The Monks at Work: the Silence is Broken
The semi-circular east wall of the Chapter House has now been broken
through and nothing of the roof remains apart from indications of the curve
springing out from the north and south walls. The round Norman arch of the door
at the west leading onto the Cloister is flanked on either side by the arches
of the two windows. But of the Cloister nothing is left except the door at
the northeast corner which led into the Church.
Some 100 pieces of the Romanesque
sculptured stones of the Cloister have been discovered in and around Reading
from where they had been taken for reuse after the dismantling of the Abbey,
and they are held by Reading Museum Service along with tiles, window
glass and the other discoveries from excavations of the Cloister walkways.
Some of the books of the Abbey were also salvaged; one is now in the Museum of Reading and
others are in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the British
Library in London and elsewhere. But these are only a fraction of the
treasures of scholarship and music that the monks created. Sadly nearly all is lost forever.
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A twelfth century sculptured capital from the Abbey
cloister, which shows two figures pulling the tongues of a
pair of dragons. This capital was found in the garden of
Avebury Manor, Wiltshire - many Abbey sculptured stones were
scattered in this way - and it was bought by the Museum in
1971. (1977.100.1)
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