A BURIED ABBEY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 36, 25 January 1911, Page 7

A BURIED ABBEY

Re.ent excavations at the site of Ix’M-.es Abbey. near Piunistead, in Kent, have revealed the remains of a much more imjxirtant building than vv .as '. <’:mmmly believed io have occu-p:.-d the spot in the sixteenth century. Since the abbey was destroyed by Cardinal Wolsley in 1525 the only rciiis above ground have been a portion of the cioister wall and some rough farm walls eunstru’cted out of the debris of the building. The

ruins which have now been unearth- < ed in a negkete;’ orchard show that the building mv.-t have been more than 250 ft. long, and 50ft. across the transepts. A plan of the excavations his been prepared, showing the abbey church, with a lady chapel and sm-iiler chapels, the chapter house and other buildings. Ono of the m:»-t iniercAiiig cf the discoveries is i the si one effigy cf a knight, finely > -lived and palnle 1- Tm' effigy dates I i -. -I: fr..r.i .‘he early days- cf tiio four toon th century, svr.-'l th it of a <’■»•- .-eendant of the founder of the a-i>-I bey. I’i.-h.ud d>? Lwi. He played I :'."markable part in the history of i Et:'_d,ind du-ring the r< : gs.s. of Stephen ; and Henry 11. Ito w’.=* nvido Ch.el' J Jv-’t.!■•!•>r of Eiigl.ti.d by Henry. r.::d • probably l:-id more to do with th<- • p-rcat b.gai reforms th it were carried I m:-t in th*? .‘'cet.-nd half cf the twelfth • c..-;iri!.;-y than any other man, in the i kingdom. It is said that ho fomx’od the abbey as an act of expiation fc.r ! b r.-liig e-nor.scd the ceu.-e of th? i King agii/ist the Church. The ab- ! l>-y exi :<•■! from 1178 till 1525. when Wol.-ey suppress’d it. and the Imi.d- ■ ir.g- *v.<>.c pravticiiiy destroyed.

Though it was one of the most imixwtant Kentish abbeys belonging to the Av.g.;otir.e Order, and had a I'ifo <m 3’J yeai-s. no knowledge of its exact *i ii.iti<.n had been preserved, 'the i;ii!y pi-in in existence before the cx-:-sirations were began, was an eighteenth century drawing of a sn'.-a-ii budding, and it war. apparently the product < f an swrehite.-.-t’s imagination. The work of uncovering the ruins i- being carried tat by the AVocuw;<:ji Antiquarian Society, which has l-.-. ii enabled to coi r ><-t a number of *-rro.-.s in the hutory of the abbey. It is leheved that the completion of :■>.*.» excavations will lead to valuable discoveries.