DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32038#0083
GLASTONBURY ABBEY, SOMERSETSHIRE.
51
sponding to the vast numbers of inmates, servants, and guests, who were usually
lodged in the abbey.* These have almost totally perished. Of the great
church, only some detached fragments remain standing; with the exception of
St. Joseph’s chapel, of which the walls are nearly entire.f The Abbot’s lodg-
ings, which formed a spacious mansion, were pulled down in 1714 ;J and the
rest of these noble ruins has been so thoroughly demolished, for the sake of
the materials, that the only entire piece left is the kitchen, represented in the
following Plates.
Plate I. Abbot’s Kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey.
This remarkable structure, though generally described as the Abbot’s Kitchen,
was, more probably, intended for the general use of the community. Its erec-
tion has been attributed to Abbot Whiting, who is said to have constructed it on
the following occasion : — The King had taunted him for gluttony, and luxurious
feasting; and said, sarcastically, that he would burn his kitchen: to which the
Abbot haughtily replied, that he would build such a one as all the wood in the
royal forests could not consume. This idle story is equally unsuitable to the
characters of Abbot Whiting and of Henry VIII.; and is sufficiently refuted, by
the style of the building itself, which shews, that it was erected above a century
before their time. Probably it was the work of John Chinnock, who governed
the abbey from 1374, to his death, in 1420, and who is recorded to have rebuilt
the cloisters, and several other apartments; some of which had been commenced
by his predecessors.
The plan gives horizontal sections at two different points. The lower half
shews the floor, which measures 33 feet 6 inches square, within the walls. It
has a door in the middle of the south side, and another opposite to it; and a
window on every side. The angles are crossed by the four arches of the fire-
places, which reduce the upper part to an octagon. Every fire-place had a
* The abbot’s household consisted of 300 persons. And the number of strangers entertained,
on some occasions, liad been 500.
f This is a very curious piece of architecture of the mixed style, which prevailed at the period
when the pointed arch began to supersede the semicircular one. See “ Britton’s Architect. Antiq.”
vol. iv.; Carter’s “ Ancient Architecture of England,” folio; “ Vetusta Monumenta,” vol. iv.;
“ Grose’s Antiquities ;” &c.
J These lodgings are shewn in plates 36 and 37 of “ Stukely’s Itinerarium Curiosum ; ” and also
in Hollar’s “ Views in the Monasticon.” They were probably erected by Abbot Beere, the imme-
diate predecessor of Whiting.
51
sponding to the vast numbers of inmates, servants, and guests, who were usually
lodged in the abbey.* These have almost totally perished. Of the great
church, only some detached fragments remain standing; with the exception of
St. Joseph’s chapel, of which the walls are nearly entire.f The Abbot’s lodg-
ings, which formed a spacious mansion, were pulled down in 1714 ;J and the
rest of these noble ruins has been so thoroughly demolished, for the sake of
the materials, that the only entire piece left is the kitchen, represented in the
following Plates.
Plate I. Abbot’s Kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey.
This remarkable structure, though generally described as the Abbot’s Kitchen,
was, more probably, intended for the general use of the community. Its erec-
tion has been attributed to Abbot Whiting, who is said to have constructed it on
the following occasion : — The King had taunted him for gluttony, and luxurious
feasting; and said, sarcastically, that he would burn his kitchen: to which the
Abbot haughtily replied, that he would build such a one as all the wood in the
royal forests could not consume. This idle story is equally unsuitable to the
characters of Abbot Whiting and of Henry VIII.; and is sufficiently refuted, by
the style of the building itself, which shews, that it was erected above a century
before their time. Probably it was the work of John Chinnock, who governed
the abbey from 1374, to his death, in 1420, and who is recorded to have rebuilt
the cloisters, and several other apartments; some of which had been commenced
by his predecessors.
The plan gives horizontal sections at two different points. The lower half
shews the floor, which measures 33 feet 6 inches square, within the walls. It
has a door in the middle of the south side, and another opposite to it; and a
window on every side. The angles are crossed by the four arches of the fire-
places, which reduce the upper part to an octagon. Every fire-place had a
* The abbot’s household consisted of 300 persons. And the number of strangers entertained,
on some occasions, liad been 500.
f This is a very curious piece of architecture of the mixed style, which prevailed at the period
when the pointed arch began to supersede the semicircular one. See “ Britton’s Architect. Antiq.”
vol. iv.; Carter’s “ Ancient Architecture of England,” folio; “ Vetusta Monumenta,” vol. iv.;
“ Grose’s Antiquities ;” &c.
J These lodgings are shewn in plates 36 and 37 of “ Stukely’s Itinerarium Curiosum ; ” and also
in Hollar’s “ Views in the Monasticon.” They were probably erected by Abbot Beere, the imme-
diate predecessor of Whiting.