works, of which MS. copies
are still in existence, but none have ever been printed. Unfortunately
or perhaps fortunately his ACTA JOHANNIS REGIS cannot be traced,
but as he was the friend and confessor of King John, it would probably
be most interesting reading. His MS. Life of St. Wulfric, or a copy,
is in the Cottonian MSS. and another copy is in the Library of Eton
College ; each possesses separate dedications to Bartholomew, Bishop
THE ABBOTS OF FORD 47
of Exeter, and to Archbishop Baldwin. He died in 1220 and was buried
in the Abbey of Ford.
It was about this time that one of the monks, Maurice Somerset,
did much to uphold the reputation of this secluded monastic house as
a seat of learning. He had received his early education at Oxford,
and was eventually elected Abbot of Fountains Abbey.
After the death of John Devonius came another John, of whom
no record appears to exist, save that he is mentioned as being in office
in 1234.
In 1236, Roger, sometimes called " the Cistercian," was abbot.
He wrote the Revelations of St. Elizabeth of Flanders ; A Narrative
of the Martyrdom of the 11,000 Virgins at Cologne; and a metrical
poem, Encomium Maria. Of these three Latin MSS., none of which
were printed, the first was at one time among the Cottonian MSS.,
the second is in the Library of St. John's College, Oxford, and of the
third nothing is known.
Roger was succeeded in the abbacy by John de Warwick, and,
according to the monkish historian, he was in office when Robert de
Courtenay, who died in 1242, gave to the monastery certain privileges
which he had purchased of Walter Pomeroy. From the same authority
we learn that Adam became abbot in 1240, and was in office when
Robert de Courtenay was buried at Ford two years after.
The tenth abbot, William, died in 1262, and was buried in the
chapter house of the parent abbey of Waverley, in Surrey. Dr.
Oliver calls William the ninth abbot, but he is really the tenth, including
the first one who died at Brightley. After William came William de
Crewkerne, whose term of office was somewhat stormy in consequence
of quarrels with Hugh de Courtenay, then residing at Colcombe,
Colyton, and Bishop Bronescombe, the spiritual head of the diocese.
The result was that he was excommunicated in 1275, but the monk
states that he remained abbot until 1282. On account of this feud,
Hugh de Courtenay chose Cowic Priory as his place of interment,
where his widow was also buried in 1328, thirty-six years after her
husband.
A Nicholas was abbot in 1283-4, and William de Fria sometime
before 1287, when, according to the monk, he was engaged in a lawsuit
with Hugh de Courtenay. He is described as a man of great goodness
and much learning, and in 1297 he resigned the abbacy of Ford
48 THE ABBOTS OF FORD
to become abbot of Newenham. On his death his body was taken
to Ford for burial.
Henry succeeded him, and was in office on January i6th, 1319.
He was followed by John de Chidley, who came into office June 24th,
1330, and who is mentioned in Bishop Grandisson's Register of 1345
in a letter which impeaches his probity. A period of depression
seems to have overtaken the monastery at this time and to have
rendered the position of abbot a post of difficulty, for we find him
excusing his abbey from contributing to liquidate the demands of
the Papal Court upon the bishop of the diocese, on the grounds of
the heavy expenses incurred in repairing the dilapidated buildings,
especially the church, which was almost in ruins.
Adam, the next abbot, in 1354, found the church greatly in need
of rebuilding, for it was discovered that John de Chidley had not
restored the property as he had stated.
John Chylheglys is mentioned as abbot on May 24th, 1373. Walter
Burst ok took office in 1378, and was still abbot in 1382, when he was
succeeded by Nicholas, who is mentioned in 1388, and again in 1410.
It is interesting to note that in 1402, during the abbacy of Nicholas,
Robert Chard, a monk of Ford, obtained permission to immure himself
as an anchorite in a " solitary house." or cell, beneath Crewkerne
Church.
John Bokeland took the abbacy on June loth, 1419, and was
succeeded by Richard, and then by Robert, who was abbot on June
nth, 1448. In 1462 Elias took office, and on July 3ist, 1489, William
White was head of the community. He is mentioned December 7th,
1490, and again on April i8th, 1521.
Then came the last abbot of Ford, Thomas Chard, the final link
in the long chain of devout and earnest men who had for nearly four
hundred years worthily upheld the traditions of this stately home of
religion and learning, and who had done so much to keep unsoiled
the honour of Church and State, before the ecclesiastical changes
of Henry VIII. took place. Chard, no doubt, saw that a change was
impending, and that the days of his abbey, as a monastic house at any
rate, were numbered. However this may have been he remained
long enough to carry out many important architectural changes in the
building, which, together with a record of his life and work, must be
dealt within another chapter.
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CHAPTER V
THOMAS CHARD
N becoming Abbot of Ford, Thomas Chard
immediately set about improving the
monastery, both in its construction as
well as in matters of law and discipline.
With this object in view he decided to
a new refectory of an unusually magnificent
description. The site he chose was the space
intervening between the west side of the ancient
buildings and the wall enclosing this inner
precinct. A space in the old west wing he
converted into a buttery or a serving room,
and by making a doorway through the wall of
the kitchen, he- obtained the necessary communication with his
new refectory. The length of this hall, as originally completed by
the abbot, was one hundred and fifteen feet, although its present
length is only fifty-five feet, scarcely half of its original extent.
50 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
The breadth is about twenty-eight feet,[and the height is exactly
of that measurement, although it is evident from the fa< t th.it the
stone mouldings of the shafts between the windows terminate abruptly
at the top. that the roof is not so high above the windows as the
designer intended, and an examination of the roof itself shows that
it is a later work altogether, and the ceiling an arrangement of the
materials of the original panelling. This ceiling is flat, but curves
away slightly at the sides, and is formed of beautifully carved panels,
painted and gilded with gold stars in the compartments.
Although much reduced from its former size this refectory is
still a magnificent hall of four bays, lighted on the south side by
four fine windows, with another bay containing the external entrance.
The north wall contains five blank windows similar in design to those
on the south.
The western half of the refectory is now filled up with apartments
in three storeys besides the basement, and the ancient south wall has
been completely transformed. These modern apartments occupy
the space of five more bays, which once had windows corresponding
to the four still remaining. The west wall remains for the most part
in its original state, and it appears to have contained two windows,
for although the exterior is so covered with ivy as to conceal every
feature, yet the modern builders who altered Chard's magnificent
work left the upper part of one of the windows exposed to view in one
of the rooms upstairs. The head of this window is on a level with
those of the ancient side windows, and except that its lights are a little
narrower, it seems to have coincided in every respect with them, and
it is possible that a corresponding window was in that part of the
wall now filled up.
On the north side four of the bays were blank wall, as a mass of
buildings was placed to the north of the refectory in that part, but
the fifth bay still possesses its regular window just clear to the west
of the projecting buildings. The lower part of the window has been
blocked up, but the upper has retained its glazing.
Besides the refectory, Thomas Chard built many other chambers
in close proximity to it. The beautiful tower on the south side was
his work, the ground floor of which forms the entrance porch to the
refectory. Above the porch is a series of chambers connected by a
turret stair, and lighted by the bay windows seen in the front of the
THOMAS CHARD 51
tower. The rooms can now be approached from the modern saloon.
In order that his name should be handed down to posterity Chard
placed upon the parapet above the windows an inscription recording
the date of the erection of these buildings in 1528, and his own name
as the founder.
AN'O D'NI MILLESIMO QUINGESIMO YIC*° OCTA° A D'NO FACTUM EST.
THOMA CHARD, ABB.
The buildings to the north of the new refectory consisted of a
set of chambers, the extent and importance of which can only be
conjectured from the portions that remain. The abbot's initials, T.C.,
in letters about two feet high, are sculptured on one of the windows
on the north side. The fragment itself is not an insignificant mass,
containing as it does a basement and three floors over it, and it is
higher by one storey than the lofty walls of the refectory. Besides
two sets of garderobes, of which the shafts remain, it held only the
staircase and ante-chambers to another set of apartments. This suite,
which appears to have formed a wing to the north, although possibly
never completed, can be traced only by marks whence its walls sprang
out from the side of the staircase. Evidence of its height, which was
one storey less than that of the portion still standing, may be deduced
from the state of this wall, the space which it covered being faced with
rough rubble, and the rest with ashlar. This makes it apparent that
it was of the same height as the refectory, although probably divided
into two storeys.
The ancient staircase was superseded byji modern one when the
abbey was transformed into a mansion, and to give an adequate access
to the foot of it, the external wall on the east side was completely cut
away to a height of ten or twelve feet, and a timber support to the upper
part inserted.
Long before Chard's time the old rules for the arrangement of a
Cistercian Abbey had fallen into desuetude, so that it is somewhat
difficult to assign any specific purpose to these buildings north of the
refectory, and to the small chambers in the south tower. A monastery,
whether favoured with prosperity or struggling against adversity,
would be compelled from time to time to change its form, either by
the addition of new portions or the destruction of old ones. An early
change, and one which became a recognised feature of a house of this
order, was the providing of a separate lodging for the abbot, and this
52 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
was usually placed in the eastern part of the grounds, most remote
from the public.
From the increasing poverty of the foundation at Ford, it seems
to have dispensed with this luxury down to Chard's time, for there is
no trace of any such building to the east. It is quite possible that
Chard intended some new part of the monastery for his own use, and
if so, was adhering to the primitive rule of the order, that the abbot
should be housed in the western part, whence he could conveniently
receive strangers and guests. The north side of the cloisters — all that
remains of this once beautiful portion of the abbey — owes much of its
appearance to Thomas Chard, although there are many indications that
his work here was never completed. The exterior of the cloister is
formed by a series of beautifully designed Gothic windows, and over
them a frieze of stonework, the panels being charged with upwards of
forty shields ; on two occur the name of Thomas Chard in full, on many
others his initials, or the insignia of his office as abbot. On other
shields appear the arms of various benefactors to the abbey (see
Chapter VIII.). .
It is not easy to conjecture whether Chard intended to complete
the quadrangle of the cloister, or in what way he proposed to unite
this northern portion with the east and west walks. Outside the two
extreme bays one would expect to find some sign of preparation for the
walls which would have abutted there, and the form of the buttresses
at either end seems to indicate some such intention, as these have the
appearanceof having been prepared to receive some adjunct. At the east
end also, the arch would be the most natural means of communication
with the eastern cloister-walk, but the elaborate panelling continues
above. In the extreme bay at the west end there is no arch, but an
ordinary window with the frieze above, as if the designer had
relinquished all idea of continuing the cloister on this side. In the interior
of the cloister the back wall is panelled with tracery corresponding
with the windows, the bays being divided by vaulting shafts.
Here the new work appears to have been in part only a casing of the
older structure, and the original wall is thus partially preserved.
Before Chard's time there were various openings through it into
the staircase, the refectory, and the kitchen, but he left only one opening
at the east end, and this is now blocked up. He seems also to have done
away with the ancient staircase to the dormitory, and provided in its
I
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X.
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Panel over Cloirferr
t/ a/
JlDHCJ fifTlf.
54 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
place a narrow passage leading to the refectory. This had been
rebuilt before Chard's time, reduced in length at the north end, and
raised to form two storeys. An oak roof of rich workmanship
was revealed by the fall of part of the modem ceiling which had hitherto
concealed it.
Regarding the actual condition of the monastery at the time
Abbot Chard undertook its restoration, there is no record, but from
what remains of his work, it must have been little short of a rebuilding
of the entire fabric. Leland, who visited the abbey whilst the work
was in progress, writes : — " Coenobium nunc sumptibus plane non
credendis abbas magnificent issime restaurat " — (" The Abbot at
incredible expense is now restoring the monastery most gloriously.")
Risdon says of Ford : — " This fabric, though it have yielded up to
time its antique beauty, yet somewhat sheweth of what magnificence
once it was ; whose structure, stately and high withal, amongst curious
carvings sheweth the letters T.C. intermixed, which (some affirm)
served for the last abbot's name there, Thomas Charde."
This restoration or rebuilding of the Abbey of Ford, although his
largest undertaking, and one which the Dissolution debarred him from
completing, was by no means the only occasion on which Thomas Chard
had proved himself a generous benefactor and a gifted architect. In
addition to rebuilding the chapel of S. Margaret, at Honiton, he appears
to have added much to the church of Awliscombe, where the beautiful
south porch, its adjoining chantry, and the north or Tracy aisle,
all bear the impress of his hand and mind. The south window
of the chantry is especially fine with an array of bosses and tabernacled
niches, but the east window is poor in comparison. The sculpture
on the capitals of the pillars of the Tracy aisle is good, the easternmost
bears a shield on which is the " Sacred Heart," surrounded by the
Crown of Thorns, and the pierced hands and feet of the Redeemer.
In the east window of the aisle are four figures, among them
S. Catherine and S. Barbara, while the central light contains what is
apparently the Abbot's monogram, above which is the pelican in her
piety, allusive perhaps to Bishop Fox, who bore this device for his arms,
and who was head of the diocese from 1488-1494.
It has also been suggested that as Dr. Chard was warden of Ottery
College, 1513-1518, about the time when the beautiful Dorset aisle
was built there, the inspiration of this eminent architect may have
THOMAS CHARD 55
influenced the design of this fine structure, as the work must have been
constantly under his observation during this period.
Detei/s From GateufayT°K'&
CHAPTER VI
THE DISSOLUTION
HILE taking so active a part in the preservation
of his abbey, Dr. Chard by no means neglected
the spiritual and scholastic welfare of the
brethren ; for he attended with his accustomed
thoroughness to the internal administration
of the affairs of the community ; and his
rule was marked by that steady and consistent
devotion to duty for which his public lifi
distinguished. One of his first acts was to
appoint a master for the monastic school,
William Tyler, M.A., of Axminster, " pueros
domus sive monasterii nostri litteris grammaticalibus informabit,
docebit et dogmatizabit." He was also " at fit times to expound
and declare subjects from holy writ whenever and as much as the
abbot should require in the refectory of the monastery!" Very
probably the necessity of appointing a schoolmaster arose from the
incompetency of the monks, whose growing neglect of the stringent
rules of their order incapacitated them from filling a post which in
former times had been undertaken by each in turn. For his services
THE DISSOLUTION 57
Master Tyler received an annuity of £3 6s. 8d., and a gown of four yards
of broad cloth, at five pence per yard, his table like one of the brethren,
and a furnished chamber in the monastery, possibly one of the numerous
rooms added to the original building by the abbot. In more strictly
secular matters, a long list of leases granted by Chard indicate at once
his activity in that direction. In Pulman's " Book of the Axe," we
read that the last abbot's government "was judicious, and his devotion
to his duties great. But his career must have been an anxious and
troublous one. The approaching Reformation was indicated by
repeated occurrences which must have kept him in a state of constant
alarm ; whilst the unscrupulous character of the monarch held out
little hope of consideration or respect for the ancient faith and its
institutions, should they prove impediments to his kingly purposes.
With reason might the Crosier tremble in the grasp from which it
was destined to be speedily and rudely snatched."
Shortly after Chard's accession a highly interesting transaction
took place, and one very characteristic of the times. The document
whereon it is recorded is still in existence and was at one time in the
possession of the late F. G. Coleridge, Esq., of Ottery S. Mary. It
has been referred to as being merely an acknowledgment of a debt due
to Cardinal Wolsey, but its ominous nature must have been only too
well understood by Chard. It reads as follows : —
" Ego Thomas, abbas monasterii beate Virginis Marie de Fforda,
ordinis Cisterciensis, Sacre Theologie Professor, fateor me debere
Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Dfio Thome Cardinal! Eboracensi,
necnon legato de latere, pro procurationibus variorum monasteriorum
dicti ordinis infra regnum Anglic ciiili. vs. solvendos London predicto
Reverendissimo Diio Cardinali ad tria Festa Pascha immediate
subsequentia post datum presentium per equales portiones. In cujus
rei testimonium sigillum meum opposui et manu propria subscripsi.
Datum anno Dni millesimo quingentessimo vicesimo tertio, die vero
mensis Augusti septimo decimo.
" Per me Thoma, abbe de Fforda."
Seal, a stag's head cabossed. Indorsed : —
" Recepi xxvto Aprilis a° 1524' primam solutionem tercie partis
xxxiiij" viij* iiijd."
The real significance of this letter appears to be that Wolsey,
pandering to the depraved tastes of the king, was willing to procure
58 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
for him at any costs the means of continuing in the indulgence of
his pleasures, and that for this purpose he had availed himself of his
prerogative as legate a later e. from the Pope, to extort money from tin-
clergy with which to supply the king. Four months prior to the date
of the abbot's letter, on April 15th, 1523, Henry assembled Parliament
ostensibly to lend an air of authority to their proceedings, and after
much opposition Wolsey succeeded in exacting a considerable subsidy
from the clergy. This transaction furnishes the clue to the proper
understanding of Chard's letter, which bears the date of the following
August. This extortion of money from the Church was the beginning
of the end so far as the religious houses were concerned, and when the
final blow came it resulted in the entire confiscation of all Church
property. Within the short period of two years the king became
possessed of the revenues of six hundred and forty-five convents, two
thousand three hundred and seventy-four chantries and free chapels,
and one hundred and ten hospitals, while ninety colleges were
demolished in several counties. The total amount of the revenues
of these establishments was £161,000, and the whole was annexed
to the Crown.
Prior to the Reformation the Cistercians alone possessed in
England 101 abbeys and monasteries, and their yearly revenues are
estimated at about £370,000 of our present money.
Chard doubtless foresaw the storm that was gathering over the
church, but far from being dismayed, he seems to have been braced
to further efforts, the efforts, perhaps, of despair, for right up to the
last moment he appears, as we see by many unfinished portions, to
have worked at his beloved building in the hope perhaps that its very
beauty and majesty might avail to spare the stately pile he had erected
from the fate that other, and even fairer, houses had met with at the
hands of the despoilers. But neither the piety of the abbot, nor the
creation of his hands availed to save Ford Abbey from the clutches
of the king.
On March 8th, 1539, the work of Thomas Chard was arrested,
and he became a helpless spectator of the desecration of his buildings
and the extinction of his hopes. The wording of the document of
surrender, which he and the brethren were induced to sign, must have
been singularly out of harmony with their feelings, as with heavy hearts
and reluctant hands they attached their names and seals to the royal
THE DISSOLUTION
59
document, of which the following is a translation : —
" To all the faithful in Christ, to whom
this present writing shall come : Thomas
Chard, abbot of the monastery or abbacy,
and of the Church of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, of Ford, in the County of Devon,
of the Cistercian order, and the same place
and convent, everlasting salvation in the
Lord.
Know ye, that we, the aforesaid abbot
and convent, by our unanimous assent and
consent, with our deliberate minds, right
knowledge, and mere motion, from certain
just and reasonable causes especially moving
our minds and consciences, have freely,
and of our own accord given and granted,
and by these presents do give, grant, and
surrender and confirm to our most illustrious
prince, Henry VIII., by the grace of God,
king of England, lord of Ireland, supreme
head of the Church of England in this land,
all our said monastery or abbacy of Ford
aforesaid. And also all and singular
manors, lordships, messuages, etc. In
testimony whereof, we, the aforesaid abbot
and convent, have caused our common seal
to be affixed to these presents. Given at
our Chapter House of Ford aforesaid, on
the 8th day of the month of March, and in
the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry
aforesaid. Before me, William Petre, one
of the clerks, etc., the day and year above
written.
" By me, William Petre."
There is no evidence to show why so much of the abbey was spared,
or why it escaped far better than its fellows. Dr. Chard was a man
of much influence.and although he was powerless to arrest the spoliation
of the property he appears to have been successful in preserving a
Per me Thoma abbem.
Willus Rede, prior
John Cosen.
Robte Yetmister.
Johes Newman.
Johes Bridgwatr.
Thomas Stafford.
Johes Ffawell.
W. Winsor.
Elizeus Oliscomb.
William Keynston.
William Dynyngton.
Richard Kingesbury.
60 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
large portion of the fabric from total destruction, although the Church
of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Ford was immediately razed to the ground,
and all the fittings, images, paintings, manuscripts, etc., consigned
to the flames.
The annual revenue of the abbey at the Dissolution has been
differently estimated by Dugdale and Speed, the former computing it
at £374 ios. 6Jd., and the latter at £381 IDS. 6d. The actual sum was
probably somewhat less than either of these two amounts as in the
Ecclesiastical Survey of Devon and Cornwall returned to the Crown
by Bishop Veysey, on Nov. 3rd, 1536, the revenue of Ford Abbey is
thus estimated :—
" Decanus Honyton, abbatia de Forde, ubi Thomas Charde est
abbas, totalis verus annuus Valor tam temporalium quam
spiritualium a die et Anno praedictis ad £373 us. ojd."
The pensions granted as compensation to the members of the
community of the house of Ford for their lives reached a total of
£161 135. 4d., of which the ex-abbot was entitled to £So a year, together
with " fourtie wayne loads of fyre wood to be taken yerely during his
lyie owte of such woods being no pte. of demaynes of the said late
howse, as thofficers of the king's courte of the augmentacons or there
deputies for the tyme shall appoynte and assigne." Eighteen months
only had elapsed from the time when Thomas Cromwell and his
Commissioners began their work of destruction, and the smaller
foundations were already things of the past, the walls roofless, the
windows shattered and broken, while moss and ivy were rapidly
converting into picturesque ruins the magnificent structures which
had been for centuries a standing testimony to the skill of man and
fitting attributes to the worship of God. Well might the saintly abbot
of Woburn solemnly declare that such " a scourge was never heard
since Christ's passion," as he prayed aloud to God to have mercy upon
those whose blood was shed like water, and whose habitations were
utterly defiled and cast down.
B
00
a
m
Q
K
O
'S
CHAPTER VII
ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT FORD ABBEY
HE old abbey seal, which had eluded the
research of many antiquaries, including
the editors of Dugdale's Monasticon, was
discovered by Mr. Davidson, of Sector,
near Axminster. It is of oval form, the
usual shape for monastic seals, and is
divided into three compartments, in the
uppermost of which is a bell suspended
in a steeple, and in the canopy beneath
is the Blessed Virgin with the Divine
Infant on her knee. On the dexter side
is the shield of Courtenay — or, three
torteaux, a Label of three points ; on the
sinister the shield of Beauchamp — vair,
similar to those of Frithelstock Priory,
the Beauchamps being the donors of the manors of Strete and
Charmouth to the abbey. This last has often been described as the
arms of Beaumont — vairy and gules — and Rogers in his " Sepulchral
Effigies," queries as to whether they may not have been intended
for the device of de Brioniis — checquy, whose arms occur in conjunction
with those of the Courtenays on the central tower, but the probability
is that they represent the insignia of Beauchamp.
In the lower compartment of the seal is the abbot erect, in his
right hand a pastoral staff, and in his left a book, at his feet are three
62 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
monks kneeling, with their hands raised in supplication. The marginal
inscription reads : — " S : COMMUNE : MONASTERII : BEATE : MARIE
DE : FORDA. The frieze of the great hall and cloisters, and the panels
between the windows of the south tower, are profusely ornamented
with shields bearing the arms and devices^of numerous benefactors,
the initials and insignia of Thomas Chard, and the regal emblems of
the Tudors. The Bishop's mitre and pastoral staff, the abbot's or
prior's cap and staff, the initials T.C., and the abbot's badge, a stag's
head cabossed, occur singly or together all over the facade.
The monk in his MS. attributes the stag's head cabossed to the then
Bishop of Exeter, but it formed no part of the augmentation either
of Bishop Oldham, or of his successor, Veysey.
The Rev. F. Warre suggests that the ancient cognisance' of the
abbey was a stag's head cabossed, with a crozier passing through
it palewise, in allusion to the earliest name of the site on which it
stood, Hertbath.
In Chard's letter to Wolsey, mentioned in the previous chapter,
the stag's head cabossed was used as the seal which the writer expressly
refers to in the body of the letter as " sigillum meum," and it frequently
occurs with his initials or name in various parts of the building. The
arms of Dr. Chard were, according to Dr. Pring, a lineal descendant
of the abbot's family, or and gules quarterly.
To return to the south tower, we find the panel in the middle
course bears the monogram and insignia of Thomas Chard, with two
small shields of similar character. The three panels on the lower
course also testify to the munificence of the abbey's patrons. The
first panel bears on a shield in the central lozenge a lion rampant,
the arms of De Redvers, Earl of Devon, around it on four smaller
shields are (i) a lion rampant (de Redvers), (2) blank, (3) Barry
of five, apparently checquy, (4) Barry checquy and plain (De
Brioniis, Baron of Okehampton). The bearings and marshalling* of
these arms appear to refer to the descent of the Barony of Okehampton
to Robert de Courtenay, who married Mary de Redvers, daughter
of William de Redvers, Earl of Devon. According to Pole, the arms
of Robert Courtenay, as found on his seal are party per pale, checquy
the first side, the other plain, over all two bars, being very similar to
those depicted over the gateway.
The second panel bears a shield in the central lozenge which is
ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT FORD ABBEY 63
divided quarterly, but is blank, probably unfinished. Being encircled
with the garter it was possibly intended to contain the royal arms.
Of the shields around, two are blank, the third bears an eagle volant
grasping a bundle of sticks, and the fourth the lion rampant of de
Redvers.
This curious device on shield three is evidently a badge of the
Courtenays, for it is found in alliance with the Courtenay escutcheon
over the cloisters, and also on the pillars of the porch of Tiverton
Church. According to Cleveland, Richard de Redvers, the fifth
Earl of Devon, was the first to bear the lion rampant, his predecessors
having borne Gules, a griffin seizing a little beast, or., but this could
scarcely be mistaken for the eagle. The fifth earl was succeeded by
his uncle, William de Redvers, whose daughter married Robert de
Courtenay, as previously stated.
The shield on the central lozenge of the third panel is divided
quarterly, but is blank ; on the shields around are (i) an eagle volant
grasping sticks, (2) a dolphin (badge^of ^Courtenay) , (3) blank, (4) a
swan ducally gorged and chained (Bohun). All these shields and
devices occupying the place of honour over the entrance to the abbey,
refer to the family of Courtenay as chief patrons and benefactors.
Immediately over the arch of the doorway is a large scroll shield of
more modern date, bearing the arms of Prideaux, impaling those of
his second wife I very.
The royal arms over the great hall are not in the centre, as no
doubt they were before the alterations took place which transformed
the west end of the hall into a suite of rooms. The arms consist of
a rose crowned, encircled with a garter, and supported by a dragon
and a greyhound, the badges of Henry VII. On the old west wall
of the original hall may still be seen, although hidden by ivy, the
portcullis, cut in stone, another badge of the Tudors.
The frieze over the windows of the cloisters is particularly rich
in sculptured armorial bearings. Over the first window are six shields,
the first, second, and fifth displaying the devices and insignia of Abbot
Chard ; the third the arms of Poulett — three swords in pile points
downwards ; the fourth, a mail gauntlet holding a dagger point erect
(Poulett) ; and on the sixth are the initials " R.U." The third and
fourth shields display the arms and crest of Poulett, of Hinton St.
George. Sir Hugh Poulett was appointed by Abbot Chard to the
64 ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT FORD ABBEY
post of Head Steward of the Abbey, with a pension of iocs. This
family was also allied to the Courtenays. Sir William Courtenay of
Powderham, who died in 1557, having married Elizabeth, daughter
of John Poulett, Marquis of Winchester, K.G., a distinguished
nobleman at that t'tne. In the spandrils of this window are the
monograms " T.E." and " J.S." The initials " R.W." may refer
to Prior William Rede, or to RichaW Exmestre, alias Were, one of
the inmates pensioned at the Dissolution with £8 ; and the initials
" J.S." are possibly those of John Bridgwater alias Stone, who also
was the recipient of a similar pension.
Over the second window are four shields and two in the spandrils,
all filled with the monogram and devices of Abbot Chard.
In the frieze over the third window are similar shields with the
same devices, and in the spandrils two shields, one with a dolphin
(Courtenay) ; the other the initials " T.C."
Over the fourth window are three very interesting panels. In
the central diamond of the first is a stag's head with crazier, over it, an
episcopal mitre. Around are four shields, i and 2 containing "T.C."
and an abbot's staff and cap, 3 and 4, the abbot's monogram. The
second panel contains in the central lozenge a shield quarterly of four ;
i and 4, thru torteaux (Courtenay), 2 and 3, a lion rampant (de Redvers),
surrounded by the garter and motto. Around are four shields, (i) an
eagle volant grasping a bundle of sticks (Courtenay) ; (2) a dolphin
(Courtenay) ; (3) a boar (Courtenay) ; (4) a swan ducally gorged and
chained (Bohun). In the third panel the small top corner shields
contain the letters T. and C. respectively ; whilst on the hatchment
shaped panel in the centre occurs the stag's head and crozier;
and above these, as a fitting termination to the whole, is the
abbot's cap, surmounted by a bishop's mitre.
Over the fifth window are four shields ; the first and second
displaying Abbot Chard's .devices ; the third paly of three ; and the
fourth " J.V." and a bishop's crozier, this last evidently for John
Veysey, Bishop of Exeter. In the spandrils T.C.
Over the sixth window are four shields, also with devices of the
last abbot. One spandril contains the initials " R.L.," the other,
two staves of office, and the letter S., which may have been intended
for the device of Sub-Prior John Stone, who may have held two offices.
In the frieze over window seven are four shields, two bearing the
•c.
tu>
ARMORIAL BEARINGS AT FORD ABBEY 65
arms and crest of Poulett, another the device of Chard, and the fourth
the initials " R.W." In one spandril " T.C." and in the other " L.S."
In the frieze and spandrils of the eighth window are six shields,
all charged with the devices of Chard.
The shield and badges of Courtenay in the central panel over
the fourth window of the cloister may refer to William Courtenay, Earl
of Devon, who married the Princess Katherine, daughter of Edward IV.,
for both were living at the time Chard was abbot. Their arms similarly
emblazoned are found in Tiverton Church, where Katherine was
buried.
CHAPTER VIII
POST-DISSOLUTION OWNERS AND HISTORY
T the Dissolution Henry
VIII. granted the abbey and
all its appurtenances for
twenty-one years at a rent
of £49 6s. 6d. and after-
wards in fee, to Richard Pollard, Esq.,
who was subsequently knighted by
the king. From Sir Richard it passed
to his son, Sir John Pollard, who
sold it to his cousin-german Sir Amias
Poulett, of Hinton St. George and
Curry Mallett. Sir Amias had enjoyed
the most intimate associations with
the abbey, as both he, and his father
before him, had held the office of
the Head Stewardship of the monastery during the rtgime of
Thomas Chard. This gentleman is also distinguished from his having
been for a short time the custodian of Mary, Queen of Scots. From
Sir Amias Poulett, the abbey and estates passed by purchase to William
Rosewell, Esq., solicitor-general to Queen Elizabeth ; and thence
to his son, Sir Henry Rosewell, who, in 1649, conveyed them to Sir
Edmund Prideaux, Bart., of Netherton, county Devon. Sir Edmund
was educated at Cambridge, and after being admitted a student of
POST-DISSOLUTION OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS 67
the Inner Temple, was called to the Bar on November 23rd, 1623.
He was returned as Burgess for Lyme Regis in the Long Parliament,
and supported the Parliamentary forces against the king. He appears
to have been a man of marked abilities, as in 1643 he was appointed
one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal, and three years later he
was granted the privileges of a King's Counsel, the combined offices
being worth some £7,000 a year. It is somewhat singular that, while
holding the first-named office, he was allowed to retain his seat in
Parliament, and when he relinquished the Great Seal, the House of
Commons, as an acknowledgment of his valuable services, ordered
that he should be allowed to practise within the Bar, and have
precedence next after the Solicitor-General, to which important office
he himself was raised in 1647. Although on the side of the Parliament
he took no part in the trial of Charles I., nor in those of the Duke of
Hamilton and others. Nevertheless, he shortly afterwards accepted
from the dominant party the office of Attorney-General, a post which
he retained for the remainder of his life.
His remarkable organising abilities were shown in 1649, when as
Master of the Post Messengers and Carriers, a post he had acquired
in 1644, he established a weekly conveyance to every part of the
kingdom, a great improvement on the system he had found in vogue,
and under which letters were sent by special messengers, whose duty
it was to supply relays of horses at a given mileage.
It is said that the emoluments accruing to his private purse from
the profits of this improved postal service were not less than £15,000
a year. Sir Edmund was twice married, and by his first wife Jane,
daughter and sole heiress of Henry Collins, Esq., of Cadhay, Ottery
St. Mary, he had a daughter Mary. He married secondly Margaret,
daughter and co-heir of William Ivery, of Cotthay, Somerset, by whom
he had three daughters, and a son Edmund, who succeeded him at
Ford Abbey, but the baronetcy, having been bestowed by Cromwell,
was not recognised after the Restoration.
It was Sir Edmund Prideaux who brought Inigo Jones to the
abbey to convert it into a habitable mansion, which he did by largely
altering the interior, and inserting square-headed windows in the walls
of the state rooms. All this work is very interesting to the architect,
as there is very little of Inigo Jones' work in Dorset, but to the
antiquary and lover of the purely beautiful, these pseudo-classical
68 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
additions completely destroy the harmonious composition of the
building as left by Chard. It was Jones' intention to convert the whole
of this fine old Gothic house into a classical one, but his death in 1652
interfered with this project, and it is probable that had not this event
taken place, there would be little to see to-day of the wonderful structure
erected by its last abbot. It is only fair, however, to add that internally
the house was much improved and highly embellished, making it one
of the most magnificently appointed nouses in the country. Sir
Edmund did not live long to enjoy his new hcmc, as he died in 1659,
one year after its completion, and was buried in the adjoining chapel.
Edmund Prideaux the younger had for tutor John Tillo;
who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, and who is said
to have written more than a thousand sermons ; he was much esteemed
by William III., and the parting eulogy of his royal master, a man
of few words, was emphatic : — " The best man that ever I knew, and
the best friend that evar I had."
Edmund Prideaux, although he took but little part in the grave
political troubles of his day, is remembered in history as the enter-
tainer of the ill-starred Duke of Monmouth, who visited Ford Abbey
in 1680, on his journey of pleasure to the West Country. This was
a somewhat unfortunate incident for Mr. Prideaux, as after the Rye
House affair he was suspected of favouring the Duke's cause, and
Ford Abbey was searched for arms vainly. When Monmouth
subsequently landed at Lyme Regis, in 1685, Mr. Prideaux,
like a prudent man, remained quietly at home, but the house was
visited at night by a small party of the rebels requiring horses, and
it is said that one of them, Malachi Mullock, while in the house, drank
to the health of Monmouth. This incident becoming known in London,
a warrant was issued for Mr. Prideaux's arrest, and he was taken to
the Tower on a charge of High Treason. Notwithstanding that nothing
could be proved against him he was kept a close prisoner until he had
paid the sum of £15,000 to the infamous Jeffreys, after which his
pardon was signed on March nth, 1685. 1
In 1681 he was elected member with Mr. Trenchard for Taunton.
On the accession of William III., he petitioned Parliament for leave to
bring in a Bill to charge the estates of Jeffreys with the restitution
of this money, but the Bill failed to pass. Edmund Prideaux had by
1 Thto BUM tare beat i6«4, the tafcl jmt mot -~-~— ^-j amtil the tjLh March (we Appendix).
U.1I.IM.. 1-OKI) ABB1.Y.
1:1 l»i' />,!
POST-DISSOLUTION OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS 69
his wife Amy Fraunceis one son and three daughters. The son died
at Oxford when nineteen years of age, and was buried in the abbey
chapel, where a handsome monument was erected to his memory.
The second daughter married John Speke, Esq., of Whitelackington,
and the third daughter, Margaret, married in 1690 her cousin Francis
Gwyn, Esq., of Llansanor, co. Glamorgan. Edmund Prideaux died
intestate in 1702, survived by his widow and daughter Margaret.
Mrs. Prideaux having renounced all claim to the estates, letters of
administration were granted to Margaret Gwyn, whose husband
Francis, thus, through his wife, inherited Ford Abbey. This Francis
Gwyn was descended from the Herberts, Earls of Pembroke, and had
been Clerk of the Privy Council and Under-Secretary of State during
the reign of Charles II. ; Secretary of the Treasury to James II., and
Secretary and Privy Councillor in Ireland during the reign of William
and Mary. He took possession of Ford Abbey the year of Queen
Anne's accession, in 1702, and during her life fulfilled the office of
Secretary of War, a post from which he was dismissed by George I.
in 1714. It was to this gentleman that Queen Anne presented the
remarkable tapestries woven from the world-famed cartoons of Raphael,
and for which Mr. Gwyn was afterwards offered £30,000 by Catherine,
Empress of Russia. Mr. Gwyn died in 1734 at the age of eighty-six,
and was buried in the chapel where his wife, who predeceased him
in 1709 had been previously laid to rest. He was succeeded by his
eldest son, who, dying intestate and unmarried, two years afterwards,
in 1736, the estates devolved on his brother Francis Gwyn, who in
1741 was M.P. for Wells, which city he represented in several
Parliaments. He was twice married, but died without issue in 1777.
By his will he devised Ford Abbey and all his lands in Devon, Dorset,
Somerset, and Glamorgan, to his wife during her lifetime, and after-
wards to her cousin John Fraunceis, or Francis, of Combe Fleury,
Somerset, and his heirs male on condition that he took the name of
Gwyn. The widow lived to enjoy the property for only three years,
dying in 1780, when John Fraunceis, by royal license, assumed the
name of Gwyn and entered into the possession of his inheritance.
He died in 1789 and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Fraunceis
Gwyn, an accomplished scholar, who married first Eliza, daughter of
James Norman, of Thorncombe, and afterwards Dinah, the only child
of Mr. Reuben Good, of Winsham, Somerset.
70 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
The family of Fraunceis was originally of Fraunceis Court, in the
parish of Broadclyst. Their arms were argent, a chevron engrailed
between three mullets gules. Sir William Pole says that the arms of
" Fraunceis of Ivedon " were " the same with a label of three azure,"
and these arms may still be seen in the south chantry window of
Awliscombe Church.
In 1815 Mr. Gwyn let the abbey for a period of three years to
Jeremy Bentham, while he himself travelled on the Continent. In
the quiet precincts of this Cistercian house, the old philosopher studied
and wrote, and here he entertained James Stuart Mill and other
celebrities, one of whom, Sir Samuel Romilly, wrote most interesting
descriptions to his friends of the " magnificent and beautiful palace "
in which he had found his friend installed. Francis Horner relates
a visit he and a friend paid to Bentham at Ford Abbey, one spacious
room in which, a tapestried chamber, the utilitarian philosopher had
made into what he called his " scribbling shop " — two or three tables
being set out, covered with white napkins, on which were placed music
desks with manuscripts ; and here the visitors were allowed to be
" present at the mysteries, for he went on as if we had not been with
him." On his death, June 6th, 1832, Bentham left directions for his
body to be dissected, and the skeleton to be preserved at University
College, where it may still be seen.
On his death in 1846, the remains of Mr. Gwyn, who for many
years had been totally blind, were laid in the mausoleum in the chapel,
and in the same year Ford Abbey, its furniture and surrounding estates,
were purchased by G. W. F. Miles, Esq., of Bristol, who in 1864
disposed of them to Mrs. Bertram Evans, whose eldest son, Mr. W.
Herbert Evans, and Miss Evans, were successive owners. On the
latter's death in 1906 the estates and house passed to her cousin,
Mrs. Roper, the present occupier, and wife of Mr. Freeman Roper, a
Justice of the Peace for the County of Dorset.
For the following note on the old chapel bell I am indebted to
Mr. L. B. Clarence and the Rev. Herbert Pentin1 :—
" In the little bell-cot on the roof of the chapel-tower hangs a
mediaeval bell — a pre- Reformation bell. Bell-founders before the
Reformation very seldom put their names on their bells, much less the
names of churchwardens, or the doggerel rhymes which we find on more
1 Don* TriM.rltoHToLxrriU.. p. xxzir.
POST-DISSOLUTION OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS 71
modern bells. The founders, however, can usually be identified by
the lettering of their inscriptions, and various ornamental devices,
some of them known as foundry-marks, also cast upon their bells.
The inscription and the ornaments of this Ford Abbey bell tell us
that it was cast by one of a family of Norwich bell-founders, who bore
the surname of Brasyer, a name derived from their craft, and who cast
very fine and handsome bells in that city in the I5th and i6th
centuries ; perhaps also in the I4th.
A William Brasyer, of Nottingham, was admitted to the freedom
of Norwich in 1376. A Robert Brasyer was Mayor of Norwich in 1410,
and two Richard Brasyers, father and son, were casting bells there
between 1456 and 1510. This Ford Abbey bell may have been cast
by any one of them ; and it is noteworthy as the only specimen of their
handiwork known to exist in this part of England In
all probability this Ford Abbey bell was cast at Norwich and conveyed
by sea to Lyme or Bridport, and so to Ford Abbey.
The inscription on the bell is Leonine or rhymed Hexameter,
in very handsome Lombardic capitals.
FAC MARGARETA — NOBIS HEC MUNERA LETA,
showing that the bell was dedicated to S. Margaret. Between the
two halves of the hexameter are two grotesque leonine heads, one of
them in the centre of a cruciform ornament. On the waist of the
bell is a shield, bearing the ordinary device, or " foundry stamp " of
the Brasyers — three bells on a field adorned with something like sprigs
of some plant."
CHAPTER IX
FORD ABBEY AT THE PRESENT DAY
ORD ABBEY at the present day is a noble
country mansion standing amid sur-
roundings of exceptional beauty which are
partly natural, but at the same time owe
much of their picturesque appearance
to the efforts of the successive owners,
who, from the twelfth century onwards,
appear to have taken advantage of the
splendid opportunities afforded by the
fertility of the soil and the geniality of
the climate in this secluded and lovely
valley of the Axe. Little, however, has
been really altered, and the gloss of modern civilisation has not
penetrated deep enough to obliterate the handiwork of the early
occupants. With the passing of time the fishponds of the monks
have become ornamental lakes, whereon the white water-lilies and arums
grow in abundance ; and round the margins, where perhaps the
brethren fished or meditated grow clumps of rhododendrons,
intermingled with masses of roses, pampas grass, and tritomas. On
FORD ABBEY AT THE PRESENT DAY 73
the eastern side of the abbey is a sunk garden, where shrubs and
low-growing trees flourish in abundance, brightened by groups of
flowers in irregularly shaped beds. Then there is a rock-garden, a
wild garden in a disused gravel pit, and a walled-in garden wherein
is grown fruit of all kinds, vegetables, and herbs for the use of the
household. The grounds are bisected by a broad walk from one end
to the other, at the western end of which is a long wall six feet in height,
and at its foot a border containing some ancient apple trees, very
beautiful during their short season in blossom. Later in the year the
apple blossom is replaced by masses of climbing roses and by groups
of hardy herbaceous plants, almost covering the face of the wall.
One of the best views to be obtained of the house en masse is from
the curving drive bordered by fine specimens of oak, beech, and
chestnut, alternating with masses of rhododendrons, pampas grass,
and especially fine araucarias. Beyond the immediate environs of the
Abbey proper is the park, once the home of a numerous herd of deer,
but since 1860 no longer tenanted by these graceful creatures. The
park contains some remarkably fine timber, mostly comprised of
magnificent oaks and ancient pine trees, and conspicuous among them
a splendid specimen of a cedar of Lebanon. With such a wealth of
material it is little wonder that the park is beautiful at any season of
the year, but especially so perhaps in the springtime, when the green
sward is carpeted with a luxuriant growth of daffodils, narcissi, snow-
drops, and many other heralds of summer.
The Abbey as left at the Dissolution appears to have satisfied its
first occupiers so far as its domestic arrangements were concerned,
for it was not until it came into the possession of Sir Edmund Prideaux
in 1649, that any serious structural alterations were attempted. This
gentleman, as we have already seen, employed Inigo Jones practically
to re-model the whole edifice, which the latter would undoubtedly have
done had not death intervened. As it was, by far the greater part of
these alterations were not completed until several years after the
architect's death in 1652. The work of Inigo Jones is mostly found
on the south front, but is fortunately mainly confined to the interior,
and all that can be seen from the outside are some square-headed
windows, around which are classical architraves similar to those
designed by the same architect for the south front at Wilton. The
state apartments, however, to the west of the hall are entirely the work
74 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
of Jones, and comprise two rooms, a drawing and a dining room, both
panelled chamber.- with richly decorated ceilings, \vhuh have been
described by modern an .-hiu-cts as somewhat crude in execution, and
by no means equal to a good deal of Jones' work in a similar diu-< tinn
to be found elsewhere. The grand staircase, which was not completed
at the designer's death, is, strangely enough, much better finished
than the earlier portion of the work, which seems to indicate that the
workmen took some time to master the technicalities of the classical
detail.
The dining-room above mentioned is a handsome room, lighted by
three large windows overlooking the pleasure grounds and the adjacent
park. On the walls, between carved and gilded pilasters, hang four
pieces of old Gobelin tapestry, representing :—
(l). Scipio Africanus leading Asdrubal the last Carthaginian
General, prisoner into Rome.
(2). A Roman gladiator slaying a lion before the statue of
Jupiter.
(3). Cyrus, King of Persia, with the vessels full of gold and
silver for rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem.
(4). The Temple at Jerusalem in course of building.
Above this apartment is a room called Queen Anne's room, from
its having been prepared to receive Her Majesty when she purposed a
visit to Mr. Francis Gwyn. Certain circumstances, of which there
appears to be no record, prevented this visit from taking place. The
room, however, has been left as it was arranged to receive the Queen,
with the exception of some old tapestry representing a Welsh wedding,
which has been removed to one of the corridors.
The staircase, already described, leads to the saloon, also the
work of Inigo Jones. It is an apartment fifty-eight feet long and
twenty-five feet in height, with decorations very similar in character
to the rooms already mentioned, on the ground floor. Here hang
the famous tapestries wrought from the cartoons of Raphael and
which alone draw many art-lovers and connoisseurs to this secluded
Dorset home. The scenes represented on the tapestries are : —
(i). The scene at Lystra described in Acts xiv., when priest and
people wished to sacrifice to S. Paul and S. Barnabas as
Jupiter and Mercury.
(2). The Saviour's charge to S. Peter.
FORD ABBEY AT THE PRESENT DAY 75
(3). SS. Peter and John healing the lame man at the gate of
•-•:'._ the Temple.
(4). Ananias and Sapphira.
(5). The miraculous draught of fishes.
When they were placed in position it was found necessary to
remove certain panels to provide sufficient space for these tapestries,
which are bordered at the sides by pillars, wreathed with grape-vines
and Cupids gathering the fruit, and at the top by festoons of fruits and
vegetables grouped around a shield in the centre.
The popular tradition is that these tapestries were made in the
looms of Arras for the King of Spain, but were taken from a Spanish
vessel by some English man-of-war, and having become a " droit "
of the Admiralty, they passed by Queen Anne's desire, to her Secretary
for War. Their place of origin is somewhat obscure, and the fact
that they bear the Mortlake badge does not tend to elucidate the
problem. The cartoons from which they were worked were
unquestionably drawn expressly for Pope Leo X. by Raphael as
patterns for tapestry, and at least two sets, one in gold, and the other
in silver, were woven at Brussels, the one being placed in the Vatican,
and the other presented to Henry VIII. This latter was sold to the
Spanish Ambassador in 1649. It is said that for richness of colouring
the Ford Abbey specimens are much superior to the set in the Vatican,
and of the " silver " set nothing seems to be known. The original
cartoons were bought by Charles I. on the advice of Rubens and
removed from Brussels in 1630. Their first resting-place is unknown,
but is thought to have been Whitehall. Be this as it may, William III.
caused them to be hung at Hampton Court Palace, where they remained
until 1865, when they were removed to the Victoria and Albert Museum,
where they are now. They were the property of His late Majesty
King Edward VII., but were bequeathed by him to the nation.
As one would naturally expect, Ford Abbey to-day is full of old
furniture, china, bric-a-brac, and pictures which have been
accumulated by its successive owners. Among the more notable of
the pictures are two of Nell Gwyn, the actress, who, by the way, was
no relation to the family of that name who lived here ; one of Lucy
Walters, the mother of the Duke of Monmouth ; and a good
contemporary portrait of Oliver Cromwell.
Life's ever-changing drama has but one and the same back-
76 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
ground, for though the actors come and go, the landscape remains
the same, and the meditations and the acts of men, hundreds of years
ago were set in tin- valley of the same low hills and took place amid
the same winding streams as those which at the present day remain
unmoved and unchanged throughout those vicissitudes of this mortal
life.
The West o ud in the middle ages must have been very
much the West of England of to-day, and the low-lying valley of the
Axe but little different from that which is now one of the loveliest in
the land.
The abbey, set like a gem in its midst, has been but little worn
and mutilated by time and fortune. The lapse of centuries, the
changing fashions in building, have, after all, dealt kindly with it, and
seen as it is the graces of Art and Nature are charmingly combined,
and one stands in doubt which more to admire : the green leaves
of Nature, or the stone leaves of Art.
So we take leave of Abbot Chard and his pious monks, who,
should they ever re-visit the scene of their earthly labours, will find it
but little changed, save that the cawing of the rooks in the morning
has displaced the mattins bell, and the sweet song of the nightingale
is the night-call to vespers now that the monastery bell is rusted
and silent for ever.
" We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works
Die too : the deep foundations that we lay
Time ploughs them up, and not a trace remains.
We build with what we deem eternal rock ;
A distant age asks where the fabric stood ;
And in the dust sifted and searched in vain
The undiscoverable secret sleeps."
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APPENDIX
THE PRIDEAUX PARDON
The following is the full text of this remarkable document : —
JACOBUS SECUNDUS DEI GRATIA ANGUE SCOTIE PFRANCIE ET HIBERNIE
REX FEDEI DEPENSORIS &c. OMNIBUS AD QUOS PRESENTES LITERS NOSTRE
PERVENERINT SALUTEM SCIATIS QUOD NOS DE GRATIA NOSTRA SPECIAU AC EX
CERTA SCIENTIA ET MERO MOTU NOSTRIS PARDONAVIMUS REMISIMUS ET R-BLAX-
AVIMUS AC PER PRESENTES PRO NOBIS HEREDIBUS ET SUCCESSORIBUS NOSTRIS
PARDONAMUS REMITTIMUS ET RELAXAMUS EDMUNDO PRIDEAUX NUPER DE FFORD
ABBEY IN COMITATU NOSTRO DEVONDJ ARMIGERO SEU QUOCUNQUE AUO NOMINE
VEL COGNOMINE SEU ADDITIONS NOMINIS VEL COGNOMINIS AUT LOCI IDEM
EDMUNDUS PRIDEAUX SCIATUR CENSEATUR VOCETUR SIVE NUNCUPETUR AUT
NUPER SCIEBATUR CENSEBATUR VOCABATUR SIVE NUNCUPETUR OMNES ET
OMNIMODAS PRODITIONES MISPRISIONES PRODITIONUM REBELUONES INSURRECTIONES
FELONIAS ET MALEFACTA QUECUNQUE PER SE SOLUM SIVE CUM ALIQUA ALIA
PERSONA VEL ALIQUIBUS AUIS PERSONIS ANTE PRIMUM DIEM MARTI J ANNO
DOMINI MILLESIMO SEXCENTESIMO OCTOGESIMO QUINTO FACTA COMMISSA SIVE
PERPETRATA LICET IDEM EDMUNDUS PRIDEAUX DE PREMISSIS VEL ALIQUO
PREMISSORUM JUDICATUS ARRESTATUS APPELLATUS RECTATUS IMPETITUS ATTINCTUS
CONVICTUS CONDEMNATUS UTLAGATUS SIVE ADJUDICATUS EXISTIT VEL NON EXISTIT
AUT INDE JUDICARI ARRESTARI APPELLARI RECTARI IMPETIRI ATTINGI CONVINCI
UTLAGARI CONDEMNARI SIVE ADJUDICARI CONTIGERIT IN FUTURO. AC OMNIA
ET SINGULA JUDICAMENTA JUDICIA CONDEMN ATIONES ATTINCTURAS PINES
EXECUTIONES IMPRISONAMENTA PUNICIONES PENAS MORTIS PENAS CORPORALES
BT OMNES ALIAS PENAS ET PENALITATES QUECUNQUE SUPER VEL VERSUS
PREDICTUM EDMUNDUM PRIDEAUX DE PRO SIVE CONCERNENTIA PREMISSIS SEU
EORUM ALIQUO HABITA FACTA REDDITA SIVE ADJUDICATA AUT IN POSTERUM
HABENDA FIENDA REDDENDA SIVE ADJUDICANDA NECNON OMNES ET SINGULAS
UTLAGARIAS VERSUS DICTUM EDMUNDUM PRIDEAUX RACIONE SEU OCCASIONS
PREMISSORUM SEU EORUM ALIQUORUM VEL ALICUTUS EORUM PROMULGATUS SIVE
IN POSTERUM PROMULGANDAS AC OMNES ET OMNIMODAS SECTAS QUERELAS
FORISFACTURAS IMPETICIONES ET DEMANDAS QUECUNQUE QUE NOS VERSUS IPSUM
RACIONE PREMISSORUM SEU EORUM AUCUIUS HABUIMUS HABEMUS SEU IN FUTURO
BABERE POTERIMUS AUT HBREDES SEU SUCCESSORES NOSTRI ULLO MODO HABERB
POTERINT IN FUTURO SECTAMQUE PACIS NOSTRE QUE AD NOS VERSUS PREFATUM
EDMUNDUM PRIDEAUX PERTINET SEU PERTINERE POTERIT RACIONE PREMISSORUM
SEU EORUM AUQUORUM VEL AUCUJUS EORUM ET FIRMAN PACEM NOSTRAM El
INDE DAMUS ET CONCEDIMUS PER PRESENTES VOLENTES QUOD IDEM EDMUNDUS
PRIDEAUX PER VICECOMITES JUSTICIARIOS BALLIVOS AUT ALIOS MINISTROS NOSTROS
HEREDUM SEU SUCCESSORUM NOSTRORUM OCCASIONE PREMISSORUM SEU EORUM
AUCUIUS MOLESTETUR OCCASIONETUR PERTURBETUR SEU IN ALIQUO GRAVETUR
VOLENTES QUOD HE LITERS NOSTRE PATENTES QUOAD OMNIA ET SINGULA PRE-
MISSA SUPERIUS MENTIONATA &C. BONE FIRMS VALIDE ET EFFECTUALITER IN
LEGE SINT ET ERINT LICET CRIMINA ET OFFENSE PREDICTA MINUS CERTE SPECI-
FICATA EXISTUNT QUODQUE HEC PARDONATIO NOSTRA IN OMNIBUS CURIJUS
NOSTRIS ET ALIBI INTERPRETETUR ET ADJUDICETUR IN BENEFICENTISSIMO SENSU
PRO FIRMIORI EXONERACIONE RELAXACIONE ET PARDONACIONE PREFATI EDMUNDI
PRIDEAUX Ac ETIAM PLACITETUR ET ALLOCETUR IN OMNIBUS CURIJS NOSTRIS
ABSQUE ALIQUO BREVI DE ALLOCACIONS IN EA PARTS PRTUS OBTENTO ssv
OBTINENDO NON OBSTANTE ALIQUO DEFECTU AUT ALIQUIBUS DEFECTIBUS IN HIS
LTTERIS PATENTIBUS CONTENTIS AUT ALIQUO STATUTO Acru ORDINACIONE
PROVISIONS PROCLAMACIONE SIVE RESTRICCIONE AUT ALIQUA ALIA RE CAUSA
VEL MATERIA QUACUNQUE INDE IN ALIQUO NON OBSTANTB IN CUIUS RBI
TESTIMONIUM HAS UTERAS NOSTRAS FEBRI FECIMUS PATENTES TESTE MEIPSO APUD
WSSTMONASTERIUM VICESIMO DDJ MARTIJ ANNO REGNI NOSTRI SECUNDO.
PBR BREVE DB PRIVATO SIGILLO.
BARKER.
78 THE STORY OF FORD ABBEY
This document, of whirl) a rrdurrd facsimile is here given, is in
tin- possession of John Fi a un -nth. Esq., of I.l.m^annor House,
Glamorgan, a lineal descendant of the recipient of the pardon. The
original panlinvnt. of which the genuineness is beyond question,
measures 28 inches by 22 inches, but the seal has become crushed.
In Edmund Prideaux's private pocket-book the following
memoranda were discovered : —
" My CONFINEMENT :
" 10TH JUKE ('86), SEIZED BY A
MESSENGER, MR. SAYWEU..
" 14TH JULY ('88) RELEASED BY
HABEAS CORPUS.
UTII SEPT. ('80) CARRIED TO YE
TOWER BY EVANS.
" RKI.IUSKD YE HTH OP MARCH, 1680."
This date, as has been stated in a footnote in Chapter IX., must
be taken as 1686, the legal year not commencing until the 25th March .
Mr. Hugh Norris, writing in " Somerset and Dorset Notes and
Queries," vol. 11., part xn., says :—
" The result of this arrest was that he was given to Jeffreys by
the king, with the sole proviso that his life was to be spared. The
Chief Justice accordingly ' squeezed ' him to the extent of imposing
a fine of £15,000, a goodly sum indeed in James's days, but which was
paid in about seven months, the sum of £240 being allowed as discount (!)
on £2,400 which was paid before the stipulated period. The truth of
the matter appears to be that Jeffreys was anxious to obtain possession
of Ford Abbey as soon as he had disposed of the owner, and this
appears all the more probable in consequence of his having offered
Charles Speke and other persons in custody, free pardons if they would
but swear to some circumstance that would effectively brand the
unfortunate Edmund Prideaux as a rebel.
This diabolical plot not being attended with success, Jeffreys
utilised the £15,000 as part purchase-money of some estates he
subsequently bought of Lord Albemarle.
Mr. Prideaux's Bill for the restitution of this money failed to
pass owing to the opposition of Lord Chief Justice Pollexfen, the
trustee for the children and creditors of the then deceased judge.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BURCHARD OF
STRASBURG, Bishop of Orta and Clvita CasteUana,
Pontifical Master of Ceremonies to their Holinesses Siitus
P.P. IV., Innocent P.P. VIII , Alexander P.P. VI., Plus
P.P. III., and Julius P.P. II. A.D. 1483—1806. Translated
from the Original Latin, with an Introduction, Notes, and
Appendices by the Right Rev. ARNOLD HARRIS MATHKW,
D.D In Three Volumes, with over 100 Full-page Illus-
trations. Vol. I. Just ready, price 21s. net ; by post, 21/6.
To the student of European history in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Diary
of John Burchard, Major Domo and Master of the Ceremonies to Popes Slztus IV.,
Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., Pius III., and Julius II., and later on Bishop of Orta
and Civita Castellana, 1? well known by name. Creighton, Gregorovius, Acton, Ranke,
Roscoe, Pastor, and other historians of high repute, make frequent reference to it, more
especially in connection with the " chronique scandaleuse " of the Borgias. Hence
the work carries the weight of a classic and of an impartial chronicle.
The present translation from the original barbarous ecclesiastical Latin furnishes ft
work of striking and piquant Interest In reflecting the story of the time*.
MORNING POST.—" As an authority on the life of Innocent VIII. this volume Is of
the greatest value. Dr. Matbew is to be congratulated on his industry. . • i
The work is handsomely bound and well printed."
OriARiinN. — " Dr. Mathew has performed his task admirably. The present volume
deals with the period 1483—1402. We must not forget to praise the wealth of beautiful
which. '
Illustrations wh
> elucidate the text of this notable work."
THE ROMANCE OF SYMBOLISM, and its reia
tion to Church Ornaments and Architecture, By SIDNEY
HKATH. With numerous Illustrations. Foolscap 4to,
cloth, 7s. 6d. net ; by post, 7s. lid.
"An attempt to arrange in a simple form, in a few easily accessible pages the principles
of Christian Symbolism, a* depicted on the large fabric and minor details of our chui Jies
and cathedrals."
SCOTSMAN.—" It is to systematically examine and interpret this half -forgot ten and
still imperfectly understood ' romance of symbolism ' that Mr. Heath sets himself,
and his book . . . should prove a help and inspiration to those who are entering
upon this fascinating study."
THE CATHOLICISM OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND, by the Hon. and Rev. JAMBS ADDBIOKY.
2s. 6d. net ; by post 2s. 9d.
" In this book Mr. Adderlev puts in popular form for the benefit of outsiders the
main positions of the High Anglican party. He does not write in any controversial
spirit, and Is evidently anxious to appreciate as far as possible the good qualities of
those to whom he cannot con -ede the name of Catholics." — GLASGOW HERALD.
LONDON: FRANCIS GRIFFITHS, 34MALDKN LANE, STRAND, W.C.
OLD ENGLISH HOUSES OF ALMS, A Pictorial
Record, with Architectural and Historical Notes. By
SYDNEY HEATH. Edition limited to 650 copies. Royal 4to,
gilt top. §8 Illustrations. 4 Plan*. Price 21 - net ; by
post iM rt.
SUMMARY OP CONTENTS.— The volume contains full page Illus-
trations and brief architectural and historical descriptions of some
fifty old English Hospitals, Bede houses, and Almshouse*. The
plates are arranged in chronological order based on the approxi-
mate date of the portions of the buildings selected for illustration,
and not on the year of the original foundation, except in such
cases as the date of foundation happens to be co-eval with the
^Ti.tlng buildings. The subjects selected for Illustration have
been chosen more for their architectural and picturesque qualities
than for any purely historical associations they may possess,
although these Utter have not been entirely neglected. The Author
doe* not claim for his book that it is exhaustive either with regard
to letterpress or illustrations, but he ventures to suggest that It
will be found to be fairly representative of the various periods of
almshouse and hospital exterior architecture, from the building
of St. John's Hospital at Canterbury, about the year 1084, to the
erection of the new wing at Sherborne Hospital, Dorset, in 1866.
With two exceptions, St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol (originally a
private residence), and Jesus Hospital, or the Bede house, Lydding-
ton (first erected as a palace for the Bishops of Lincoln), the whole
of the foundations dealt with were designed and built as almsbousea
or as hospital*.
THE ELEMENTS OF GREEK WORSHIP. By S. C. KAINBS
SMITH, M.A. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net ; by post 2s. 8d.
I OC»»DIA».— " Thli admirable Uttfe work U referred to by Iti amber
a* a handbook. The book display! a leanUof aad an intimacy with the moil recent
rcMarcb on the inblect which render It ol the utmost lateral and ralue to the profeMcd
itodtnt at Greek life and literature ." ^
THE DICKENS CONCORDANCE. Being a Compendium of Name*
and Characters and Principal Places mentioned in all the
Works of Charles Dickens, Containing, first, a List of the
Works ; secondly, a Summary of Chapters in each Book
or Pamphlet ; and thirdly, a Complete Alphabetical Index
of Names, with the Title of Book and Number of Chapter
quoted. By MARY WILLIAMS. Price 3s. 6d. net ; by post
fa.M.
ESSAYS ON ART. By JOHN HOPPNBR, R.A. Edited by PRANK
Rumtm. Foobcap 8vo, Cloth. Price 2s. 6d. net : by post
2s. 9d. Theae essays have never been reprinted since their
first appearance a hundred years ago, in reviews of the
early 19th century. Hoppner's views on portrait painting
and the art of his contemporaries are expressed with
eloquence and sound Judgment in these essays, which have
been re-discovered and edited with an introduction by Mr.
Prank Rutter.
LONDON : FRANCIS GRIFFITHS, 34 MAIDEN LANB, STRAND, W.C
BX 2596 .F67 H4 1911
IMST
Heath. Sidney, b. 1872.
The story of Ford Abbey
t from the earliest
ARJ-7569
Off MEDIAEVAL 6TUDI**
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