381

as the other monks.380 Even the requisites for its altar would seem to have been furnished from the abbey; for two wax-lights of four pounds weight were always to be provided here by the sacristan, to be burned during the celebration of mass. At a later period the office of chaplain and curate is found held by indenture from the abbot and convent; the incumbent then receiving parochial oblations and small personal tythe, but yielding thence a yearly payment to the abbot;302 who exercised over this and the remaining chapels of the Vale an authority equivalent not merely to rectorial but also to episcopal superiority. Of this supremacy a remarkable instance is presented in a mandate from abbot Bremesgrave extant among the conventual registers-addressed to the parochial chaplains of St. Lawrence and All-saints. In this they are commanded either to suspend, or finally to proceed to the excommunication of offenders, within their several churches, by virtue of the abbatial authority as derived immediately from Rome.383

From another manuscript pertaining to the abbey, preserved in the Cotton collection, we learn that in 1271 this church was so far completed, that a conventual chapter was then held in it, during the abbacy of William de Whitchurch.384 And in another manuscript we find that the structure was consecrated by the bishop of

380 "Quarum duarum capellarum sacerdotes, scilicet St. Laurentii et Omnium Sanctorum, debent habere cotidie de cellario panem et cervisiam, sicut monachi."Cottonian MS. Augustus ii. No. 11.

381 Evesham Register, in Harleian MS. 3763, folio 201; in Tindal, 184.

382 Capella S'c'i Laurencij in Evesham.-Eđus Fyld capellanus & curat' ib'm t'mio vite sue p indentur' ex concessione & dimissione abbi's & conventus monast'ij de Evesham in com' Wigorn' het ib'm in decimis psonalib's oblacõib's ac alijs annuis minorib's decimis & ficuis coib's annis-£xiij xjs. iijd. ob'

"Inde allor in penčone ppetua anti' resolut' abbi mon' pdci & succe' suis p anm lxxiijs. ivd.”—Decanat' Vall' Evesham, in Valor Ecclesiasticus, Hen. VIII. iii. 255. 383 "Ricardus permissione divina abbas monasterii Eveshamiæ, Wigorn. diocesis, ad Romanam ecclesiam nullo medio pertinentis, ac ordinarii jurisdictionis exempti vallis Eveshamiæ, Capellanis parochialibus ecclesiarum Omnium Sanctorum et Sti. Laurentii Eveshamiæ . . dictum R. sic fuisse et esse per nos

...

excommunicatum vel suspensum in ecclesiis vestris publice et solempniter denunciatis, ab hujus denunciatione non cassantes."-De Correctione Fraterna, in Cottonian MSS. Titus C ix. folio 32.

384 Celebratum est capitulum apud Evesham in ecclesia Sancti Laurentij."- MS. Nero iii. D folio 342 given in Dugdale.

Y

St. Asaph, during the abbacy of John de Brokehampton, in 1295.385 These dates induce a supposition that the building was completed during the thirteenth century. And bearing in mind, that during this period Thomas de Marleberg and Henry Lathom then successively flourished-to whose architectural ability we have before referred-it is extremely probable that these were the persons who principally directed its construction. There are portions of the present fabric which, from their style of architecture, tend to confirm this supposition: among which we would particularly refer to the structure of the tower and spire.

The church, however, though completed and consecrated, as we have seen, has since that period, and prior to its recent restoration -been almost rebuilt. And, while admiring the pillared arches, the clerestory above,386 and the eastern termination of the central aisleevidently the production of the sixteenth century-we, in the absence of further information than that implied in the traditional appellation of its chapel at the south,387 cannot but inquire-Who was the author of this renovation, if not the mitred genius who reared the adjacent bell-tower? and who-this admitted-alike reedified and adorned the parochial church of St. Lawrence, to which his own cathedral-like establishment was the mother-church. The recent melancholy condition of the structure naturally induces a supposition that this re-edification was suddenly stayed, upon the resignation of Abbot Lichfield, in 1539; and that the building was in consequence hastily covered in, before the external decorations were completed. For Leland-who visited the spot only seven years after-then found the structure, at least thus far, completed; and therefore tells us "There be within the precincts of the abbey of Eovesham two parish churches, whither the people of the towne resort."388 But within two centuries after this remark, the condition of the one now under review had, from some unnamed cause

385 (

Memorandum, quod anno domini Mo. CCo. nonagesimo Vto, anno vero regni regis Edwardi III. . die Dominica sequente 16mo, kalend. Januarij, dedicavit idem Asaphensis ecclesiam sancti Laurentij.”—Destroyed Cottonian MS. Vitellius E xvii. given in Stevens's Appendix to Dugdale.

386 Clere-story.-The masonry that occurs between the arches next the aisles and the central ceiling.

387 Usually termed Abbot Lichfield's Chapel. 388 Itinerary, iv. p. 69. ed. 1764.

become so impaired and dilapidated, that in 1730 a brief was granted, and nearly six hundred pounds were raised, and apparently expended for its repair. But reparation at that period, usually implied a destruction of whatever the mason considered as standing in the way of his own notions of improvement. For not contented with repairing ancient fabrics, restoration was unheeded; and "to be repaired and beautified" was then the favorite object and expression. Prior to such interference there was a chapel on the northern side, answering to the beautiful addition still remaining at the south. Mr. Abingdon minutely described it in the reign of Charles the First; and Willis-only two years before the miscalled 'reparation' says that a chapel then existed on each side the body of this church, which seem to have been built about the same time as that in All-saints' church, viz. not long before the dissolution. '389 But to effect the species of repair decided on in 1730, the northern line of pillars next the nave, the aisle beyond, as well as the chapel just referred to, were all demolished. A new wall was then erected upon the northern boundary of the aisle, which being elevated to a level with that southward of the nave, was made to sustain a roof thus stretched across this extraordinary space. As might have been anticipated, no timber so strained over such a span could long sustain the weight; and in a little time the beams gave way, leaving the roofless structure to moulder into the ruined and neglected pile which we were till recently compelled to behold. Its late appearance-which in conjunction with the adjacent structures forms an unusual as well as picturesque subject for the pencil—we have preserved in the accompanying print.

The tower with its spire and pinnacles are evidently coeval with the original church. The former rises in a square, but has each angle capriciously and singularly bevelled off between a pair of graduated buttresses of very slight projection. The battlements of the parapet are 'few and far between,' and the string-course underneath is remarkable for the small cylindrical gurgoyles or waterspouts upon which it rests. There is a stair-turret on the southeast, capped with a stunted cone; the pinnacles on the remaining angles are of the plainest kind; four others at the immediate

389 Willis's Mitred Abbeys, vol. ii. A.D. 1728.