S. of the low promontory of Middle Hope which ends westward in Sand Point. Turn N. over the flats from the village of Worle. Was the irony of deterioration ever better exemplified than in this thoroughly ecclesiastical and picturesque farmhouse? The nave, north aisle, and tower of a church, with some additions on the N. side, are used as a house. The place was founded (i 210) as a small Priory of Austin Canons by William de Courtenay, a descendant of de Tracy, one of *the four murderers of Thomas a Becket, possibly in expiation of the ancestral crime. The infirmary has been converted into a cart house, and the kitchen attached to it has been unearthed. The monastic barn on the N. side is in good preservation, and reminds us of the Bishop’s Barn at Wells, at any rate in size, being over 120 feet long. However, it is not cruciform, having a door only on the S., which is supported by massive buttresses, round in the lower part and rectangular above. Between the buttresses on the S. side are three pointed doors beside the central one. A most interesting survival! Ferns and ivy growing up the walls add a glamour to this venerable fourteenth-century structure. There is besides, on the S.W., a chapter-house (with stone seat all round), which shows traces of a gabled porch at its W. end; and here, the result of recent excava tion, are seen the wall-footings of several chambers S. of the site of the chancel and Lady-chapel. These latter together measure 57 feet by 21 feet. A delicate E.E. tower arch on this side is blocked up. The present owner, Major Vernon Hill, has done most praiseworthy work in excavating, but the place flie
Saturday, 15 October 2016
W E S T O N-S U P E R-M ARE
S. of the low promontory of Middle Hope which ends westward in Sand Point. Turn N. over the flats from the village of Worle. Was the irony of deterioration ever better exemplified than in this thoroughly ecclesiastical and picturesque farmhouse? The nave, north aisle, and tower of a church, with some additions on the N. side, are used as a house. The place was founded (i 210) as a small Priory of Austin Canons by William de Courtenay, a descendant of de Tracy, one of *the four murderers of Thomas a Becket, possibly in expiation of the ancestral crime. The infirmary has been converted into a cart house, and the kitchen attached to it has been unearthed. The monastic barn on the N. side is in good preservation, and reminds us of the Bishop’s Barn at Wells, at any rate in size, being over 120 feet long. However, it is not cruciform, having a door only on the S., which is supported by massive buttresses, round in the lower part and rectangular above. Between the buttresses on the S. side are three pointed doors beside the central one. A most interesting survival! Ferns and ivy growing up the walls add a glamour to this venerable fourteenth-century structure. There is besides, on the S.W., a chapter-house (with stone seat all round), which shows traces of a gabled porch at its W. end; and here, the result of recent excava tion, are seen the wall-footings of several chambers S. of the site of the chancel and Lady-chapel. These latter together measure 57 feet by 21 feet. A delicate E.E. tower arch on this side is blocked up. The present owner, Major Vernon Hill, has done most praiseworthy work in excavating, but the place flie