" It is consoling to note that one of the rascals that
signed that report, Dr London, was shortly afterwards exposed in his
true colours and openly put to penance for adultery before he died in
prison, where he lay for perjury.
The report stated that the church was superfluous. It was the only true
word written there. When a religion is destroyed, its temples are
certainly superfluous. However, there was a considerable influence
brought to bear by the people of the neighbourhood, and the church
itself was granted them for their use. The Priory, which stood to the
south of the church, was, of course, destroyed.
One might stand a whole month in that glorious building with this only
regret, that it is in the hands of strangers. The use to which it is
put is not that for which it was intended, and half the delight of the
place is thus lost to us. But no one can pass down that great avenue of
elms to the glorious north porch, a master-work of the thirteenth
century, without rejoicing that when all is said the church was saved
to us. The great Norman nave, with its thirteenth-century clerestory,
and alas, modern stucco vaulting, the Norman aisles and north transept,
are too reverent for destruction, the fifteenth-century choir and
eastern chapels too lovely.
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