CURRENT ARCHEOLOGY.

THE CHURCH OF HAYLES ABBEY.1

The Abbey of Hayles was founded in 1246 by Richard earl of Cornwall, for monks of the Cistercian Order, and was colonised from the royal foundation of Beaulieu, in the New Forest, by twenty monks and ten conversi. In 1251 the work of building had so far progressed as to enable thirteen altars to be dedicated. În 1270 Edmund earl of Cornwall presented the famous relic of the Holy Blood. New work was immediately commenced, and was completed, together with the shrine to contain the relic, in 1277.

Before the excavations were undertaken last year upon the site of the abbey church at Hayles, very little was known respecting it.

All that remains above ground is part of the south aisle wall of the nave next the cloister. Now, from entire ignorance respecting the nature of the church, complete knowledge of the whole ground plan has been the reward of those engaged in the excavations.

More of the walls above the footings might have been left, but it is fortunate that the comparatively small amount that does remain enables the whole plan to be reconstructed without drawing anywhere upon the imagination.

The church that was commenced at the foundation of the abbey in 1246 was, as usual, cruciform in plan, and consisted of presbytery with aisles and a procession aisle with five chapels eastward, transepts with three eastern chapels to each, and a nave with aisles. All the main arcades were built upon sleeper walls as at the mother abbey of Beaulieu.

It would be natural to suppose that a daughter house would follow the plan of the parent; but Hayles, so far at any rate as the church is concerned, is an excellent

1 Communicated by Harold Brakspear, F.S.A.

example to show that this was not the general custom, which is also borne out by the fact that Netley, the other daughter of Beaulieu, was neither like the parent nor its sister of Hayles. All three foundations are very late in the list of Cistercian houses in this country, and the universal similarity of the early plan had long before become anything but general owing to various causes.

At Hayles the presbytery was four bays in length, with the westernmost bay considerably narrower than

the rest.

On the south side the plinths remain of two of the main arcade piers. The eastern one retains the draft lines of the bases, and the western the draft lines of the pier itself. The piers consisted of clusters of four large columns towards the cardinal points with smaller ones between. Each had a wide fillet in the centre. The arches were of three orders with a label (Fig. 1, Plate II). The main span was vaulted, with transverse and diagonal ribs, with large carved bosses at the intersection of the latter. There were no ridge ribs.

Between the piers and separating the aisles from the presbytery were solid walls 3 feet in thickness. Unlike the thirteenth century work at Fountains, Tintern, and other Cistercian abbeys, these walls were not provided for from the first, but subsequently built in between the piers.

On the north side the wall was subsequently narrowed over 12 inches,' but for what reason it is impossible to

say.

The east gable, judging from the two projections in the footings, was pierced by three arches, probably in line with the arcades on either side.

The side aisles were mere passages to the eastern altars, and were vaulted with cross and diagonal ribs without bosses. Against the outer walls were stone seats upon which the vaulting shafts rested. At the east end of the north aisle the first course remains of the projecting pier to carry the cross arch in line with the east gable. The outer walls are of the unusual thickness

This at any rate was the case in the second bay, as is shown by an added double row of tiles of different

date from the original paving, and presumably the others were similarly altered.

of 5 feet, and the buttresses project another 6 feet, so that doubtless the main vault of the presbytery was supported over the aisles by flying buttresses. In line with the main east gable were large turrets, and the southern one, if not both, contained a vice or spiral staircase.

That there was an eastern termination containing chapels beyond the main gable is proved: 1, by the evidence of dedications of thirteen altars, which could not be accounted for without there being five in this position; 2, by the projecting base already noticed in the north aisle; and 3, by the footings of both aisle walls continuing across the later chapels to some 24 feet beyond

the main east wall.

If this termination was merely a single aisle as at Byland and Waverley, it would be entirely occupied by the chapels and necessitate the procession path being within the main east gable, as it was in those two cases. But the high altar at Hayles occupied this position, so the procession path as well as the chapels would be eastward of the main east gable, as is the case at Dore, the eastern extension of which was being built at the same time.

Of the crossing nothing remains beyond the footings of the great piers, but there are indications that the tower caused trouble early in its history, as will be shown later.

The transepts were both four bays in length, vaulted as the presbytery. The main east walls were carried on arcades with piers of the same plan as those of the presbytery, except that, judging from the lowest course of the one left in the south transept, they were without bases or plinths, except to the column on the west face, which had both (Fig. 2, Plate II). The chapels were divided from one another by walls 10 inches thick.

The south-east corner of the south transept has been completely destroyed together with its foundations.

The west wall is 8 feet thick and contained the night stairs to the dorter, which had a square vaulted lobby at the foot. The angle shaft with base and cap to carry the vault remains in the north-west corner of the lobby. This treatment of the night stairs is the same