DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0139
("ROY LAND ABBEY, LINCOLNSHIRE.
75
Of the dimensions of such parts of the church as are destroyed, we can only
form an idea by a comparison with the remaining parts of the structure whose
dimensions are known. Mr. Willis conceives that not more than a third of the
original edifice is now standing, and, by a tradition derived from the inhabitants of
- the place, he calculates that the choir extended a length of two hundred feet beyond
the central tower, and that its breadth was eighty feet.* If this tradition is correct,
the dimensions of the choir could never have been in proportion to those of the
nave. It probably extended only five pillars beyond the east arch of the tower,
exclusive of the semi-circular, or hexagonal termination. The just proportions of
the building would require such an extent, but the actual existence of it depends
upon conjecture only.
Of the buildings of the monastery no idea can be formed, as their foundations
have been destroyed. Their extent is determined by the remains of a trench, dug
in the civil war. This runs parallel with the church, about ninety feet south of it,
and the southern boundary of the monastery was possibly on this spot. The cloister
is, perhaps, the only portion whose situation can be determined with certainty. It
occupied an acre on the south side of the church, bounded on the east by the central
tower and south transept, and ran parallel with the western front. Reasoning from
analogy, the chapter-house was parallel with the south transept, and was situated on
the east side of the cloister, in the centre of which was placed the principal door of
communication. The arrangement of the chief apartments and offices will be ascer-
tained with less certainty. Some irregularities are still apparent on the surface of
the ground, occasioned by digging for stone. These become gradually less conspi-
cuous, as the pursuit is abandoned, from a diminution of the profit. Enough yet
remains to remind us of the past magnificence of the whole, and to excite unavailing
regret that the ample revenues conferred by the liberality of its founders and bene-
factors, on the temple of holiness which its inhabitants had reared in a desert, had
not been appropriated to the security of the established church, and to the glory of
the reformed religion. The day is not far distant, when the most valuable of the
present remains must fall in ruin, and the ill-judged zeal of the inhabitants in the
repair of the west front has tended to accelerate its approach. History will proclaim
what Croyland was, though its glories shall be no more; and the nominis umbra
keep alive the respect which is due to the remains of antiquity, and to the abode of
religion.
* History of Mitred Abbies, vol. i, 1718.
75
Of the dimensions of such parts of the church as are destroyed, we can only
form an idea by a comparison with the remaining parts of the structure whose
dimensions are known. Mr. Willis conceives that not more than a third of the
original edifice is now standing, and, by a tradition derived from the inhabitants of
- the place, he calculates that the choir extended a length of two hundred feet beyond
the central tower, and that its breadth was eighty feet.* If this tradition is correct,
the dimensions of the choir could never have been in proportion to those of the
nave. It probably extended only five pillars beyond the east arch of the tower,
exclusive of the semi-circular, or hexagonal termination. The just proportions of
the building would require such an extent, but the actual existence of it depends
upon conjecture only.
Of the buildings of the monastery no idea can be formed, as their foundations
have been destroyed. Their extent is determined by the remains of a trench, dug
in the civil war. This runs parallel with the church, about ninety feet south of it,
and the southern boundary of the monastery was possibly on this spot. The cloister
is, perhaps, the only portion whose situation can be determined with certainty. It
occupied an acre on the south side of the church, bounded on the east by the central
tower and south transept, and ran parallel with the western front. Reasoning from
analogy, the chapter-house was parallel with the south transept, and was situated on
the east side of the cloister, in the centre of which was placed the principal door of
communication. The arrangement of the chief apartments and offices will be ascer-
tained with less certainty. Some irregularities are still apparent on the surface of
the ground, occasioned by digging for stone. These become gradually less conspi-
cuous, as the pursuit is abandoned, from a diminution of the profit. Enough yet
remains to remind us of the past magnificence of the whole, and to excite unavailing
regret that the ample revenues conferred by the liberality of its founders and bene-
factors, on the temple of holiness which its inhabitants had reared in a desert, had
not been appropriated to the security of the established church, and to the glory of
the reformed religion. The day is not far distant, when the most valuable of the
present remains must fall in ruin, and the ill-judged zeal of the inhabitants in the
repair of the west front has tended to accelerate its approach. History will proclaim
what Croyland was, though its glories shall be no more; and the nominis umbra
keep alive the respect which is due to the remains of antiquity, and to the abode of
religion.
* History of Mitred Abbies, vol. i, 1718.