Considerable traces of the old
abbey remained, but, judging from some old prints, they had been much
altered during the past century. The fine old chapter-house had been
taken down to build a residence named Abbey House, which now formed the
Bedford Hotel; the old refectory had been used as a Unitarian chapel,
and its porch attached to the premises of the hotel; while the vicarage
garden seemed to have absorbed some portion of the venerable ruins.
There were two towers, one of which was named the Betsey Grinbal's
Tower, as a woman of that name was supposed to have been murdered there
by the monks; and between that and the other tower was an archway which
connected the two. Under this archway stood a Sarcophagus which formerly
contained the remains of Ordulph, whose gigantic thigh-bones we
afterwards saw in the church. The ruins were nearly all covered with
ivy, and looked beautiful even in their decay; but seeing the purpose to
which some of them had been applied, we thought that the word "Ichabod"
(the glory hath departed) would aptly apply, and if the old walls could
have spoken, we should not have been surprised to hear a line quoted
from Shakespeare--"to what base uses do we come at last.
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