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1825.]

Antient Royal Palace of Westminster.

**From Westminster Hall westward, to the tower near the low public-house, as being of stone, appears to have been part of the old palace, but from thence to St. Margaret's-street, as being of brick, is probably not older than the time of Henry VIII. and is supposed to have been erected on the stone wall which originally connected that range of buildings with the stone gate then standing at the North end of the present St. Margaret's-street."

*

This statement, I think, will be found to be erroneous.

Upon the demolition of the front wall, the part "of stone" appears to have had but a slight facing of that material, and it seems nearly certain, from some inscriptions hereafter inserted, that the same stone front was raised not earlier than 1570, the twelfth year of Elizabeth. Mr. John Carter, in his CVth number of "Architectural Innovation" (see vol. LXXVII. 135), more correct in his conjectures, says (in his usual style),

"The Court of Exchequer, by the remains of doors, windows, &c. must be of the earliest pointed style of workmanship; many of the windows have been cut into, and otherwise havocked, about the time of Elizabeth."

It is well known that the road to the Houses of Parliament was formerly through King-street, and Union-street, which were in so miserable a state that faggots were thrown into the ruts on the days on which the King went to Parliament, to render the passage of the state-coach more easy. From Union-street the road continued on the western side of New Palace-yard,

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through St. Margaret's-lane, to Old
Palace-yard. St. Margaret's-street was
formed out of St. Margaret's-lane, by
taking down 34 feet of these "Tudor
Buildings;" which, even until the year
1793, extended 72 feet farther west-
ward than recently (to about the mid-
front of that part, a view is given in
dle of the present street); of the South
your vol. LXXVI. P. 1185. Some apart-
ments of it were called Hell and Para-
diset, and had been formerly used as
prisons of the palace, but lastly as the
Augmentation-office; the pump (call-
foot pavement, was thus exposed to
ed Hell pump), now standing by the
view. One large room appears to
have been then diminished of half its
length; the room between which and
the Hall, has remained full of records
till very recently; this room is 76 feet
long, and was originally 30 feet wide,
of the towers, and ranging with the
the North wall receding from the face
front of the Hall; but at the period
before named, its enlargement being
required, the substantial stone wall
was demolished, and substituted by
massy wooden pillars which sustained
the roof. These pillars are two feet
in diameter, and the additional width
to the room is 14 feet 9 inches. The
entire number of pillars is eleven, six
appeared in the Exchequer Court; the
whole were laid prostrate this morning,
and on removing them from their stone
basements in the sub-structure, the
names of the following Pillars of the
State were discovered engraven round
seven of them, with the date 1570 in
the middle of each.

REGNI ELIZABETHE ANGLIE FRANCIE ET HIBERNIE REGINE. XII. A. D. 1570.
NICHOLAVS BACON MILES DNS CUSTOS MAGNE SIGILLE ANGLIE.

ROBERTVS DVDLEY COMES LEICESTRIE MAGISTER EQVITVM.
GVLIELMVS CECILIVS PRINCIPALIS SECRETARIVS REGINE.
GVLIELMVS PAVLET MARCHIO WINTON THESAVRARIVS ANGLIE.
GVALTERVS MYLDMAY MILES CANCELLARIVS AC THESAVRAR. SCCII.
JACOBVS DYER MILES CAPITALIS JVSTICIARIVS DE BANCO.

Nor is it the least curious particular, that the weight of what the oak-pillars been the support, had caused impressions of the inscriptions to be formed in relief, as perfect as on wax.

The ancient apartment, known as the Court of Exchequer, is entitled to particular notice from its remote antiquity, and the beauty of its archi

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tecture, very considerable and perfect relics of which were discoverable amidst the barbarous alterations and mutilations it had at various times, and for various purposes, experienced. It is next in point of antiquity to the

†There were also in the Palace places called Heaven and Purgatory.

These, with the contents of other rooms, are now deposited in a large temporary wooden building, erected in the midst of Westminster Hall.

Hall,

392

Antient Royal Palace of Westminster.

Hall, whose entire walls, from the foundation to the foot of the windows, are doubtless Norman, of the age of William Rufus. Indicia of that style appeared on the removal of the Porch: there had been three nearly equally proportioned arches, probably covered by a vestibule or porch (but whether of the same age or not, I cannot determine) similar to that leading to the Chapterhouse of BristolCathedral. The doorway occupied the centre arch; the side arches were filled with masonry, placed in lozenge-shaped courses, exactly similar to specimens in the Norman Chapter-house of Wenlock Priory Church, and others on the West front of Norwich Cathedral. The beautifully executed new Porch has entirely hidden these relics from observation; they were long exposed, and surely could not have escaped the eye of the curious, who watched the progress of the demolition of the old, and the erection of the new Front. It was also apparent, by a large fissure from the top to the bottom, that the square towers, which now ennoble the front of the Hall, were additions to the original design. I must further observe, in proof that the walls of the Hall were never entirely rebuilt, but are of the Norman era, that a curiously indented cornice remains on the exterior of the East side, and that on the removal of the two Courts of Justice, the blank arch of a Norman doorway appeared in the South wall, near the East angle. But to return to the Exchequer Court. It was probably built in the reign of King Edward the Second; the walls were four feet thick, surmounted by a corbel table, which remains nearly perfect on the South side, and the architecture was of the most pure and elegant Pointed style. The roof was rebuilt in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at which time also nearly all the windows were altered; only one being suffered to retain its ancient character uninjured; this is so simple and graceful in its design, so elegantly proportioned, and its numerous mouldings so admirably carved, that at the period which produced it, Gothic Architecture must have attained the summit of its excellence. It consisted of two compartments, triple slender pillars giving support to trefoil arches, and over them an open quatrefoil, the whole recessed beneath a

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handsomely formed pointed arch. The thickness of the walls admitting of deep recesses, and their pillars resting on the floor, the windows presented towards the room the appearance of bays or oriels. The arches on this side were very flat, but formed of numerous mouldings, and reposed on curiously sculptured capitals. Each window was seven feet 11 inches wide on the outside, on the inside eight feet eight inches, and 15 feet high.

There were several doorways, both ancient and modern, on the South side of the room. An arch close to the wall of the Hall, coeval in date with the fabric itself, entered an apartment of rather an irregular figure, recently used by the Judges, but anciently belonging to Queen Elizabeth; it was lighted by windows of plain form, but ample dimensions, and would have been an oblong of 43 feet by 29 feet, but for the intrusion of one of the great flying-buttresses which flank the sides of the Hall, and resist the pressure of the magnificent timber roof. The tradition that this was Queen Elizabeth's bed-chamber, deserves notice; and I may at the same time observe, that the Exchequercourt is said to have been her concert or breakfast-room, and the gallery in it to have been for the Musicians. Over the gallery was a long room filled with records, affirmed to have been the nursery of the Palace in the time of Henry the Eighth, and in it Edward VI. is reported to have been nursed. (Smith, pp. 55, 56.) These are, however, mere suppositions, and the latter is overthrown by the date 1570 on the bases of the pillars below. Representations of the Elizabethan front, with the octangular staircase tower, have been frequently published in views of the front of the Hall.

I am induced to take particular notice of a blank but imperfectly formed arch, in that part of the wall of the Hall which was enclosed by the Exchequer Court, because many casual observers believe it to be the remains of a Norman arch, and consequently a curious vestige of the original design, but a glance at the interior of the Hall will prove that the arch is pointed, corresponding in size and figure with the rest of the windows.

Yours, &c.

N. & B.
Mr.

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1693.] Account of St. Bennet's Abbey, at Holme, Norfolk.

Mr. URBAN, Norwich, March 1. SENI) you an account (principally from Blomefield) of St. Bennet's Abbey at Holme, in the parish of Horning, in Norfolk, to accompany a drawing of the remains of the West, or prineipal Gate of the Abbey * (see Plate I.) HOLME was a solitary place in the marshes, called Cowholme, &c. and given (according to the tradition of the monks) by Horus, a little prince, to a society of religious hermits, under the government of one Suneman, about the year 800, who (with the chapel of St. Benedict, by them here built) were all destroyed in the general destruction of this country by the Danes, under Inquar and Hubba, in 870. In the next century, Wolfric, a holy man, gathered seven companions here, and rebuilt the chapel and houses; they had resided here some years, when King Canute, the Dane, founded and endowed at Holm an abbey of Benedictine monks, before 1020. This abbey was fortified by the monks with strong walls, &c. that it resembled more a castle than a cloisfer, and, as tradition says, held out some time against King William I, till betrayed by the treachery of one of the monks, on condition of his being made abbot, and on his promotion he was ordered to be hanged directly.

From an old MS. in the College of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, written by William Botoner, alias Worceter, gent., Blomefield gives these particulars:

The Abbey Church, from the East window to the West door, together with the choir, was De gradibus meis, Anglice Steppys, 148. The breadth of the choir and presbytery 17 gradus. The breadth of the South isle of this church, which was built by Sir John Fastolf, 11 gradus, and the length of it from East to West 58 gradus. This last appears to have been a beautiful pile, built of, and vaulted with free stone, and had seven large windows to the South. The length of the North aile was 68 gradus, the breadth 12 gradus. The length of the choir and stalls, 24 gradus. The length of the high altar was 17 of Botoner's spans, and that of the South isle 15; the space of the bell tower that stood in

* Three views of this Gate, in a more perfeet state, with a ground plot, are engraved in the "Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries.

GENT. MAG. May, 1823.

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393

the midst of the church was 22 feet. The Frayter was 40 virgæ long to the pantry door, and seven broad. Master Thos. Newton built Trinity chapel in the abbey church.

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Blomefield recites a long string nobles who were admitted to be brethren here; to whose History of Norfolk I refer for the Worthies' names.

William Rugg, alias Repps, S.T.D. installed Abbot April 26, 1530. On Feb. 4, 1535, the See of Norwich being void, an Act of Parliament was passed (though never printed) whereby the ancient barony of the See, and its revenues, were separated from it, and the priory of Hickling, with the barony and revenues of this Abbey, were annexed to the See of Norwich instead thereof; and in right of this barony, the Bishop of Norwich now sits in the House of Lords, the barony of the See being in the Crown; so that this Abbey was never dissolved, only transferred by the statutes, before the dissolution.

Holme was a mitred abbey, and its abbots always sat in the House of Lords.

The revenues of this Abbey were great, in the 26 Henry VIII. it was valued at 5837. 17s.; as Dugdale, and as Speed at 6771. 9s. 8d. as appears from Bishop Tanner.

King Edward the Confessor was a benefactor, granted them many privileges, and confirmed those of King Canute, as did Maud the Empress, King Henry II., Richard I. &c.

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The Mill, standing on the ruins of this ruin, is used to draw the water from the marshes on which it is situated, and to empty the same into the North river, whereon it nearly abuts. There are still standing two arches of this once sumptuous pile ;' the West one is situated inside the mill, and is much ornamented; its spandrils have the figures of a man with a sword and a lion finely relieved; the other arch, standing more Easterly, is well proportioned, and ornamented with shields, blazoned with the arms of some of the principal Norfolk families. Yours, &c.

C. E.

Mr. URBAN, April 5. HE following extract from the Miroir de Paris, vol. VI. p. 114, has been transmitted to me by a friend, + Refectory, or hall.

Vol. V. fol. edition; or vol. XI. p. 52,

9vo. edit.

and

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