HEREFORDSHIRE: SOMERSETSHIRE: GLOUCESTERSHIRE: MONMOUTHSHIRE
DORE: GLASTONBURY: BATH: TEWKESBURY: TINTERN: LLANTHONY
DORE (Cistercian)
Founded and endowed by Robert, Earl of Ferrars, in the 12th century—1216, Certain lands given to the monastery by King John—1233, These endowments confirmed by Henry III. and the abbey church completed in his reign—15—, Dissolved. Annual revenue, ￡101, 5s. 2d.
THIS religious house, like many others of the Cistercian order, was built in a secluded and beautiful spot. Though the architecture of the Cistercian monasteries is not so ornamental or elaborate as those of the Benedictines from whom they sprang, still their churches have a grandeur and simplicity which immediately impress the visitor. Abbey Dore, on the river Dore in Herefordshire, may indeed be included among the most interesting and beautifully situated in England. To quote from Our Own Country:—
“It lies wholly in what may be called the sub-Alpine district of the Welsh border, where the undulations as yet rarely rise into prominent and well-defined hills. The scenery ... is worthy ... of the name it bears (‘golden valley’). The sky-line is usually rather level, the valley being excavated out of a plateau; the bounding hills, especially on the left bank, are commonly capped with woods. The slopes are often rather rapid, richly cultivated, varied by abundant hedgerow, timber and scattered copses,{121} and as there is more arable than grass land, there are many changes in the dominant tints of the scenery, from the warm red of the bare soil in the winter to the rich gold of the ripened corn in the late summer. On the right bank many glimpses are caught of the long terrace-like line of the Black Mountains, whose dark bare sides contrast markedly with the cheerful richness of the nearer valley. Glancing backward the scene is more varied; the ridges of Graig and Garway hills and the undulating Saddlebow bound the view.”
Very little remains of the domestic buildings of the monastery—only a portion of a passage abutting on the transept wall and indicating a former “slype.” There are marks of two roofs high up on the same transept wall, showing that the monks’ dormitory was probably there. The nave of the original church is nothing but a ruin and the present church consists only of the former choir, transepts and Lady chapel. John, Lord Scudamore, preserved this portion in the year 1634, re-roofed it, and after generously endowing it, restored it for the purposes of public worship. The original vaulting fortunately still remains over the chapels at the east end of the church. The pews, the oak screen, and western gallery are of the 17th century. The most remarkable part of this interesting abbey church is undoubtedly the east end, which is square. Three lancet-windows, containing old stained glass, light the upper part, under which are three pointed arches leading into an eastern ambulatory. Beyond this are five chapels, three in the centre and two others corresponding with the side aisles. The tower is peculiarly situated at the eastern angle of the south transept. With the exception of the east end, the whole structure is somewhat massive and heavy—Norman work decidedly dominating over the Early English style.
There are some monuments still remaining in the church, including a peculiar slab on which is the small figure of a bishop. Tradition says that it commemorates a boy bishop, but on good authority{122} it is stated that it shows the “burial place of the heart of Bishop John Breton” of the 13th century. The altar possesses great interest to the antiquarian. It is a large slab supported by massive columns which are really capitals of columns, probably discovered in the ruins and put to their present use when the altar slab was recovered from the adjoining farm-house where it is said to have been used for dairy purposes. When Robert, Earl of Ferrars, founded the monastery, he endowed it with lands “to hold free and quit of all secular service, by the rent of three shillings yearly to be paid at the Feast of St. Peter and ad vincula; and this was exprest to be given not only for the Health of the Souls of his Ancestors and Heirs but also for the Peace and Stability of all England and Wales.”—Dugdale’s Monasticon.
GLASTONBURY (Mitred Benedictine)
31 A.D. St Joseph of Arimath?a, with other disciples of St Philip, lands on the south-west coast of England, preaches Christianity to the people, and builds a church on land given him by King Arviragus—433-472, St Patrick becomes first abbot and in a great measure founds the abbey—c. 520, Glastonbury saved from destruction by King Arthur, who resists the Saxons at Mount Badon—c. 530, A chapel built at the east end of the old church by St David, for use as a chancel—c. 597, Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduces the Benedictine order into England; its rules observed in Glastonbury—630, Paulinus of York encases in boards of lead the wattled basilica of St Joseph’s chapel—719, The great church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, built by King Ina—946, The abbey practically refounded by Dunstan after being despoiled by the Danes—106—, Abbey partially despoiled by war and Thurstan appointed abbot—1102-20, A Norman church built by Abbot Herlwin and Abbot Henry de Blois, nephew of Henry I.—1184, The new structure consumed by a disastrous fire, and another building begun by Henry II. and completed in 1303—1539, Dissolved—Richard Whiting, last abbot, hung on the Tor by order of Henry VIII. Annual revenue, ￡3311, 7s. 4d.
Though, once surrounded by fenland, the abbey of Glastonbury—a veritable treasure-house of legendary lore—stands now amid orchards and level pasture lands engirt by the river Bure. The majestic Tor overshadows this spot, where, undoubtedly, the first British Christian settlement was established. The name of the builder of the first early church can never be ascertained, so that in want of more substantial evidence, the old legend of St Joseph of Arimath?a must be accepted, however slight its claims to historical authority. Certain it is that Christianity was introduced into this land on the island of Yniswytryn, or “Isle of Glass” (so called on account of its crystal streams), in the very early centuries. According to the Arthurian legends, St Philip, Lazarus, Martha, Mary and Joseph of Arimath?a, having been banished by their countrymen, journeyed to Marseilles, from whence Joseph, with twelve companions and holy women, was sent by St Philip to Britain. They landed on the south-west coast and made their way to Glastonbury, then Avalon (and so named in allusion to its apple orchards), and by means of preaching and many miraculous deeds persuaded the people to adopt Christianity. Gaining the goodwill of King Arviragus, they built a church of wattle and twigs on the ground given to them by their royal patron. The Benedictine, with its later developments in Norman times of Augustine and Cluniac orders, was the first religious order introduced into this country. It was instituted in Italy early in the 6th century by St Benedict of Nursia. Many monasteries established before the Conquest came under its sway and were, centuries later, after the Dissolution, converted into Cathedral churches.
A sharp distinction should be drawn between the monasteries established previous to the Conquest and those subsequently founded by the Cistercian and other orders. The former were national houses—in every way belonging to the English people and untouched by Papal influence; while the latter, which{124} were under the immediate control of the Bishop of Rome, were essentially of foreign foundation.
“It cannot be a mere coincidence that the monastery churches still in use are almost invariably of pre-Norman origin and generally of the Benedictine order—the only exceptions being the public portion of churches belonging to ‘foreign’ monasteries which had supplanted a pre-Norman parish church.... National and anti-national foundations alike were overwhelmed in the general dissolution; but while the ‘foreign’ monasteries were all destroyed absolutely ... many of the old Norman minsters continue to be used for the services of the Church of England”—English Church History (Rev. C. Arthur Lane).
Glastonbury, “first ground of the saints, the rise and foundation of all religion in the land,” is the earliest and most important Benedictine centre in England; and though, owing to the depredations of men and the wear and tear of time, services are not held now within its ruined walls, it still holds first place among the ecclesiastical monuments in this country. Coel, King of the Britons; Caradercus, Duke of Cornwall; King Arthur and Guinevere his Queen; Kings Kintevymus, Edmund, Edgar, and Edmund Ironside were buried here, as well as other great personages of Church and State.
“In so great reverence was the church and churchyard held where these were interred that our forefathers did not dare to use any idle discourse or to spit therein without great necessity. Enemies and naughty men were not suffered to be buried therein, neither did any bring any Hawk, Dog or Horse upon the ground, for if they did, it was observed that they immediately died thereupon.”—Dugdale’s Monasticon.
King Ina, persuaded by St Aldhelm, rebuilt and re-endowed the abbey in the 8th century, renounced his royal state, and lived as an ordinary civilian, being induced to do so by extraordinary devices on the{125} part of his wife Ethelburh. On one occasion, after King Ina had given a great feast to his barons, he and his queen left the castle and proceeded to another of the royal residences. Before leaving, Ethelburh had commanded the servants to strip the castle of all its valuables, furniture, etc., and to fill it with rubbish and to put a litter of pigs in the king’s bed. A short distance on their journey, Ethelburh persuaded the king to return, and showing him over the desecrated palace, exhorted him to consider the utter worthlessness of all earthly splendour and the advisability of joining her on a pilgrimage to Rome. Impressed by her words, Ina acted as she advised, and later endowed a school in Rome in which Anglo-Saxon children might become acquainted with the customs of foreign countries. Ina and Ethelburh spent the remainder of their days in privacy in the Holy City.
The famous Dunstan, one of the greatest of ecclesiastical statesmen, was born in Glastonbury, and after proving his many marvellous capabilities and aptitude for learning, was made abbot of the Benedictine house in his native town in the reign of Edmund the Magnificent. Many strange stories are told of him—the most fantastic perhaps being that of his interview with the natural enemy of man, the Devil himself, during which the reverend man became either so irritated or terrified that he was provoked to seize the nose of his ghostly visitor with a pair of red-hot pincers. Dunstan staunchly supported all the reforms introduced by Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and in particular the enforcing of more rigid rules upon the clergy or “seculars” in the matter of marriage. The monks or “regulars,” sworn to a life of celibacy, considered that the “seculars” should be subject to similar restrictions. In this matter, Odo’s motives were deeper and more pecuniary than were at first apparent. After the quarrel between the two parties had raged for many years, the “regulars” gained the victory, and much ecclesiastical property changed{126} hands consequent on a large number of the clergy being compelled to enter the monasteries. William the Conqueror despoiled the abbey of much of its property at the beginning of his reign, but later he relented somewhat. Thurstan, a Norman, was appointed abbot, and the monks declining to conform to new musical rules which he enforced in tyrannical fashion, Thurstan summoned soldiers into the sacred building and ruthlessly killed many of the monks.
Though the ruins of Glastonbury are somewhat scanty, they possess an attraction unrivalled for the antiquarian. Of the abbey church only the east piers of the central tower, a single east bay of both transepts with triforium and clerestory, the south wall of the choir, part of the south nave aisle, and the chapel of St Mary remain. The latter is situated in the north transept. The church was originally cruciform, consisting of nave with aisles; north and south transepts with north aisles (containing eastern chapels) and an apsidal east end. The abbot’s stone kitchen, octangular in shape with a pyramidical roof, and built in the 14th century by John de Chinnock, contains four huge fireplaces and is the most perfect portion left of the former magnificent monastery. The chapel of St Joseph of Arimath?a, beneath which is a large crypt, stands to the west of the church.
The fame belonging to this noble foundation exceeded that of any other great building in England. An old writer tells us, “Kings and queens, not only of the west Saxons, but of other kingdoms; several archbishops and bishops; many dukes; and the nobility of both sexes thought themselves happy in increasing the revenues of this venerable house, to ensure themselves a place of burial therein.” The story of the burial of St Joseph of Arimath?a at Glastonbury, to us a mere shadowy legend, was accepted as a fact in the early English ages, and that it figured in the mind of these{127} worthies as endowing Glastonbury with extraordinary sanctity, is beyond doubt.
At the time of the Dissolution no corruption whatever was revealed at Glastonbury, nor any blame recorded against its management. It was still doing splendid work, having daily services and extending its educational influence for miles around. There was but scanty comfort for its inmates, who rested on a straw mattress and bolster on their narrow bedstead in a bare cell, and whose food, duties and discipline were marked by an austere simplicity. Nor were they idle, these monks of Glastonbury,—some taught in the abbey school, others toiled in the orchards, and the beauty of the stained glass, designed within the abbey walls, found fame far and wide. Richard Whiting was Abbot of Glastonbury when in 1539 Henry VIII. ordered inquiries to be made into the condition and property of the abbey. Although he recognised the monarch as supreme head of the church, he respected the Glastonbury traditions and met the “visitors” in a spirit of passive resistance. With the object of preserving them from desecration, the abbot had concealed some of the communion vessels, and for this offence the venerable man was tried, and condemned to death. His head, white with the touch of eighty years, was fixed upon the abbey gate, and the rest of his body quartered and sent to Bath, Wells, Bridgwater and Ilchester. The abbey building—one of the most perfect examples of architecture in the land—served as a stone quarry, much of the material being used to make a road over the fenland from Glastonbury to Wells. The revenue at the time of the Dissolution was over ￡3000, a big income in those days.
BATH (Benedictine)
The history of Bath Abbey is tersely and comprehensively put on a brass tablet on the lower part of{128} the screen which admits to the south aisle of the chancel. It may serve in lieu of the ordinary table of notable events concerning the abbey, for it runs as follows:—
“In 775 the first Cathedral was built by King Offa.
In 973 King Edgar was crowned therein.
About 1010 the church was destroyed by Sweyne the Dane,
And rebuilt by John de Villula, 1018-1122.
In 1137 partly destroyed by fire, it was subsequently restored by Bishop Robert, 1136-1166.
In 1499, then in a ruinous state, was taken down, and Bishop King and Prior Bird began to build the present structure, which was not completed for public worship until 1616.
In 1834 the Corporation of Bath carried out extensive repairs and removed adjoining buildings which for many years disfigured the church.
In 1864 the Reverend Charles Venable, aided by public subscriptions, began the work of restoration under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, R.A.”
No English county is richer in Roman remains than Somersetshire, and with only a few exceptions they are all to be found in Bath. In the early days of their occupation the Romans discovered the value of the hot springs and cleared the rough and primitive British dwellings to erect in their place a splendid city. The Roman baths, which have been unearthed quite recently, bear distinct witness to the early celebrity of the city. These remains cover but a small part of the original site, because it has been calculated the baths alone must have covered an area of seven acres, and in addition there would be the lounges, pleasure grounds, and the villas of the Roman residents. The earliest name of the city of which there is any record is Aqu? Solis—&ldq............