Chapter IV: Part II

_Q._ "_We should like to know something of the nature of the old foundations which were found under the Quire in the 1904 excavations, also whether any light can be thrown upon the subterranean piers, their date and purpose?_"

"... The window was straight as we knew it, but[18] was somewhat changed by Abbot Beere when he made the chapell. Ye are right about ye end walls. Johannes saw to the building thereof for they were five years before they builded the last part because there was nothing in the coffers--so the church was perfect without the new parts.

[18] The sitting was interrupted here, and resumed later with a
repetition of the words "as we saw it, but."

"What was it Beere performed? We will remember. The olde church had a chapell going east like to Edgar's and the corners were cut off most like. The foundations ye mean remain. We know but that which we heard and that which they who followed after did, we know not, save only we can enquire.

"Beere, Abbot, is not with us now. He has a work to perform. There are others who build in your England and he hath to lead them as they should be led. They who builded in our day and were masters, lead ye now.

"ROBERT. ANNO 1334. GLASTON."

NOTE ON SITTING XXIX.

The blending of influences is again very marked, but the dominant thought is that of one of the inmates of the great abbatial House. The signature "Robert" (anno 1334) does not help us. This was the year that witnessed the election of John de Breynton as Abbot, vice Adam de Sodbury, and it was an era of great building activities. But Robert speaks, or is made to speak, for those of an era two hundred years later, or nearly, and it is strange to find a voice from the fourteenth century recalling the "window" as it then was, and going on to describe alterations made at the beginning of the sixteenth.

And the allusion to Abbot Beere's living influence is of peculiar interest. Among the best modern exponents of the Gothic English styles, the call of the past, and the influence of the past, is vital as an element in their work, and it is precisely in the measure in which they are able to translate the spirit of the past, that they can claim inspiration in what they strive to produce.[19] Occasionally a sincere student will obtain some mental pictures of a bygone time of singular clearness and fidelity, whence, he knows not; only that they are spontaneously apparent to him _when in a state of mental passivity after intellectual exertion in the particular direction needed_. It may be of interest here to quote an experience once related to the writer by an old friend, W., now retired from practice, but who in the 80's of the last century was responsible for a good deal of scholarly restoration work in the west country. W. was very partial to the Early English forms, and if he had a fault, it was the fault of his day, when restorers were a little ruthless, as we should think nowadays, in substituting Early English detail for the fifteenth century "vernacular" of the district. On one occasion he was called upon to undertake "restoration"--which, in this case, meant a partial rebuilding--of a decayed church in the very decayed town of I. The south wall of the nave, a work of the ordinary "Perpendicular" sort, had to be rebuilt, and he had to construct a new arcade for the aisle adjoining. Somehow he felt disinclined to do this in the fifteenth-century style, but was prompted to design afresh, in the manner of the thirteenth. And for his pillars he imagined a form of capital having rather a complex moulding. There was nothing visible to guide him, but it appealed to him as suitable. Nor was it a local type--at least, this would be the writer's recollection of the impression he derived from the drawing which W. showed him.

[19] The work of the mere copyist is not inspired.

The capitals were provided of this pattern, the old wall was pulled down, and hidden within it and built into its substance was found _a pier-capital of a moulding identical in detail_. I myself was satisfied that he had never seen any particle of this early work, and he allows me to retell the story here. As to the story of Johannes, the truant monk and nature-lover, it takes the form of an interpretation of his memory-record by another. Whether we are dealing with a singularly vivid imaginative picture or with the personality of a man no one can really decide. But later examples will elucidate the part he plays in the scheme, and it is one of much interest from the psychological point of view.

SITTING XXIX.--_Continued._ 20th April, 1908.

"Ye crypt was mere a chamber under the stairs and it was at the west end of the chapel. It was not for sepulture and it is gone long syne by reason of the fall of the floor of ye chapel.

"Yt wasne underground and was low--a man might hardly walk sans stooping."

The work of excavation commenced shortly after the receipt of this communication.

SITTING XXXII. 16th June, 1908 (after excavation No. 4).

"All is well. We direct your course and will continue. There is some difficulty and ye must use your own intelligence. There are two chapels and ye must try and judge old and new. The scheme of Abbot Monington gave one, and under the church are remains yet older. The pillar of many shafts[20] was in the midst between the buttress and the chapel wall, and the great window needed the buttress to hold hym up. Seek out the choir wall, where the arches were behind the altar, and it will be plaine. Digge for the vestries on the south choir wall--there is somewhat left here, and there is alsoe a chantry under the window by the crosse.[21]

[20] There is a sketch of this pillar given in the 1908 volume of
the _Proc. of the Somerset Arch. Soc._. It was found by F.B.B. in
Kerrich's papers in the British Museum. Its position would fairly
obviously correspond to that which the script suggests, and there is
therefore nothing very remarkable about this.

[21] The wall of the vestry was subsequently dug for and found outside
the bay of the south quire wall third from the west, where there were
indications of such an appendage in the grooving of the masonry for
the flashings of a lead roof, and the plinth mould had been shorn off
to get rid of an inconvenient projection. The trench showed a thin
wall giving a vestry about 9 feet wide.

"Judge not the wall by the foundations thereof. They are mighty but--wee have told you--thin walls were over them.[22]

[22] The great breadth of the footings of the rectangular part
of Edgar's Chapel--about 6 feet 6 inches on the north and south
walls--might easily have inspired a wrong opinion as to the substance
of the walls themselves. But students of the work of this date are
familiar with the fact that the flat and heavy fan-vaulted stone roofs
of the Tudor period require, in addition to their external buttresses,
a certain amount of interior support, which is given by building the
walls as a series of hollow bays, the windows occupying the recesses,
and the intermediate masses being brought out inwards, as piers or
counterforts, the same being architecturally treated, so that the
description elsewhere given of "piers as panellæ" is quite probably
accurate, as a description of such features.--F.B.B.

"Search far for the est end of Edgar's Chapel. It is but little damaged. S. Mary and S. Andrew's Chapels, over the ends of ye choir aisles."

The only reminiscence of a retro-chapel is to be found in the plan of the Abbey embodied in Phelps's _Somerset_, reproduced by Warner. Phelps shows a dotted-line extension of the east wall of the retro-quire of nearly the same projection as Willis's plan, but in this case it ends with a semicircle--a feature impossible for anything but a Norman chapel, which here would be out of the question. In a corner of Phelps's plan appears a similar diagram, but with the rectangular part much lengthened. Both are lettered "F," and the reference table gives "F" = Lady's Chapel. Warner copies this plan, calling this latter one "the Chapel according to its original dimensions." Neither F.B.B. nor J.A. had at that time seen Warner's copy of Phelps's plan, because the copy of Warner accessible to them in the Bristol Public Library had lost this sheet. But owing to the general haziness of the plan, and its numerous inaccuracies, and the entirely impossible suggestion of a semicircular apse (in a dotted-line figure), as well as owing to the suggestion "Lady's Chapel," these records had proved the reverse of illuminating, save as inspiring a guess that the original and shorter quire might very likely have been furnished with a Lady Chapel, for use in the remote days, before the western chapel of St. Mary had been opened up and thrown into the general series by the inclusion of the "Galilee"--a work of the fourteenth century, and that this Lady Chapel had been ultimately shorn of the greater part of its length by its absorption into the new retro-quire, what time Abbot Monington caused the quire to be lengthened by two bays (about 40 feet) _temp._ 1344 or thereabouts. Such an hypothesis would entail the deduction that after the lengthening of the retro-quire in the fourteenth century, there would remain at the east end a relatively short projection--say, of 12 feet or so--and some such reasoning may well have inspired Willis's scheme (see his plan in the _Architectural History of Glastonbury Abbey_), though he rightly rejected the semicircle as an eastern finish.

_Q._ "_Was there any crypt under Edgar's Chapel? What were the clear dimensions of the chapel itself?_"

_A._ "The cript is fallen in, but the clay is not the old clay. Clear out the midst thereof, and many fragments be there. The width ye shall find is twenty and seven, and outside, thirty and four, so we remember.

"BEERE, _Abbas_."

_Q._ "_What was the clear internal length of the chapel?_"

A. "Wee laid down seventy and two, but they builded longer, and he who followed made new schemes for a certaine roofe in golde and crimson, very cunning. Ye must use your talents, lest they weaken. Piece by piece ye shall rebuild it and there is enow, I wot, for ye.

"Digge east beyond the beds of feathered grasses. There was a passage to the east doore in ye walle to the streete. In the midst it remaineth. There was a lodging where now is the great howse, and wee loved passages. They were safe, and the priesthood loveth secret places. There is somewhat in us that loveth mystical things, so we tell not all, but leave it to the love which seeketh and is not wearied."[23]

[23] The local gardeners and workmen had a story of a large covered
passage which was said to run from the house or from a point close
to it, and towards the Abbey, and one workman, Thyer, now dead, told
F.B.B. that he had assisted the late owner, Mr. Austin sen., to fill up
a part of this and to remove the flat stone coverings which he needed
for his building work.

At the time of this writing, only the west end of the chapel had been excavated, so that the length was still a matter of complete doubt. A massive wall running north and south had been found just about in the position of that shown as a projection in Willis's plan--namely, about 12 feet east of the walls of the retro-quire, and on the farther side of this the foundations commenced at a much higher level, indicative of a later extension by Bere from this point onwards. And the whole of this cross-wall must have been Bere's work, for it ran north and south for some 32 feet, and beyond that came the projection of its buttresses. When the continuation walls of the chapel to the east were further revealed, the clear width between their footings was about 18 feet, and as they were each about 6 feet 6 inches in width, the whole was not quite 32. So the suggestion in the script of a clear internal width to this chapel of 27 feet is by no means improbable if measured into the window recesses. As to the length given (72 feet), a total of 90 had already been spoken of, so that the 72 must represent the rectangular portion of the chapel, _plus_ either the antechapel or the eastward extension only, either of which give this approximate total.

As afterwards revealed (see plan in _Som. Arch. Soc. Proc._ for 1908), the correspondence proved to be faithful, as the scale shows. Measure from the interior of the east wall of the retro-quire, which will include all the space within the antechapel of Bere's work, eastwards to the end of his rectangular walls, and the whole is close on 72 feet--viz., 12 + 5 + 50 + 5 in approximate measures.

There were several clumps of pampas grass on the high bank, but farther east than our advance at the moment. Another fragment of script, unfortunately now lost, again referred to one of the clumps on the south side, as being just west of a large mass of masonry. This was correct. The large mass in question is that which stands up high above the rest at the south-east angle of the rectangular chapel. Again, we have the curious and unusual suggestion of an east door to the chapel (compare the "Portus introitus post reredos," etc.). When, long subsequently, the two inclined walls of the apse were revealed, the gap in the middle was remarked. The footing on the north side of the eastern gap was cut squarely off, and evidently by intention, and was thus strongly suggestive of a doorway or archway here.

In "the walle to the streete" we may perhaps discern an explanation of the continuation of the angular wall on the south, which runs on for a distance not yet ascertained in the direction of the upper part of the town, and would have passed near the building which formerly occupied the site of the present Abbey House.

"Use your talents. Wee guide. It is meet. Noe worke, noe wage. All workes well. This wee tell you. Ledde was on the roofe--ne stones, the wych cometh from meaner buildings elsewhere. The stone tiles were high roofes but ye chappell was flatte or thereabouts.

"As how think ye the est ende would have looked to them who came from the green pathe in the wall?

"... and ye can see right well. Dig deeper: it needeth. Fear not. It will be clear to you ere another night fall. Even yet there is somewhat east and south to finde. Ye are skilled to find the stones which we put there. All are of the chapelle that ye have noted.

"Benedicite.

"WHYTTINGE, _nuper Abbas_."

It was not until several months later that the whole of Bere's rectangular chapel was disclosed. The bank increased in height as we proceeded east. But the farther we went, the more stone we found on the south side, until at last, at the south-east corner, a block of solid masonry was uncovered which rose several feet above the general level. And to the south of the last two buttresses on this side there came to light the trench or matrix of a small additional building, a chantry or a sacristy. These trenches were cleared and filled with solid concrete to preserve the record of the lost walls, which must otherwise have perished through the falling-in of the loose and crumbling earth.

SITTING XXXVI. 9th October, 1908.

"Ye must see owre old manor of Sharpham. There is somewhat for you there. Search it diligently, and the walls around.

"Ye church ye have found is ye one which Ina builded and it was yjoined to the olde churche by a timber passage-way and many steppys. Yt had no towre, but as it were the short arms of a crosse and ye pillars were greate and rounde as ye see. (_This alludes to an excavation in the nave._)

"Ye roofe was woode and it was rough and rude, ne like unto our church of St. Mary.

"Would ye could digge around ye altare,[24] for there ye will find much black marble of the style ye call 'decorated.'

[24] _I.e._, the high altar of the later church.

"We wold make ye see it--square, and as it were square buttresses with canopies and imagery, full forty feet in height, somewhat level in ye toppe, like a screene, and in ye midst a faire canopy of gilded stone in width four feet and full of fifteen feet in height; and in front an image of Our Lady in gold and scarlet robes holding in her hands the Christ and a sceptre of power. On either side two doors with steppys leading down to the path for processions behind ye altare. Can ye not see it? Black stone and images, and guilding in the hollow places under the ornaments. On ye south side, as we deem it, ye will find most of ye pieces and even ye tombes of Arthur and of ye two saints Edgar[25] (_sic_) all black stone with much guilding and ye effigies of ye Kinge and ye Queene with ye Lyons in blacke stone--nay, rather, ye Lyons were in light stone like ye bases of ye tombes.

[25] Should be "Edmund."

View of the completed excavations, showing Bere's rectangular chapel of four bays, and the eastern annexe with the "walls at an angle."

_To face page 56._]

"And ye grete east window in pannels like unto ye sides of ye choir, and very faire, with a balcony. Ye balcony was underneath ye window and from yt did lead the way to ye altare back where was an ymage of Saint Mary, of great value and very olde, which was saved from the fire long synce.

"Ego sum JOHANNES qui ex memoria rei dico--meminisco--dixi annorum 1492." (I am Johannes, who speak from memory of the matter. The time of which I spoke would be 1492, as I remember.)

SITTING XXXVII. 30th November, 1908.

"The ending of the chappel was at an angle, the sides makyng as it were a baye in the east wall there. The last bay to the east hayde an arche like unto a chancel arche and with a feather ornament, as hadde all the other arches; and the space beyond into the baye was as it were three fannes with thin pillars running up the angles and spreading toward the arche. In the three faces of the east wall were three windowes, and all this was faire made by Abbot Whitting, who lengthened Edgar's Chappel somewhat, to the extent of half a bay.... The fannes are flat which Whitting builded, and ye will see them how they fitted together.

"The lytell chantry was roofed in pannels by ... Beere, and ye have found the pieces, deep cut and faire--quatrefoil with lozenges, cuspings on either side, and ye roofe as was called 'barrel' shaped--ne fannes in ye chantry."

This script was obtained before the angular walls of the apse had been found. The description generally is quite a plausible one, and there is good reason for thinking that the apse would have been finished by the last Abbot (Whiting). Some stones of the fan-work were found at the end of the year. The "little chantry" would seem to refer to the projecting footings found between the last two buttresses on the south side. It compares again with Gloucester Lady Chapel, where such additions are found north and south of the fourth bay from the west.

_Q._ "_Whence came the vaulting-rib, which we have found?_"

_A._ "He went in the passage-way to Edgar's Chappel and the volting of like molding went with it--east of the arches behind the altare.

"Monington was used to what ye call 'decorated' and the choir roof wasne of the newe style--ye 'perpendicular,' but the other style done after Gloster fashion."

SITTING XXXVIII. 2nd December, 1908.

"Gulielmus monachus qui in area chori requiescet[26] ... Reginaldus. Hee wots not what they didde but saith the olde procession path went round three corners and they builded the new window after hys tyme straight. Ye have found the old wall before Monington. I guess but doe not know.

[26] William the monk who reposes in the quire.

"Gulielmus monk of Saint Benedict wold speke but he hath been long ded and cannot as he wold. He of Monington Abbas qui ... he did make the est end full square, that know I he didd, and in hym three arches and a grete screene ... soe it was in my day, that he who followed after did enlong the window and it was full weake and they rebuilded it.... He did build strong walls over ye lytell chapel of Our Ladye that then was and in them a new window and on either side he placed a walle which did continue the walls of the choire and did put in an arche and under hym a tombe on either side with the altar in the midst, and above the arche as it was two grete high windows, very narrow which did make on to the grete east window and wyth hym made a grete faire window which did light up all the choir and did fill it with glassen cleare and bright of many colours." #/

SITTING XXXIX. 5th December, 1908.

"Johannes wold speke. There is (somewhat) gone from us. The olde foundations were left and they did add to them. The walls at an angle were put in by Abbot Beere when he builded the chappell and enlarged the windows. We have told ye of the high windowes and the arche under wych the tombe(s) of Edgar (_sic_) one on either side--the Elder and the Younger. The arch was ycarven very faire and panellae did rise to ye roofe, and ye volte over the Est window was ydonne in fanne worke: likewise the eastern part of ye choire was in fannes wyth a great arch as soe it was donne with panellae between."

During the summer and autumn of 1908 the work of excavation had been steadily continued. By December practically the whole of the rectangular portion of Beere's chapel had been laid bare, and proved to be of four bays, in accordance with the script. The excavation of the antechapel entirely confirmed Willis's view of the divisions of the retro-quire, and, strange to say, justified his plan in regard to the length of the central projection, for it was abundantly clear from the appearance of the two flanking walls (or, rather, their foundations) that there had been an original projection here of the same extent as he showed, and that Beere had merely taken on at this point and started his new work with a massive cross-wall at a different level. The footings of the north and south walls of Beere's chapel were about 6 feet 6 inches broad and a little over 18 feet apart in the clear. The thin Perpendicular work above would normally stand rather over the outer margin of the footings to allow of the projecting piers supporting the fans of the roof, and this would entirely justify a computation of width approaching 27 feet clear into the recesses of windows. But the total internal length on the foundations between east and west footings measured 49 feet, a dimension in itself insufficient to justify the 70 feet claimed in the script, even if it were considered that part of the breadth on the west footing, and an even larger part on the east footing must be included in the interior area of the chapel. Possibly a further 6 feet or so might be allowed for these margins, making a total internal length for the rectangular chapel of 55 feet, to which another 15 feet must be added if the measurement of 70 feet given in the script were to be justified.

But the rectangular chapel ended off with a proper finish to the east, and the two return buttresses were well marked. At this point the digging had been very deep, as the level of the bank rises steadily from west to east, and we were now about 10 feet under the grass level. The rectangular end was cleared, and before us rose a sheer face of clay without trace of any continuance. Nothing had yet been seen of "walls at an angle," and the writer scanned the face of the clay many times, trying to detect any signs of disturbance or of a further junction of building, and so matters remained till the end of December.

In the meantime a report had been prepared for the annual volume of _Proceedings of the Somerset Arch. Soc._, and as by this time F.B.B. was fully persuaded that Hearne and Hollar are giving us fact when they state that the total length of the Abbey was 580 feet, he boldly drew a plan of the excavated chapel with an addition in dotted lines, making out the requisite dimension and _showing a polygonal annexe or apse_, and this he caused to be published in the 1908 _Proceedings_.[27]

[27] A facsimile of this plan was published in the _Treasury_ for Christmas, 1908.

During the Christmas holidays F.B.B. again visited the site, and on a bright sunny day looked at the clay bank, and for the first time detected a small squarish patch of pale brown discoloration in the clay at a level much higher than the footings of the chapel. He caused the face to be cut into at this point, which was nearly opposite the southern return buttress, and at a point about 2 feet within the clay face the stump of a wall appeared. This was traced and proved to run north-east at an angle of 67 degrees from the north and south axis of the chapel.

The ground was opened in the corresponding position on the north side, and here a trench was found well and truly cut in the clay, and filled with debris of sixteenth-century freestone, tile, and glass fragments, chiefly of painted work, and largely of azure blue.[28] The footing-trench was inclined at a similar angle, but instead of meeting a cross wall at east, it stopped short at the point where such a return wall should be, and this indicated that in all probability the annexe had a door in the east wall,[29] behind the reredos, suggestive of the use of this part as a feretory or relic-chamber, and this recalls almost exactly the plan of the church (collegiate) of Westbury-on-Trym, which is also furnished with a semi-hexagonal apse.

[28] _Cf._ p. 37, line 3.

[29] _Cf._ p. 35, last line, "Portus introitus post reredos," etc.

Calculating that the inner faces of the three walls of this annexe would have been designed to be more or less equal in breadth, for sake of symmetry, a line was struck across the apse at the required point, a stake put in, and a very careful chain-measure made from end to end of the whole range of Abbey buildings--_i.e._, from the internal face of the Lady Chapel or Church of St. Mary at the west, to this point, and the measure was then found to be _precisely 580 feet, as given by Hearne and Hollar_. The true plan of the chapel was published in the 1909 volume of _Proceedings_, and makes an interesting comparison with the conjectural plan (see Fig. 7, p. 64).

Two years later, in the collection of Colonel Wm. Long, J.P., of Clevedon, an eighteenth-century manuscript plan of the ruins, hitherto quite unknown, came to light, and was found to show the two inclined wall-sections of the apse of the Edgar Chapel. A note attached to this plan gives the extreme dimensions of the chapel as 87 feet by 49 feet. The latter would only be correct if it included the little chantry projecting on the south side. It would not represent the true outside measure of the chapel proper, which is elsewhere stated as 34 feet, and must have approximated to that width.

Eighty-seven feet is of course fairly correct as an internal measure of length, and thus substantiates the record.

SITTING XXXIX.--_Continued._

"AWFWOLD ye Saxon hath tried, but hee knows not ye tongue. He hath somewhat of olden tyme that ye have found in ye este. He sayth hee hadde a house or housen in wattlework and a churche within the forte, ye which wee did enter when wee made Edgar hys newe chappell. Soe he sayth. And that wych is beyond the chappell, is not there a chambre, the wyche ye shall see when ye have digged full deepe. And from hym did go a passage way to the Lodge over the gate that leadeth to Chalice. Hyt is gonne full syne, wee wot. Wyth hym--the chambre--ye church was six hundred and twenty-eight feete in length inside and sixteene more outside walls, soe wee remember."

The blackened wattlework was found at a great depth in the clay near the south-east corner of the Edgar Chapel. It was examined together with other remains, and reported on by Mr. St. George Gray in the _Proceedings of the Somerset Archæological Society_ for 1909. No attempt has been made to explore the site beyond the eastward limit of the Chapel. The ground is very deep, and there are other difficulties. As the proved internal length of the Abbey with the Chapel is 580 feet, this measure of 628 feet would imply another large addition, and in the absence of any sort of evidence of its probability, it is impossible to attach the least weight to it.

"The tombe of Arthur in shining blacke stone was in front of ye altare. Ye can see hys size even now, an ye wis, in ye claye, and certain fragmentes that yet are for hym to seeke. Blacke and scarlet and golde was ye choire, save where they didde paint ye leaves in greene, and somme tyme browne where ye clausteres were. Ye windowe was much clere glasse wyth colours in ye midst under golden canopyes in ye heades of the pannels. There was under ye alare (_sic_) a chambre ye wyche ye did enter from the rear, but hee was low and smalle, and there were many buried in hym. The pathe for processions wasne needed, and soe they went not behind ye altare where ye chappells were nor behind ye greate screene under ye este windowe. The churche he was soe grete there was room enow in ye aisles and soe across ye altare in front of hym by Arthur's tombe."

_Q._ "_As to traces of an interment behind the reredos wall. Can you tell us anything of this?_"

_A._ "Yee martyr was hee. They made a martyr's grave. He was not coffined, for they were but bones got by ye faithful from Bathe and Tauntone, and brought in secret. He was yplaced under ye altare, and they who pulled yt downe when Elizabeth was Queene drew hym out. They knew not who hee was, our Abbot. Ye knowe.... Hee who swam in ayre when hee wold not. Whytynge. They knew not. Wee deemed the altare wold stande for alle tyme."

_Q._ "_Who desecrated the Abbey?_"

_A._ "My Lord Somersete. Hee cared but for golde--ne faith, ne good--Hee a Protestant, a traitor hee. A heretic was hee."

_Q._ "_Is there any foundation for the legends of secret passages in and about the Abbey?_"

_A._ "Covered ways to the corner of the cloyster by ye Prior's House. Hee is fallen in, we wot, and likewise hym that goeth to King's Gate, but somme is left. Some of ye passage at the east end ye shall finde. (_Here follows a plan._) The Kingswaye seeke ye neare ye Gatehouse--ye cellars that wee used. Ye shall find ye passage. Ye shold seek the grete draine. Many things are therein. Ye should seeke for it.

"JOHANNES et alii.
"Permultae memoriae."

SITTING, 1st September, 1910.

The script begins in a cramped hand, very disjointed and confused. It is mostly in Latin words, and we trace the name of one John of Aller, in the rural district of Somerset ("in agros Somersetiae"), formerly a husbandman, but later a watchman at the Abbey. But he cannot tell us what he would, and the power which should recall his memories fails. "Nescio quid sum," it ends, "aut inde veni."

Then the writing commences afresh, thus:

"Ambrosius the Cellarius wold speke to ye. And hee isne a scholar. Ye binnes in ye cellar ye wot they were full of good wine, but ye cellars of ye Guesten Hall lye deeper downe.

"Ye roofe of ym[30] is but even with ye floor of hym. But I wot they have left ye little enow.

[30] 'Them,'--_i.e._, the cellars.

"Ye Abbot's lyttell kitchen he lay in between ye two halles, and ye cooke hadde enow to feed them on the one syde and alsoe ye guesten folk on ye other. Therefore ybuilded ye Abbot ye grete Kitchen afore ye Howse, for to make feast on grete feast-dayes. Ye olde kitchens and ye minte-garden wasne used much after that. Ye newe howse of ye Abbot hadde kitchens enow, and soe.... Know ye ye lytell cloystere ahint ye Prior's Lodging and ye Halle convent over against the Stabels of ye horses? They were near ye Guest Halle on ye syde of our Lord Abbat's Howse, and ye menne lay over them. There were foure horses, and rooms for ye guesten horses in ye same stable."

The script here deals with an area still unexcavated, as to which we have but little documentary evidence. The position of the Guest Hall may be reasonably inferred to be on the site suggested, due west from the Refectory. The statement about the kitchens seems reasonable. At this point the communication under the name Ambrosius ceases and an entirely different handwriting is noted. The script continues:

"Ricardus de Tanton, who did make ye drawings for my Abbot Bere, wold tell you that which Ambrosius can not."

We gather that the level of the ground was lowered and four cellars made for storing wine for the Guest Hall above. Next we read:

"The grete Halle was ybuilded not long syne, and ye must goe where the kitchens did joyne him to the Refectorium. Aufwold says that the convent of Arimathia was at hys south-west corner, builded long tyme since, and there was as it were a little cloystere between the Hall and the chapel where Beere did saye masse. The stabel was over aganst the Abbat's new howse which Beere builded, and which was in front of the Guest Hall but away from hym. The crypt under the new Hall was deeper downe. His roofe was near level to the floore of the vault of the Refectorium....

"Goe you through the grete door at ye corner of ye Cloyster on ye est syde downe XII steppes and on through ye passage-waye. Then shall ye rise uppe ye steppes IX on ye south syde, and soe acrosse ye mint garden to the Newe Halle where was a doore, and through hym cometh a passage to the further syde and soe to the lyttel cloyster, and beyond hym the lyttel convent and ye lyttel chapel builded long time syns. And there was a grete wall to the est of all these places high and stronge, and over hym was the dormer, and beyond, the parlour beneath and the scriptorium above hym: and soe unto ye wall of ye lyttle cloystere, and after a space, a yarde and the schola with its chappel and buildings around yt ... for ye boyes, alsoe ye changing room for ye choire who sang in ye minster.

"Ye boyes were ofttimes joyous and did playe and make a shouting, and ye Abbat sayde: 'Chide not youth in its playe, but may ye keepe them afar from ye claustre places lest they weary my devowte,'--and so ye schola was far from ye (same)."

_Q._ "_Which was the Chapel of St. Dunstan?_"

_A._ "Hym on ye North syde of ye Crete Church, at ye ende, near to ye newe chappel which Bere (built)."

_Q._ "_What was the exact length of the Church as completed?_"

_A._ "CCCXI[31] in passibus. CCCXI et capella nova. CCCXI in tota longitudine."

[31] The length of the mediæval "pace" was unknown to us, and would
have been inferred to be the natural length of a walking "step" (in
F.B.B.'s case 22 inches).

But to reduce paces to feet, or _vice versa_, is not easy by mental
arithmetic, and the calculation was not made. Hence this CCCXI conveyed
nothing definite.

But publication necessitated scrutiny of this statement, and, to assess
the true length, reference was made to William Wyrcestre's _Itinerary_,
wherein, speaking of Glastonbury Abbey (p. 292), he says:

"Longitudo navis ecclesiae monasterii continet 54 virgas vel 100
gressus"--making 54 yards = 100 steps.

If 100 steps= 54 yards, one step = 1·62 feet. So we have our material
for calculation, as follows:

I. Length of church 311 × 1·62 = 503·82 feet
"et capella nova" (_i.e._, and the new chapel) (add) 90·00 "
------
593·82 "
--an amazing result! Elizabeth's commissioner, quoted on p. 12,
says:

"The great Church in the Aby was ... 594 feet." And our own plan (Fig. 12), based on careful measurement, yields the total 592 feet! (The 580 feet measure discussed on p. 62 is an _internal_ measure.)

_Q._ "_Please state it in feet._"

_A._ "Pedes DCCXXXIII[32] circa."

[32] DCCXXXIII pedes _circa_ (_about_ 733 feet)--at first sight
a hopelessly discordant measure, being 140 feet in excess of the
first--yields on analysis an even more astonishing result. For 733 feet
circa _is_ 311 paces; but Romano-British paces--not mediæval! 311 paces
of 2 feet 4-1/4 inches is 733 feet. The true Roman pace (single) is 2
feet 5 inches--occasionally less in Britain--so we see it in this case
slightly shortened. And the qualification "circa" gives us the slight
latitude which the computation requires.

It is as though our question, addressed to the previous informant,
had been answered by another in a literal sense, according to his
own knowledge of the measure, and without reference to the monkish
standards. (See note in synopsis at end of vol., _sub._ "Ell" and
"Passus.")

_Q._ "_Was there anything east of the Edgar Chapel?_"

_A._ "Yes, but not Ecclesia major. On the wall was a capella for them who came from over the hill called Chalice--a little capella, but he was not of the grete church. You have hym all.

"We sayd he (the church.--F.B.B.) was somewhat over three hundred passuum on the path which passeth on the north syde of hym. This I knowe. The chappell was ninety-one[33] of feet, for I did draw hym.

[33] This being a foot in excess of the measure first given and found correct, we have preferred the latter in the calculation given on the last page.

"RICARDUS T^a."

TABLE OF THE VERIDICAL PASSAGES IN THE AUTOMATIC SCRIPT, SIXTEEN IN NUMBER, REFERRING TO THE EDGAR CHAPEL AND EAST END OF QUIRE

I. AS TO A LARGE RECTANGULAR CHAPEL EAST OF THE RETRO-QUIRE.

SCRIPT.

November 7, 1907. Plan of Abbey, showing oblong chapel at east end, of very large dimensions, and exterior to retro-quire, the width overlapping three of the five chapels of same.

The sketch would indicate a width between 20 and 30 feet, and a length probably exceeding 70 feet.

EXISTING DATA.

Professor Willis's _Architectural History_ shows nearest parallel, but his plan is only an eastward extension of the central one of five little chapels, and its total length would only exceed the rest by about 12 feet, and width would be a little over 11 feet.

RESULT.

PROVED BY EXCAVATION AS SUBSTANTIALLY CORRECT FOR THE EARLIER OR RECTILINEAR PORTION OF THE CHAPEL.

The dimensions are shown in the plan published in the _Proc. Som. Arch. Soc._ for 1908, and again in 1909.

II. AS TO THE DEDICATION OF THE CHAPEL.

SCRIPT

November 7, 1907. "Capella St. Edgar. Abbas Beere fecit hanc capellam Beat(i) Edgar(i).

"... et capella extensit 80 virgas ... et fecit altarium ... et tumbam ante altarium gloriosam aedificavit ad memoriam Sanct(i) Edgar(i)."

_Q._ "_Which Abbot did this?_"

_A._ "Ricardus Whitting."

EXISTING DATA

Leland says: "Abbat Beere builded Edgares Chapel at the east end of the Church. But Abbat Whitting performed sum part of it."

Willis thought that the Edgar Chapel might have been at this point--_i.e._, where he shows his projecting central chapel.

RESULT

PROVED LATER TO HAVE BEEN THE EDGAR CHAPEL BY A PLAN DISCOVERED IN 1910 IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION. (See _Som. Arch. Soc. Proc._, 1916-17.)

THE 30-YARD LENGTH IS THE RESULT OF AN ADDITION TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN.

III. AS TO A DOOR IN THE EXTREME EAST.

SCRIPT

November 7, 1907. "Portus introitus post reredos, post altarium quinque passuum" (An entrance door five paces behind the reredos).

June 16, 1908. "There was a passage to the east doore in ye walle to the streete."

EXISTING DATA

No record of such a feature, and no warrant for supposing it. Eastern doorways are very unusual.

Nothing known of door or wall to the street from this part.

RESULT

PROVED BY THE GAP FOUND IN THE FOOTINGS AT THE EASTERN EXTREMITY, WHERE THE TWO FOUNDATIONS OF THE ANGULAR APSE WALLS DO NOT JOIN. THE DEPTH OF THE APSE IS ABOUT FIVE PACES.

The use of the word "portus," meaning "door," is confirmed in this sense by the allusion to the "east door." The angular south wall of the apse continues on, and was perhaps a fence-wall to a pathway, but it has not been possible to pursue this. The ditch or moat is believed to have run on the south side of same. On the north, the footing of the angular wall stops short, leaving a gap in the foundations at the east end, as though for a doorway.

IV. AS TO THE TOTAL LENGTH OF THE CHAPEL.

SCRIPT

November 7, 1907. "Et capella extensit 30 virgas ad orientem" (And the chapel extended 80 yards to the east).

EXISTING DATA

The Elizabethan Inventory, in a list of measures of the Church, says: "_Chapter House, 90 feet._"

RESULT

PROVED BY MEASURE. THE INTERNAL MEASURE IS 87 FEET, AND THIS, ALLOWING 3 FEET MORE FOR THICKNESS OF END WALL AND PLINTH GIVES THE 30 YARDS FOR THE TOTAL LENGTH OF THE EDGAR CHAPEL.

V. AS TO THE AZURE GLASS IN THE WINDOWS OF THE CHAPEL.

SCRIPT.

November, 7 1907. "Et vitrea azurea" (And window-glass of azure).

EXISTING DATA.

Azure blue does not predominate in glass of the sixteenth century.

The dominant tones are white and gold, the field often being almost entirely white. The subjects are in glass of various colours. The blues tend to a steely grey.

RESULT.

PROVED BY THE DISCOVERY OF FRAGMENTS, RELATIVELY NUMEROUS, OF BLUE GLASS IN THE TRENCHES. THIS GLASS WAS PROBABLY REFITTED FROM THE WINDOWS OF THE EARLIER WORK ALTERED OR REMOVED BY SUCCESSIVE ABBOTS, AND APPEARS TO BE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

VI. AS TO THE VAULTING OF "FANS."

SCRIPT

November 7, 1907. "Abbas Beere ... fecit voltam petriam quod vocatur quadripartus, sed Abbas Whitting ... destruxit ... et restoravit eam cum nov ... multipart ... nescimus eam quod vocatur.

November 13, 1907. "Wee saide that ye volte was multipartite, yt was fannes old-style in ye este ende of ye choire, and ye newe volt in Edgare's chappel ... Glost'er fannes."

EXISTING DATA

It is a fair inference that a chapel of this nature and period (Henry VII. to Henry VIII.) would be vaulted in "fans," and we should have thought Abbot Bere's original scheme would have provided for this.

"Fannes old style" would apply to those built on a half-hexagonal section. The real Tudor fan has a circular sweep.

RESULT

THE EDGAR CHAPEL HAD THE LATER (MULTIPARTITE) FORM OF FAN, AS IS PROVED BY THE NATURE OF THE FRAGMENTS FOUND. ONE OF THE MAIN BOSSES IS EXTANT, AND ON ITS BACK HAS THE DIRECTION (IN SCORED LINES) FOR THE CORRECT SETTING OF THE BLOCK, AND THIS SHOWS TWELVE RIBS, IMPLYING A WHEEL OF TRACERY BETWEEN FANS.

VII. AS TO THE POLYGONAL EAST END.

SCRIPT

November 19, 1907. "The direction of the walls ... was at an angle."

November 19, 1907. "Forty and two feete was the hight of ye newe chapelle, and yt was ybuttressed with faire buttresses, and walls slantwise at ye cornere."

November 26, 1907. "The east end. Seek for the pillars, and the walls at an angle."

November 30, 1908. "The ending of the chappel was at an angle, the sides makyng as it were a baye in the east wall there."

EXISTING DATA

No existing data from which such might be inferred. The nearest example of a polygonal east end seems to be at Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, unless we regard the Lady Chapel at Wells as a parallel instance. This chapel, however, is in reality an elongated octagon, with a domical roof. It was erected A.D. 1326.

RESULT

PROVED BY DISCOVERY IN JANUARY, 1909, AFTER THE TENTATIVE PLAN OF AN ANGULAR APSE HAD BEEN IN THE PRESS FOR PUBLICATION BY THE SOMERSET ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY; AND AFTER ACTUAL PUBLICATION IN THE CHRISTMAS NUMBER OF THE _Treasury_ FOR 1908.

VIII. AS TO THE DIFFERENCE IN THE FOUNDATIONS.

February 19, 1908. "Thin walls and poore foundations in the new work."

Nothing known.

PROVED BY EXCAVATION. THE FOOTING WALLS OF THE APSE WERE THIN AND POOR, IN MARKED CONTRAST TO THOSE OF THE RECTANGULAR PART OF THE CHAPEL, WHICH WERE EXCEEDINGLY BROAD.

IX. AS TO AN OLDER LADY CHAPEL BEFORE MONINGTON'S TIME WITH A POLYGONAL APSE. SCRIPT.

SCRIPT

April 20, 1908. "The olde church had a chapell going east like to Edgar's, and the corners were cut off most like. The foundations ye mean remain."

June 16, 1908. "There are two chapels, and ye must try to judge old and new. The scheme of Abbot Monington gave one, and under the church are remains yet older."

EXISTING DATA.

Nothing known, but there is a possible inference as regards a Lady Chapel beyond the original Quire before the Western Lady Chapel was incorporated.

Phelps has preserved a reminiscence of this chapel, and he suggests a semicircular end, which might mean a polygon. The projection beyond the retro-quire would be about 12 feet, according to his diagram.

Compare the Lady Chapel at Wells.

Nothing known at the time.

Phelps's plan of a Lady Chapel, copied by Warner, suggests two different states of this building, the original extending under the quire, and afterwards absorbed in Monington's new work.

RESULT.

IN JUNE, 1908, TRACES OF A SLANT WALL (FOOTING TRENCH) WERE FOUND CLOSE INSIDE THE EAST WALL OF THE RETRO-QUIRE AND A LITTLE SOUTH OF THE CENTRE (_recorded in a report from Rev. H. Barnwell, late Vicar of Glastonbury_ _written to F.B.B. shortly after the commencement of excavation_.)

About 12 feet beyond the retro-quire, the levels of the ground and foundations rise considerably. At this point comes the west wall of the Edgar Chapel; and the same point probably marks the extreme eastward limit of the older Lady Chapel.

THE EXISTENCE OF OLDER FOOTINGS UNDER THE QUIRE FLOOR WAS PROVED LATER. THEY WERE TOO MUCH PULLED ABOUT AND ALTERED TO ESTABLISH THEIR ORIGINAL FORM.

X. AS TO THE LITTLE CRYPT UNDER THE STAIRS.

SCRIPT

April 20, 1908. "=Ye crypt was mere a chamber under the stairs, and it was at the west end of the chapel.="

June 16, 1908. "=The cript is fallen in, but the clay is not the old clay. Clear out the midst thereof.="

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known at this date of chapel, crypt, or stair. The rise of ground at east might suggest a raised floor for the chapel exterior to retro-quire. Britton's plan of Abbey suggests that the two piers found _circa_ 1813 on the site of the middle chapel of the retro-quire were "probably part of a crypt," but there was nothing known to warrant such a suggestion, and facts were against it.

RESULT

THE NECESSITY OF A STAIRCASE TO BERE'S CHAPEL IS PROVED BY THE SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERY OF ITS SUPERIOR LEVEL--PROBABLY SOME SEVEN FEET ABOVE THE RETRO-QUIRE. AS THE GROUND RISES IMMEDIATELY EAST OF THE WEST WALL OF THE CHAPEL, IT ALMOST INEVITABLY FOLLOWS THAT A CRYPT WOULD BE CONFINED TO A SMALL SPACE BENEATH THE ANTECHAPEL OR STAIRWAY OF APPROACH.

XI. AS TO THE DOUBLE HAND-RAIL.

SCRIPT

"And ye stairway was divided in ye midst by a grete rail of stone," etc.

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known at the time.

RESULT

A DOUBLE-HANDED STONE RAIL WAS DETECTED LATER AMONG THE DÉBRIS LYING ABOUT THE ABBEY QUIRE WALLS NOT FAR FROM THE SITE OF THE CHAPEL.

XII. AS TO THE WIDTH OF BERE'S BUILDING.

SCRIPT.

June 16, 1908. "The width ye shall find is twenty and seven, and outside thirty and four, so we remember.--BEERE, Abbas."

EXISTING DATA. Nothing known.

RESULT. THE WEST WALL OF THE CHAPEL MEASURES ABOUT 31 FEET 6 INCHES. 27 FEET IS A PROBABLE MEASURE FOR THE INTERIOR WIDTH OF THE CHAPEL, WHOSE WALLS, DEEPLY RECESSED FOR THE WINDOWS, WOULD STAND WELL UPON THE OUTER PART OF THE FOOTINGS. THESE ARE 6 FEET 6 INCHES WIDE ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH. THE OUTER, OR 32 FEET MEASURE DOES NOT INCLUDE THE BUTTRESSES.

XIII. AS TO THE LENGTH OF BERE'S BUILDING.

SCRIPT

June 16, 1908. "Wee laid down seventy and two, but they builded longer."

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known or recorded. No inference possible.

RESULT

PROVED AS A MEASURE SUBSTANTIALLY CORRECT FOR THE SUPERSTRUCTURE, AS
INFERRED FROM THE FOOTINGS. (See plans in _Som. Arch. Soc. Proc._ for
1908-9.)
ft. in.
Antechapel (approx.) 12 0
Bere's Rectangular Chapel
(5 + 50 + 5) 60 0
------
72 0

XIV. AS TO A CEILING IN GOLD AND CRIMSON.

SCRIPT

June 16, 1908. "And he who followed made new schemes for a certaine roofe in golde and crimson."

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known or recorded.

RESULT PROVED BY THE SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERY OF ARCH-MOULDINGS WITH MEMBERS PAINTED IN RED AND BLACK, AND RETAINING TRACES OF GOLD.

XV. AS TO A CHAPEL OF FOUR BAYS.

SCRIPT

February 19, 1908. "And the chamber was in length 70 feet, in four bays."

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known and no inference possible.

RESULT

THE RECTANGULAR CHAPEL PROVED TO BE OF FOUR BAYS. THE 70 FEET INCLUDES THE ANTECHAPEL, BUT IS A ROUND-FIGURE ESTIMATE, THE TRUE LENGTH BEING ABOUT 72. (See XIII. above.)

XVI. AS TO THE ALTAR SCREEN AND TRIPLE ARCADE.

SCRIPT

December 2, 1908. "The procession path went round three corners, and they builded the new window after hys time straight. Ye have found the old wall before Monington, I guess, but do not know.... Hee (Monington) did make the Est end full square, that I know he didd, and in hym three arches and a grete screene."

EXISTING DATA

Nothing known at the time.

At Wells there are three arches between quire and retro-quire, behind the reredos, and a similar arrangement at Glastonbury would easily be inferred.

RESULT

THE EXCAVATION PROVED THAT THERE WERE FORMERLY THREE ARCHES BEHIND THE ALTAR, AND THERE WERE INDICATIONS OF A SCREEN WALL BETWEEN.

ADDENDUM TO THE TABLE OF THE VERIDICAL PASSAGES.

SCRIPT.

December 2, 1908. "Soe it was in my day, that he who followed after did enlong the window, and it was full weake and they rebuilded it. He did build strong walls over ye lytell chapel of Our Ladye that then was, and in them a new window, and on either side he placed a walle which did continue the walls of the choire, and did put in an arche and under hym a tombe on either side with the altar in the midst, and above the arche as it was two grete high windows very narrow, which did make on to the grete east window, and wyth hym made a grete faire window which did light up all the choir," etc.

EXISTING DATA.

The suggestion is that one of the Abbots coming after Monington substituted for his square east and a bayed end with a principal window flanked by two narrow ones set anglewise. The great east window of Glo'ster is slightly bayed and has buttressings for support to the east. It is recorded that in Bere's day the great east window was "casting out" and had to be given further support.

RESULT.

NOTHING CAN BE PROVED AS REGARDS ANY LATER ALTERATION OF THE EAST WINDOW, AS ALL ABOVE GROUND IS CLEARED AWAY.

EXTRACT FROM LETTER OF HON. EVERARD FEILDING, SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHIC RESEARCH, TO THE AUTHOR, DATED 15TH MARCH, 1917.

"MY DEAR BOND,

"... As to your record of the script, it would be most interesting if you were to publish it. There is no question but that the writing about the Edgar Chapel preceded the discovery of it by many months. I was present, if you remember, at what I believe was the beginning of the recrudescence of---- 's automatism, ... and that was before you ever started your work at Glastonbury, and before you were even appointed to the work. I remember your telling me when you were appointed, how interesting it was, as you were then able to test some of the statements made.

"No, there is no doubt whatever in my mind on that point; you will remember that the only doubt I have ever expressed was on the question as to how far something in one of the books on Glastonbury which you showed me afterwards, and which might have suggested the possibility of the actual position of the Edgar Chapel, might conceivably have influenced---- 's mind subconsciously; I forget what book it was, but I remember it was not the book which was taken at that time as the most authoritative."

SIGNED STATEMENT OF J.A.

"I, the undersigned J---- A----, hereby certify that I am the J.A. referred to in Mr. Bligh Bond's account of the automatic writings concerning Glastonbury Abbey and other matters, and that the transcript which he has made of the series of about fifty communications dating from 7th November, 1907, to 30th November, 1911, and also some supplementary writings produced in 1912 and later, appears to me correct so far as the same could be deciphered by us. I furthermore affirm that the writings were produced through my hand, but without knowledge of their nature or purport, and contain conclusions which I could not have arrived at normally, and which in many cases--as, _e.g._, in the case of the Edgar Chapel--were such as appeared to me most improbable, and were deemed fanciful until further research had elucidated points then obscure. My knowledge and reading were confined to documents which have been accessible to all students of the Abbey, and I had no unique source of information. The writings were produced often whilst my normal attention was devoted to other matters, and promiscuous conversation at these times was our rule. I held the pencil and Mr. Bond laid his fingers on the back of my hand or lightly grasped it. He did not direct it. There was nothing in my knowledge or experience that I know of to suggest the names of Bryant and others which are appended to the writings. Even the possible meaning of such a name as Manumetaxyl was unknown to me.[34]

[34] This refers to a portion of the script not yet published.

FIG. 8.--CONJECTURAL APPEARANCE OF THE EAST END OF THE ABBEY IN
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING THE EDGAR CHAPEL ON LEFT HAND, THE
RETRO-QUIRE AND MONINGTON'S ADDITION OF TWO BAYS TO THE QUIRE, ALL AS
VIEWED FROM THE NORTH SIDE.

The arrow indicates the position of a conjectural north chantry (see text).]

"I am disposed to concur with Mr. Bond in the view that the subconscious part of the mind may in its operation traverse the limitations of individual knowledge, either acting telepathically through contact with some larger field of memory, or as itself part of a larger unit of a more pervasive kind as regards time and space, conditions which would imply that the individual may have powers of self-expression far greater than those which are normally available through the brain-mechanism controlled by the will and logical faculties.

"GLOUCESTER,

"_July 24th, 1917_."