Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/180

 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; and the abbey having been suppressed not more than 136 years when he wrote (1673), and the buildings probably, not having been entirely destroyed till some time after the suppression, he had far better means of ascertaining the use made of the rubbish, than we have now, unless by means of excavations on an extensive scale. This supposition is borne out, to some extent by Camden, who says that what Bede called an island, in his (Camden's) time (1600) "scarcely made a peninsula, except in winter." It is not unlikely that the tide of the Thames, so far from its mouth as Chertsey, may be lower than it was 1200 years ago, and that the land near it may have been somewhat raised by continual deposits, during so long an interval, left by receding tides. Or possibly after the destruction of the edifice by the Danes, who doubtless made the Thames their high road, a broad mote too shallow for the draught of their vessels, was considered so good an auxiliary in defence, as to cause its original course, on the south or land side of the monastery, to be diverted to its present position (where it is known as the Abbey River), on the north or river side of the supposed site of the conventual buildings of later dates. Or it may be, the original building was in what are now the Meads, which are indeed an island formed by the Abbey River, and in which tradition still points to certain irregularities of ground, as connected with the abbey.

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