buildings forming the “mitred Abbey” of Saint Mary and Saint Egwin.  Round the cloister were ranged the principal chambers accommodating the abbot and the monks.  Here were the chapter house in which meetings of various kinds were held, the refectory where meals were served and partaken of, the long dormitory where the monks slept, and the scriptorium in which the writing and illuminating was done.  Round the outer courtyard, entered by the great gatehouse, which could be defended in case of need, were other buildings, barns, stables, and servants’ quarters.  Not far away was the hospital, and almost adjoining the principal gatehouse was the Almonry where the poorer guests were received and food served out to the needy.  This building exists at the present time, and it will be observed that it is not enclosed within the boundary wall but is open on one side to the public green.

[Illustration:  THE GATEHOUSE AND ALMONRY]

The Monastery owned much land, mostly in the neighbourhood, and before the dissolution the income through various channels has been calculated at about eighty thousand pounds of our present money.  Dr. Jessop has described with wonderful realism the daily routine of the Benedictine monasteries, and the chronicles of Evesham have provided him with some of his most valuable information.  In addition to the daily services which occupied much of their time, we find every member of the community busy with some work specially entrusted to him.  In a well-regulated monastery idleness was impossible; the limited time permitted for leisure was usually occupied by recreation, gardening and bowls both being favourite pastimes.  Of course writing and illumination were in constant demand, and Dr. Jessop has pointed out that in addition to the production of church service books, of music, and educational work in connection with the school, “a small army of writers” must have been needed in the “business department of the scriptorium.”  The Benedictine rule would appear to have been framed with the idea of giving full employment to every inmate of the monastery.

Considering the wealth of the institution, consisting for the most part in land, and the responsibilities consequently incurred, we are not surprised to read that before the dissolution the Abbey of Evesham contained eighty-nine monks and sixty-five servants.  The property did not all lie in the near neighbourhood.  In the fifteenth century the Abbey of Alcester came into the hands of the Monastery.  At an earlier period the Priory of Penwortham in Lancashire was granted to this wealthy body, and in the time of William Rufus monks were sent to a religious house at Odensee in the island of Fuenen, in the Baltic sea, to instruct the members in the Evesham usage of the rule of Saint Benedict.  This Priory became a little later a cell of the great Abbey.