After the conquest the practice obtained of erecting a stone seat, beside the altar and several of these seats were erected in the English churches, and criminals fleeing to these seats were protected by the peace of the church, _pax ecclesiae_, and guarded by all its sanctity. To violate the protection afforded by this seat, or of the shrine of relics, was an offense too grave to be compensated by the payment of a mere money fine. One of these seats of stone still remains at Beverly and another at Hexham. The privilege at Beverley was granted by Athelstan and extended for a radius of a mile around St. John’s as the center. The outward and next outer boundaries of this circle were designated by crosses of rich carving. The third boundary began at the entrance to the church and the sixth embraced the high altar and the “fridstool.”[24] In the four roads leading to the monastery of Hexham, in Northumberland, the boundary stones were rude crosses, around which, in Saxon characters and letters was the word “Sanctuarium,” which meant so much to the criminals of early times, seeking the protection of the “Chair of Peace.” The “fridstool” at Hexham has been carefully preserved and is much more extensive and handsome than that at Beverly, as it has interlaced Saxon and Norman ornaments on the top of the chair and a moulding extends below and around the seat.[25] At Durham, the privilege extended to the church, the churchyard and the circuit. All who came within this solemn circle were protected, for the church was supposed to throw around them its protecting arms and the penalties for intruding upon this “charmed circle,” increased in proportion as the degree of holiness was desecrated.[26] William the Conqueror granted the charter to St. Martin’s le Grand and by the charter the privilege extended not only to the church, but to the college of St. Martin and the precincts thereof.[27] Westminster, perhaps the most famous sanctuary in England, received its charters from two of the kings of the Heptarchy and Edward the Confessor attempted to forever establish it as one of the perpetual sanctuaries of England, for all classes of criminals, in the following broad grant: