Upon the edge of Lincolnshire, in the middle of a vast fenny level, Crowland is situate, memorable for its early religion and the ruins of an opulent monastery, which still makes a considerable prospect. The abbey presents a majestic view of ruins; founded a thousand years ago, by Athelbald king of the Mercians, in a horrid silence of bogs and thorns; made eminent for the holy retirement of his chaplain Guthlac, who changed the gaieties of the court for the severities of an anchorite. The king endowed it with a profuse hand, and all the land for several miles round the church belonged to it. The foundation is laid on piles of wood drove into the ground with gravel and sand, and they have found several of them in tearing up the ruins of the eastern part of the church; for what remains now is only part of the west end; and of that only one corner in tolerable repair, which is their parish-church at present. It is not difficult at this time to distinguish part of the very first building of this church, from that which was built by Ingulphus.[26] In the middle of the cross stood once a lofty tower and a remarkably fine ring of bells, of which there is a proverb in this country still remaining: one prodigiously great bell was sacred to Guthlac: they are said to have been the first peal of bells in the county, perhaps England.[27] From the foundation of this tower to the west end, is somewhat left, but only the walls, pillars, with passages or galleries at top, and stair-cases at the corners. The roof, which was of Irish oak finely carved and gilt, fell down about twenty years ago: you see pieces of it in every house. The pavement is covered with shrubs for brass inscriptions, and people now at pleasure dig up the monumental stones, and divide the holy shipwreck for their private uses; so that, instead of one, most of the houses in the town are become religious. The painted glass was broke by the soldiers in the rebellion, for they made a garrison of the place. All the eastern part of the body of the church is intirely razed to the foundation; and the ashes as well as tombs of an infinite number of illustrious personages, kings, abbots, lords, knights, &c. there hoping for repose, are dispersed, to the irreparable damage of English history. The great Waltheof, earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, was one of the saints here: he was beheaded by the Norman conqueror. The monastic buildings, cloysters, hall, abbot’s lodgings,[28] and the like, which no doubt were very fine, are absolutely demolished; no trace thereof left, whereby their extent might be guessed at. In the north-west corner of the church stands a strong tower with a very obtuse spire, and a pleasant ring of small bells. Over the west gate are the images of divers kings, abbots, &c. among the rest St. Guthlac with a whip and knife, as always painted: they were cut in a soft kind of stone, and drawn over in oil colour with gilding. [Sidenote: TAB. VII.] [Sidenote: TAB. XI.]