Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/193

 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; and if so, it must have been no mean stream, that required such a bridge to span it.

More to the north-east we come upon the excavations lately made, indicated by the dark tint in the plan, the most remarkable feature of which, is the discovery of several stone coffins with their original tenants. This would indicate that the spot where they were found, was a portion of the church or the chapterhouse. I am inclined to consider this as the south transept of the church, which I imagine was divided into two aisles of equal, or nearly equal, width, as immediately south of these coffins, on what would then be the external face of the south transept (at B), is the only fairly-worked stone that I have seen in situ, and this appears to be the base of a buttress four feet wide by a projection of about one foot.

To the north of this, and at a distance of some sixty feet, has been traced a wall running east and west for several hundred feet, the foundations of which are as much as eight feet wide. 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