CHAPTER VIII
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, 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 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 Arimathæa, 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