Gatehouse Stone

Stone from AbbeyThe ground floor room of the Gatehouse contains some valuable masonry fragments from major buildings of the Abbey. These include several fine vaulting bosses and an assortment of capitals and other pieces of moulded masonry. Most important of all is the 13th century purbeck marble effigy of a layman (believed by many to be the founder, Ailwyn). It is an extremely fine piece of carving and an interesting example of retrospective medieval funerary sculpture analogous to the series of monuments to former bishops commissioned for Wells Cathedral c.1200. Shown below.