Chertsey Abbey : an Existence of the Past
iii^li.iin H.xik i ... l.t.l loolcsdlen and K.M kliin.l : .. Vil-rTii Str.-t. NOTTINGHAM. |. t . tft <6;ri0fence of Photo, by F. A. Monk. [Frontispiece. TRIPTYCH OF TILES FROM CHERTSEY ABBEY, THIRTEENTH CENTURY. of BY LUCY WHEELER. With. Preface by SIR SWINFEN EADY. ARMS OF THE MONASTERY OF S. PETER, ABBEY CHURCH, CHERTSEY. Bonbon : WELLS GARDNER, DARTON & CO., LTD., 3, Paternoster Buildings, E.C., and 44, Victoria Street, S. W. PREFACE THE History of Chertsey Abbey is of more than local interest. Its foundation carries us back to so remote a period that the date is uncertain. The exact date fixed in the is A.D. but Chertsey register 666 ; Reyner, from Capgrave's Life of S. Erkenwald, will have this Abbey to have been founded as early as A.D. 630. That Erken- wald, however, was the real founder, and before he became Bishop of London, admits of no doubt. Even the time of Erkenwald's death is not certain, some placing it in 685, while Stow says he died in 697. His splendid foundation lasted for some nine centuries, and in the following pages will be found a full history of the Abbey and its rulers and possessions until its dissolution by Henry VIII. is incessant is con- Change everywhere, and ; nothing stant or in a or less stable, except greater degree ; the Abbeys which in their time played so important a part in the history and development of the country, and as v houses of learning, have all passed away, but a study of the history of an important Abbey enables us to appre- ciate the part which these institutions played in the past, and some of the good they achieved, although they were not wholly free from abuses.
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