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“ These, with the tiles and coffins, and the few foundations indicated by the dark tint on the plan, are all the remains yet brought to light, of this once lordly and magnificent establishment. Three centuries have more than sufficed to dissipate and destroy, what it had taken nearly nine, to collect and consolidate. We do not find the monks or abbey of Chertsey, making much figure in history either good or bad ”

“ The persons that cast the lead into fodders plucked up all the seats in the choir, wherein the monks sat when they said service, which were like to the seats in minsters, and burned them, and melted the lead therewithall, although there was wood plenty within a flight-shot of them, for the abbey stood among the woods and the rocks of stone, in which rocks was pewter vessels found, that was conveyed away and there hid; so that every person bent himself to filch and spoil what he would. ”

“ And every person had everything good-cheap, except the poor monks, friars, and nuns, that had no money to bestow of anything, as it appeared by the suppression of an abbey hard by me, called the Roche Abbey, a house of white monks, a very fair-builded house, all of freestone, and every house vaulted with freestone, and covered with lead (as the abbeys was in England, as well as the churches be) . ”

“ Although situated close to the Roman, or more probably, the ancient British, road that crossed the river Thames, certainly at no great distance from Laleham, we search in vain for any mention of Chertsey, earlier than the seventh century, at which time, as we learn from Bede, a monastery was erected on "Ceroti Insula." Even he makes no mention of either town or village adjacent, but speaks of the site of the new establishment as an island, this being the most distinctive mark he could affix to the locality. ”

“ It was about this time that parishes, as we now understand the word, were first formed in England. At first, each kingdom formed but one parish, which again was divided into what we should now call dioceses, the cathedral being for a time the only church, the bishop sending his priests travelling about the country, to instruct the people and administer the rites of Christianity. ”

“ The principal gate-house at Chertsey is said to have had a chapel over it, which was not by any means an uncommon appendage. This I believe to have stood opposite the end of Guilford-street, on or near the site of the present church, which (or rather its predecessor) was, I conclude, erected shortly after the suppression of the monastery, and evidently out of its ruins, close to, if not on, the actual spot where stood the chapel dedicated to All Saints, which we know existed, and to which, on ordinary occasions, the townspeople had been accustomed to resort. ”

“ Egham and Chobham were both chapelries of Chertsey until the time of Edward I., and Thorpe to a still later period. Within these limits the Abbey had large possessions, not only of manors and livings, but lands and rents of various kinds. Thus, from the manor of Egham the abbot received annually 50 fat, and 24 lean hogs, and from Chobham no less than 150—all in that sleek condition which promised the monks speedy opportunities of enjoyment. Another manor supplied them with 325 eels every year, and Petersham, near Richmond, with no less than 1,000 eels, and 1,000 lampreys. ”

“ The fact of the site of the abbey being an island, has puzzled more wise heads than one. Aubrey, followed by Salmon, seems to think that, prior to the formation of the causeway from Staines to Egham, Thorpe and the present locality of Chertsey, were both under water, and he adds that the streets of Chertsey, were "all raised by the ruins of the abbey," much above their natural level ”

“ This I take to be the south wall of the nave and choir; and eighty feet more to the north is the extreme boundary-wall of Mr. Grumbridge's garden. The foundations of this wall are said to be very deep, and though the wall itself is a modern erection, I conjecture it to have been placed upon the old foundations of the north wall of the church. If so, we must look on the north of it for remains of the north transept. In the lower part of the wall, dividing the inner from the outer garden, are at least two masses of masonry (C and D) that appear older than the rest of the wall ”

“ Yea, even such persons were content to spoil them that seemed not two days before to allow their religion, and do great worship and reverence at their mattins, masses, and other service, and all other their doings, which is a strange thing to say, that they could this day think it to be the house of God, and the next day the house of the devil ”

“ The foundations which have been discovered, were lying at a depth of five or six feet from the present surface; this has apparently been raised three or four feet by the débris of the old buildings, the soil for the whole of that depth, being composed almost entirely, of old mortar and fragments of freestone and flints. The illustration represents fragments of sculpture discovered and still preserved; 1 and 2 are capitals of shafts in Purbeck marble, and 8, a base of the same material: 3 and 4 are jamb-stones, having the dog-tooth and nail-head mouldings well defined ”

“ The conventual seal attached to the deed of surrender, is shown by the third woodcut, and from this we may gather, that there was a western porch and a central tower and spire, as also a transept north and south, and some square turret or buttress running up the angles of the west front. ”

“ Stone Coffins as found in Excavations upon the site of Chertsey Abbey.
be large enough to require a ferry. But should it be concluded that the foundations to which I allude, are not those of a mill, then doubtless they are of a bridge which gave access to the abbey-close, at that spot ”