DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6887#0364
274 HISTORY OF
tuted. The central pillar remains, light, slender, and elegant, surrounded by
eight others, bound by two equidistant fasciae, and terminated in capitals of beau-
tiful simplicity. By the consent of the abbot, in 1377, the Commons of Great
Britain first held their parliaments in this place, the crown undertaking the neces-
sary repairs. Here they sat till the year 1547, when Edward VI. granted the
chapel of St. Stephen for that purpose. It is at present filled with the public
records, among which is the original Domesday-Book, now upwards of seven hundred
years old, and in a fine state of preservation. Beneath the chapter-house is a very
curious crypt. The roof, which forms the floor of the former, is supported by a
short, round pillar, quite hollow. The top spreads into massive plain ribs, the
supports of the roof. The walls are not less than eighteen feet thick, and form
an immense base for the superstructure. They had been pierced by several small
windows, which are now lost by the vast accession of earth on the outside. Ac-
cording to Mr. Pennant, one of them was just visible in an adjoining house, then
belonging to Mr. Barrow, through which was the only access to this subterranean
chamber*.
In the vicinity of the abbey stood the Sanctuary, a place of refuge, in super-
stitious times, to criminals of certain denominations. The church belonging to
it was in the form of a cross, with two ranges of building, above each other.
Such is the account that Dr. Stukely gives of it, who remembered it standing ;
and represents the great labour required to demolish it, from its vast strength and
solidityf* It is supposed to have been the work of Edward the Confessor. Within
its: precinct Edward V. was born ; and here his unhappy mother fled with her
younger son Richard, to whom it proved but a short-lived refuge]:.
• Pennant's London, third edit. p. 85.
t Archaelogia, I. p. et tab. 39.
t Vol. I. p. 91.
tuted. The central pillar remains, light, slender, and elegant, surrounded by
eight others, bound by two equidistant fasciae, and terminated in capitals of beau-
tiful simplicity. By the consent of the abbot, in 1377, the Commons of Great
Britain first held their parliaments in this place, the crown undertaking the neces-
sary repairs. Here they sat till the year 1547, when Edward VI. granted the
chapel of St. Stephen for that purpose. It is at present filled with the public
records, among which is the original Domesday-Book, now upwards of seven hundred
years old, and in a fine state of preservation. Beneath the chapter-house is a very
curious crypt. The roof, which forms the floor of the former, is supported by a
short, round pillar, quite hollow. The top spreads into massive plain ribs, the
supports of the roof. The walls are not less than eighteen feet thick, and form
an immense base for the superstructure. They had been pierced by several small
windows, which are now lost by the vast accession of earth on the outside. Ac-
cording to Mr. Pennant, one of them was just visible in an adjoining house, then
belonging to Mr. Barrow, through which was the only access to this subterranean
chamber*.
In the vicinity of the abbey stood the Sanctuary, a place of refuge, in super-
stitious times, to criminals of certain denominations. The church belonging to
it was in the form of a cross, with two ranges of building, above each other.
Such is the account that Dr. Stukely gives of it, who remembered it standing ;
and represents the great labour required to demolish it, from its vast strength and
solidityf* It is supposed to have been the work of Edward the Confessor. Within
its: precinct Edward V. was born ; and here his unhappy mother fled with her
younger son Richard, to whom it proved but a short-lived refuge]:.
• Pennant's London, third edit. p. 85.
t Archaelogia, I. p. et tab. 39.
t Vol. I. p. 91.