adorned by the chisel of the sculptor. Its walls embraced an area of 32
acres, 2 rods, 11 perches, and it was not less remarkable for its
magnificence than extent. The length of the church was 150 feet, having
an altitude of 60 feet. It was supported by thirty-two pillars, eight
of which were very lofty, being 42 feet high, 18 feet thick, and 45
feet in circumference; the remaining twenty-four were 10 feet thick, 25
feet in circumference, and 18 feet in height.[1] The belfry was placed
over the centre of the church, at an elevation of 105 feet, and was
supported by the eight lofty pillars above mentioned. The roof over the
high altar was 93 feet high. Its walls were 10 feet thick. On the right
side of the high altar was a vault supported by four pillars, and from
this recess branched out five chapels that were bounded by a wall 70
yards long. A higher vault supported by four massive pillars, 14 feet
in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference, was probably on the left
side of the high altar, and corresponded with the one just mentioned,
from which branched out other chapels or cells of the monks. How many
chapels there were cannot be ascertained; the names of only three are
known, the Virgin Mary, St. Thomas the Martyr, and St. Martin. The
chapter-house and church were by far the most splendid apartments of
this stately pile; the latter was richly adorned by the painter and the
sculptor."

[1] These measurements are confusing, unless the pillars were of
an unusual shape. A round column 18 feet thick would be 54 feet
in circumference.

The wooden chapel of St. Pancras which existed here in Saxon times
probably stood where later the high altar of the great Norman church
was reared, and across this site the Eastbourne trains now run. The
station itself is supposed to be on the site of the convent kitchens