The Gate of Remembrance: The Story of the Psychological Experiment which Resulted in the Discovery of the Edgar Chapel at GlastonburyBond, Frederick Bligh
Religion
The Gate of Remembrance: The Story of the Psychological Experiment which Resulted in the Discovery of the Edgar Chapel at Glastonbury
Bond, Frederick Bligh
Glastonbury Abbey -- Miscellanea; Parapsychology and archaeology -- England -- Glastonbury -- Case studies; Spirit writings
_Q._ "_But where was that building 22 feet long and 4 paces wide, with
three four-light windows and fans. I cannot see how the measure of 22
feet is obtained. Was this an east-and-west measure, or to be taken
north-and-south?_"
_A._ "Ye door into ye transept in ye north, which I, Camel, used; he
was in ye west porche and under the three high windowes.
"What wold ye? The newe Chappell, he was in ye Bank far oute, in
line with ye Transept as I remember yt. He wasne finished or ever.
Chappells a many! Everywhere! Why cumbered they the ground when faith
was dead, and there was no longer any need for hym? The purse[59] was
full, it must be spent, and so, when nor barn nor byre nor pent called
for it, it was yspent. Why should roysterers and evil men have it to
spend? So we builded much.
[59] John Camel was "Purse-bearer" to Abbot Bere.
"Chapels everywhere--ne need of them.
"Small chance it is preserved (_passage doubtful_), but it was well
ycovered, I wot, for them who would pull downe.
[Illustration:
FIG. 14.--GLASTONBURY ABBEY: PLAN OF THE CHAPEL OF OUR LADY, BUILT
A.D. 1184, ON THE SITE OF THE CHURCH OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA.
The plan lies in a hexagon. Its measures are based upon the standard
British foot of 12 inches. The breadth between the faces of the
central buttresses is 37 feet, in harmony with the general scheme of
measures found in the Abbey. The length of the vesica is approximately
64 feet, and its points touch the outer faces of the end walls.
External to this is another vesica embracing the plinth-course (see
plan). The interior shows a third, marking three-quarters of its
length. Each vesica contains a rhombus of two equilateral triangles.
Their measures are symbolic and explanatory of the sacred geometry of
which the "Gematria" of the Greek scriptures is illustrative. Thus,
the solid rectangular area of this building is 37 by 64, or 2,368
square feet, by Gematria the equivalent of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Jesus
Christ) or Ὁ ἉΓΙΟΣ ΤΩΝ ἉΓΙΩΝ (The Holy One of Holy Ones). The rhombus
contained has the area 1,184 square feet, very possibly designed to
record the date (A.D. 1184) of the erection of the Chapel. It will
be noted that William of Malmesbury alludes to the "sacred enigma"
believed to be concealed in the triangular and other figures on
the floor of the Chapel.]
"Stones carven and yguilded--ne spirit, I wot. How could these things
stand in the day of wrath? Pride! Ostentation! Much glory and much
tinsel; but ne worship, ne humbleness, ne object for us to continue
more.... So passe old tymes away."
_Q._ "_But how was that 22 feet length arrived at?_"
_A._ "A cloyster from ye Nave to ye Lobby, and four steppes unto ye
Transept floor, and from ye lobby, on ye west, ye Chappell.
"Ne Chappell but ye Cloyster in ye corner of ye grete Church. Claustrum
to ye Chappel along ye aisle--then ye lobby and ye Chappel west of hym."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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