WILTSHIRE: HAMPSHIRE: DEVONSHIRE

MALMESBURY: LACOCK: NETLEY: BEAULIEU: ROMSEY: SHERBORNE: CERNE: TAVISTOCK: BUCKLAND: BUCKFASTLEIGH

MALMESBURY (Mitred Benedictine)
MALMESBURY (Mitred Benedictine)

—, Founded by Maydulphus—635, King Berthwald gives land at Summerford on Thames to the monastery—680, The monastery receives the town of Malmesbury from Lutherius, Bishop of Winchester—1248, Pope Innocent confirms the various grants and ordains that the rules of St Benedict “should always be observed here”—1539, Dissolved. Annual revenue, ￡803, 17s. 7d.

AS in the case of Abingdon, the ruins of “the right magnificent abbey” of Malmesbury have been ruthlessly encroached upon—squalid streets and shabby houses crowd about its walls, and only a small stretch of land remains undisturbed in the immediate precincts of the abbey. One indignity upon another has been heaped upon this monastery (with which the name of St Aldhelm is inseparably connected), which formerly stood second alone to Durham for beauty of situation and majesty of aspect. At the Dissolution, one William Stumpe, clothier, bought the monastery with the adjoining land for the extraordinarily large sum of ￡1117, 15s. 11d., selling the nave of the abbey soon afterwards for use as a parish church. The conventual buildings he converted into a mill for the weaving of cloth—whilst small houses were built and streets laid out over the gardens and orchards. Later on, the conventual buildings were turned into a stone quarry, and to-day nothing remains of them except the abbot’s house which has been rebuilt, serving now as a picturesque and beautiful private house.

Of the ruins there still stand the nave of seven bays with its massive Norman pillars, the aisles, and a wall belonging to the south transept. The south porch—a beautiful piece of Norman work—is said to be the finest of its kind in England, in execution as well as design. The west front—also Norman work—is ornamented with the signs of the Zodiac. In the north wall may be seen a door which led into the cloisters. These, and also the tower at the west end of the church were destroyed during the furious bombardment of Malmesbury by Oliver Cromwell, and on Restoration Day when the abbey was reduced to its present mutilated condition. Nothing remains of the great central tower save two arches. Work of the 12th and 14th centuries are evident in the vaulting of the nave and aisles. The Decorated clerestory was added during the reign of Edward III. The monument to the devout King Athelstan is also on the south side.

St Aldhelm, master of oratory, master of music and master of Greek, Latin, and Saxon letters, was buried in the precincts of Malmesbury. Fuller writes that, “the English monks were bookish themselves and much inclined to bound up monuments of learning.” This can be applied to Malmesbury more perhaps than any other monastic house. For 400 years the monks worked not only at translating the Greek and Latin Classics, compiling and writing theological books and books on law, but also in illuminating these books, and in binding them in gilded and jewelled covers. This huge library was destroyed to the last folio, while the manuscripts were used for such purposes as stopping the bungholes of barrels of special ale, and for lighting the bakery ovens. The splendid traditions as well as the location of Malmesbury might have led one to expect its inclusion among the abbeys destined after the Dissolution for{90} preservation as cathedrals. Malmesbury was surrendered on December 15th, 1539, by Robert Frampton, who accepted a pension amounting in the money of our time to about ￡2000 a year.
LACOCK (Augustine Nuns)

1232, Founded by Ella, widow of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury, for nuns—1246, The foundress elected abbess—1539, Dissolved. Annual revenue, ￡168, 9s. 2d.

The ruined walls of Lacock, or “waterlea,” stand in an open meadow on the banks of the river Avon, sheltered by many stately trees. Though the church was totally destroyed at the time of the Dissolution, many of the conventual parts remained unchanged, and are decidedly the best preserved of any nunnery in the kingdom. The cloisters were built in the reign of Henry IV.; the chapter-house and sacristy—both of two aisles divided by four pillars—are on the east side; the great hall on the north; and the ambulatory—above which is the dormitory—on the west. The remains of a former bathroom can be discerned near the sacristy. The historical and legendary associations of Lacock Abbey are of exceptional interest, and are fully dealt with in the Rev. Canon Bowles’ History of Lacock. The abbey was founded in 1232 by Ella, Countess of Salisbury, in pious remembrance of her husband William Longespee, brother of Richard C?ur de Lion. The Earl, who was in close attendance on King John, assisted in founding Salisbury Cathedral, and died by poisoning in 1226. A few years afterwards Ella, directed by visions, founded the monastery and became abbess of her own establishment. This office she retained until five years before her death, when she retired from monastic life. She was buried in the church, but though at the Dissolution the bones of the foundress and her family were scattered, her epitaph and stone were preserved with the cloisters and cells of the nuns.{91}
NETLEY (Cistercian)

1237, Founded by Henry III. Dedicated to SS. Mary and Edward—Inhabited by Monks from Beaulieu—1239, Receives its charter from Henry III.—1539, Suppressed. Annual revenue, ￡100, 12s. 8d.—Granted to Sir William Paulet who adapts part of it to the purpose of a dwelling—1572, Comes into possession of the Earl of Hertford, and late in the 17th century into the possession of the Earl of Huntingdon.

At first sight, the abbey is not impressive. There are no majestic towers nor light and graceful spires—nothing but dense luxuriant foliage. The cloisters have vanished entirely, but where they stood is a deep turfed court, thick with trees and bounded with ivy-covered walls. “Behind this court is the site of the refectory, entirely destroyed except for its cloister walls; to the left the quarters of the lay brothers; to the right the wonderful triple arch of the chapter-house; and in front, seen only dimly through the trees, the windowed wall of the south aisle of the church.” All the buildings to the south of the cloister have been destroyed. The abbey church is fortunately in a fairly good state of preservation, for with the exception of the north transept the rest of the ruin is intact. It is of course roofless, but the elegant east window still conveys an idea of the elevation of this exquisite building. The nave was of eight bays with chapels, the choir of five bays with aisles, the transepts (with eastern chapels) measured 120 feet, and there was also a presbytery and central tower. The whole building appears to have been about 200 feet in length by 60 in breadth. Compared with Beaulieu, when both the abbeys were standing, Netley was far the smaller of the two. The little abbey’s almost perfect proportions are very apt to deceive one as to its real size, and its dimensions are very much smaller than one would ever imagine. Its length was 220 feet, while its height inside the church was only 43 feet. Of the classical reserved 13th{92} century style, Netley, along with the abbeys of York and Rievaulx, attain more than any other the finality of pure Gothic architecture.

In 1700 the entire church was sold by Sir Berkeley Lucy on condition that the buildings be wholly removed, to a certain Walter Taylor, a builder of Southampton. Taylor was a Nonconformist and friend of the father of the eminent Dr Watts, by whom he had been advised to have nothing whatever to do with the impending sacrilege. Still persisting, however, in his communications with Sir Berkeley, he became tormented in dreams, in which it was revealed to him that his death would follow should he take any part in the ruin of the abbey. The unhappy man, however, signed the agreement with Lucy. He removed the roof, destroying the vaulting of the choir, nave, and north transept, together with the centre tower, selling them as so much building stone. While at work on the west end the tracery of the great window fell upon him suddenly, inflicting dreadful injuries to which he soon succumbed. In 1861 steps were taken to preserve what was left of the abbey by the next owner, Mr Chamberlay. The treatment which was given it was quite judicious, and it has not been furbished up into smug neatness like Kirkstall or Tintern, nor has it been abandoned to decay like Rievaulx. As the result of this careful handling, Netley is now left to rest a faultless and perfect ruin—a thing of almost indescribable beauty. The present-day value of Netley really lies in the infinite picturesqueness of its ruins. In the words of Sir Horace Walpole: “They are not the ruins of Netley but of Paradise. Oh! the purple Abbots! what a spot they had chosen to slumber in.”