Page:Sussex Archaeological Collections, volume 6.djvu/300

 and to have lived there. A century afterwards parts of the site had been sold to different persons, and as may be supposed, the final dispersion of the glorious old Norman and Early English relics then took place. Since that time nothing has been done by the owners to prevent the entire abstraction of every relic moveable by any one who could obtain permission to take what he iked; and hence in truth is the present collection.

The stone represented in the woodcut is not one of the relics of Lewes Priory, but being one of the most interesting curiosities in the Museum, is here given. It is a sepulchral slab or gravestone of Sussex marble, found, in 1850, in digging the foundation of the new Grammar School, which is the site of the ancient churchyard of the parish of St. Peter West-Out, one of the two parishes (St. Peter and St. Mary) which formerly existed on the western exterior, outside of the town walls of Lewes. The upper surface of the slab is much worn from its probable position, as part of the pavement of the church, the under side. being rough and unhewn. It is 3½ ft. high, l½ ft. broad at the shoulder, and 1 ft. at the base. The small Greek cross on it is in relief, though much worn down, and may originally have been worked as a quatre-foiled circle, and at the intersection of the cross is a circular star cut in. The two parallel lines are incised, but disappear entirely before reaching the cross, showing probably that they are of later origin. The slab is Early English in date, and probably marked the burial place of an ecclesiastic.