Bells Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey

Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey?by Thomas Perkins

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Title: Bell's Cathedrals: A Short Account of Romsey Abbey A Description of the Fabric and Notes on the History of the Convent of Ss. Mary & Ethelfleda
Author: Thomas Perkins

Release Date: October 3, 2007 [eBook #22880]
Language: English
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A SHORT ACCOUNT OF ROMSEY ABBEY
A Description of the Fabric and Notes on the History of the Convent of Ss. Mary & Ethelfleda
by
THE REV. T. PERKINS Rector of Turnworth, Dorset Author of "Amiens," "Rouen," "Wimborne and Christchurch," Etc.
With XXXII Illustrations

[Illustration: ROMSEY ABBEY FROM THE EAST]
[Illustration: Abbess's Seal]

London George Bell and Sons 1907
Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co. Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.

PREFACE
The architectural and descriptive part of this book is the result of careful personal examination of the fabric, made when the author has visited the abbey at various times during the last twenty years. The illustrations are reproduced from photographs taken by him on the occasions of these visits.
The historical information has been derived from many sources. Among these may especially be mentioned "An Essay descriptive of the Abbey Church of Romsey," by C. Spence, the first edition of which was published in 1851; the small official guide sold in the church, and "Records of Romsey Abbey, compiled from manuscript and printed records," by the Rev. Henry G. D. Liveing, M.A., Vicar of Hyde, Winchester, 1906. This last-named work contains all that is at present known, or that is likely to be known, of the history of the abbey from its foundation early in the ninth century up to the year 1558. To this book the reader who desires fuller information and minuter details than could be given in the following pages is referred.
The thanks of the writer are due to the late and present Vicars for kind permission to examine the building, and to take photographs of it from any point of view he desired.
TURNWORTH RECTORY, BLANDFORD, DORSET. March, 1907.

CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 15 II. THE EXTERIOR 27 III. THE INTERIOR 39 IV. THE ABBESSES OF ROMSEY 67 VICARS OF ROMSEY 79 INDEX 81 DIMENSIONS OF THE ABBEY CHURCH 82

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
ROMSEY ABBEY FROM THE EAST Frontispiece
ABBESS'S SEAL Title-page
APSIDAL CHAPEL, SOUTH TRANSEPT 14
THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST 19
JUNCTION OF NORMAN AND EARLY ENGLISH WORK 21
VIEW FROM THE NORTH-WEST 23
THE ABBESS'S DOOR 26
THE WEST END AND SOUTH TRANSEPT 29
THE SOUTH TRANSEPT FROM THE WEST 31
THE SAXON ROOD 33
THE CHOIR, SOUTH SIDE 35
THE NAVE, NORTH SIDE 38
CYLINDRICAL PIER: NORTH NAVE ARCADE 40
THE CLERESTORY OF NAVE 41
EARLY ENGLISH BAYS OF THE NAVE 43
THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE CHOIR 44
TRIFORIUM ARCH IN THE NORTH TRANSEPT 45
THE INTERIOR FROM THE WEST 46
BASE OF A PIER IN THE NAVE 47
ARCADING IN THE TOWER 48
IN THE RINGERS' CHAMBER 49
THE WEST WALL OF NORTH TRANSEPT 50
THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE 51
THE AMBULATORY 52
THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE 55
SAXON CARVING, SOUTH AISLE 56
THE NORTH-EAST ANGLE OF THE CROSSING 57
TOMB AND EFFIGY IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT 61
THE NORTH AISLE OF THE NAVE 63
THE SOUTH TRANSEPT 66
PIER IN THE NORTH NAVE ARCADE 73
PLAN End
[Illustration: APSIDAL CHAPEL, SOUTH TRANSEPT]

ROMSEY ABBEY
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
The etymology of the name Romsey has been much disputed. There can be no doubt about the meaning of the termination "ey"--island--which we meet with under different spellings in many place-names, such as Athelney, Ely, Lundy, Mersea and others, for Romsey stands upon an island, or rather group of islands, formed by the division of the river Test into a number of streams, which again flow together to the south of the town, and at last, after a course of about seven miles, empty themselves into Southampton Water. But several derivations have been suggested for the first syllable of the name. Some writers derive it from Rome, and regard Romsey as a hybrid word taking the place of "Romana insula," the first word having been shortened and the