HISTORIC OLD ABBEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21242, 24 January 1931, Page 22

HISTORIC OLD ABBEY.

WEDDING OF TUDOR KING. STORY OF A BRIDGE. TILES 600 YEARS OLD. Titchfield Abbey, in Hampshire, has been scheduled as an historic monument, and is now being repaired by the British Government. Some interesting discoveries have been made within the abbey precmcts. A quantity of Early English tiles has been unearthed. Though these are 600 years old, they are in splendid preservation, and are among the finest specimens of mediaeval tile-work known.. 'Most ot them are coloured and bear crests. On one group of the tiles, which lies in its original position on the cloister floor, is inscribed; “Before you sit at table remember the poor.” Also in the cloister and opposite the chapter house have been unearthed the tombs of some of the 18 abbots who ruled the Imuse successively. They were interred in stone coffins, and one of them—Abbot Isaac—was a giant of a man physically, tor an examination of his remains proves him to have stood nearly 6ft ,6m high. Founded in 1222, Titchfield Abbey was a house of the Augustiman Canons. At the Dissolution it fell into the hands ot Thomas Wriothsley, first, Earl of .Southhampton, who turned it into a residence, which he named Place House. This eventually fell into ruin and, together with the walls of the abbey, was dargely dismantled to provide material for building Caius Hall. Fareham, which was_ erected to suit the whim of Lady Betty Delme, a famous Regency beauty and, like most ot her kind, a very extravagant and capricious ladv. By succession the abbey passed into possession of the Dukes of Portland, and thus provided the heir to that duchy with his courtesy title of Marquis of Titchfield. The only connection which the Portland family have now with the place is represented by some exceptionally fine family tombs in the village church, and which they maintain in good preservation Prior to the Dissolution, Titchfield \bbey was a house of soriie importance and frequently visited by reigning monarchs. Henry V. left it-to embark at Southampton for Agincourt,, and in the abbey Henry VI. was married to Margaret of Anjou. . . A relic of this royal bridal still exists near the abbey gate in the shape of a stone bridge, which the canons built to carry over a stream the procession ot Henry and Margaret when they left for London. It is still called “ Anjou Bridge, and is one of the most interesting media;-, val bridges existing. Thousands of motorists cross it yearly without knowing anything of its origin. ~ Titchfield Abbey, or Place House as it is alternatively called, is, however, a wellknown landmark to motorists. It stands close beside the main Brighton to Southampton coast road—on which cars swarm all the, year round —and is one of the “points” that all drivers keep on the lookout for, as there are sharp turns on each side of it.