The other buildings were
probably erected within the last fifty years.--The part inhabited by the
monks is at this time principally employed as a cotton-mill; and, were
it in England, nobody would suspect that it ever had any other
destination. Of the church, the tower[56] only is in existence. I find
no account of its date; though authors have been unusually profuse in
their details of all particulars relating to this monastery. I am
inclined to refer it to the beginning of the seventeenth century, in
which case it was built shortly after the destruction of the nave. Its
character is simple, solid elegance. Its ornaments are few, but they are
selected and disposed with judgment. Each corner is flanked by two
buttresses, which unite at top, and there terminate in a crocketed
pinnacle. The buttresses are also ornamented with tabernacles of saints
at different heights; and one of the tabernacles upon each buttress,
about mid-way up the tower, still retains a statue as large as life, of
apparently good workmanship. They were fortunately too high for the
democrats to destroy with ease. The height of the tower is one hundred
and fifty feet, as I found by the staircase of two hundred steps, which
remains uninjured, in a circular turret attached to the south side.
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