-^ 
 
 « 
 
 .-»..-*4' 
 
 -:..^' 

 
 I 
 
 L I E> RARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 U N 1 VE.R5ITY 
 
 or 1 LLI NOIS
 
 RESTORATION 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 GEORGE GILBERT SCOTT, Esq. R.A.
 
 REPORT ON ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
 
 THE EARL OF VERULAM, 
 
 &^C'. &^C. &-X. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Having been requested to report to your Lord- 
 ship on the works necessary for the due reparation of the 
 venerable Abbey Church of St. Alban, and the present 
 state of the fabric of that vast edifice, I will endeavour to 
 do so as briefly as the great extent of my subject will 
 permit. 
 
 First in rank among English Abbeys, and marking the 
 scene of the death of the first Martyr of Britain, no 
 church in our island so well merits that loving care which 
 it is the honour and privilege of our age to devote to 
 the sacred edifices which have been handed down to us 
 among our most precious inheritances ; nor is the fabric 
 itself unworthy of its historical fame : — stern and colossal in 
 its external aspect, it will be found by the stranger to 
 contain under its severe and rough exterior some of the 
 choicest as well as the most interesting specimens of nearly 
 every period of English Architecture, and to equal most of 
 our Cathedrals in the beauty of its mediaeval monuments.
 
 RESTORATION OF 
 
 As my report may fall into the hands of many who are 
 unacquainted with this most venerable structure, I will beg 
 your Lordship's permission briefly to detail what you know 
 so well as to the general outline of its architectural history 
 and characteristics. 
 
 Of the Romano-British Church erected in the days of 
 Constantine over the grave of the Proto-Martyr it is need- 
 less to say that we have no existing remains. It was 
 standing in the time of Bede, and still later in that of 
 Offa ; indeed it is not certain that it was wholly rebuilt 
 by that King when he founded the Monastery ; so that 
 it may have remained incorporated in the Anglo-Saxon 
 Church till the period when the present gigantic structure 
 was erected ; and its fragments, indistinguishable from 
 the mass of Roman material of which the Church is so 
 largely constructed, may yet form part of its venerable 
 walls. 
 
 Nor, again, have we any part standing of the Anglo- 
 Saxon structure ; though here we are more happy, for we 
 do possess some of its architectural features re-used in the 
 Norman building ; many of the small columns of the tri- 
 forium of the transepts being formed of the baluster 
 columns of the previous Church to which Norman capitals 
 and bases have been added when re-used. 
 
 Now a question arises : Are these columns, though Saxon, 
 as early as the time of King Offa, and did they form parts 
 of the Church which he erected or restored at the sugges- 
 tion of Charlemagne t 
 
 It is my good fortune to be able, as I think, to throw 
 some light upon this question. I was engaged some years 
 back in repairing the Saxon Church on the Castle Cliff at 
 Dover — said to have been built by Eadbald, son of Ethel- 
 bert, the first Christian English King — when we found, 
 used up for later purposes, balusters just of the same kind. 

 
 ST. ALB AN' S ABBEY. 
 
 Again, I was repairing the Saxon Church of Jarrow on the 
 Tyne, the very Church in which Venerable Bede ministered, 
 and erected just before by Benedict Biscop. Here, in 
 removing some modern walls, we found, bedded in them as 
 mere material, no less than twenty of these curious columns. 
 Shortly afterwards in the Sister Church at Monk Wear- 
 mouth — erected also by Benedict Biscop and described by 
 Bede — a doorway, long walled up, was opened out by the 
 local Antiquarian Society, when four such balusters were 
 found in their proper position forming portions of its 
 jambs. 
 
 If, then, we find in three churches, all of the seventh 
 century, baluster columns of the same kind with these at 
 St. Alban's, why need we doubt that the latter formed 
 portions of King Offa's Church which was erected (either 
 wholly or in part) in the succeeding century } 
 
 We may, then, fairly assume that we have in the present 
 structure features which belonged to that which imme- 
 diately succeeded, o"r even formed a part of the Church 
 built on the scene of Martyrdom and within about ten 
 years from the death of the Proto-Martyr. 
 
 Our more immediate subject, however, is the Church 
 wdiich still exists. 
 
 To a stranger first visiting St. Alban's and unprepared 
 for what he has to see, the aspect of the Church is striking 
 in the extreme, and calculated to inspire a feeling of vene 
 ration amounting almost to awe. Its commanding position, 
 occupying by its enormous length the ridge of the hill on 
 which it stands and presenting its southern side wholly 
 unobstructed to the distant view ; its colossal scale, equal- 
 ing that of our Cathedrals and exceeding any of them in 
 its length ; the stern severity of its central tower and of the 
 other portions of the Norman structure ; all these added 
 to its appearance of hoary antiquity and to its unaccus-
 
 RESTORATION OF 
 
 tomed material — being in the main of Roman brick — tend 
 to produce an impression different from that caused by the 
 first view of any other English Church, and one which 
 seems to demand that the traveller shall stop and inspect 
 it more closely. Such inspection will not fail to add greatly 
 to his interest and admiration, while such feelings become 
 largely mingled with melancholy regret that an edifice so 
 stately, so sacred, and so replete with historical and anti- 
 quarian interest, should have been so shorn of its former 
 splendour and have reached our day a mere wreck of its 
 old magnificence. 
 
 The Church as it now in part exists was erected by Paul 
 the first Norman Abbot during the latter years of the 
 eleventh and the beginning of the succeeding century. 
 Paul had been a Monk of St. Stephen's at Caen, of which 
 Church, founded by the Conqueror, the first Abbot had 
 been Lanfrank. But, though Lanfrank when promoted to 
 the See of Canterbury had been content to rebuild its 
 Cathedral on the almost precise model of his Abbey 
 Church at Caen, Paul his kinsman when advanced from 
 being a simple Monk at Caen to the Abbacy of St. Alban's, 
 v/as by no means so unambitious, but at once set about 
 rebuilding* the Church on a scale vastly exceeding that of 
 the newly erected Metropolitan Cathedral. Not unlike 
 that Church in general plan, it exceeded it in size in every 
 direction ; for, while at Canterbury the nave was but nine 
 bays in length, he made that at St. Alban's thirteen bays ; 
 while the Choir at Canterbury had but two bays besides 
 the apse, that at St. Alban's had five ; and while either 
 transept at Canterbury had two bays and a single Apsidal 
 Chapel, those at St. Alban's had each three bays and two 
 Chapels. And, finally, while at Canterbury the western 
 towers terminated the aisles, thus giving a fagade of about 
 ninety feet in width, those at St. Alban's projected clear of
 
 ST. A LEAN'S ABBEY. 
 
 the aisles, giving it a facade of more than 150 feet, and 
 the entire lengths of the two Churches were respectively 
 about 290 and 460 feet. 
 
 The cost of this enormous excess in dimensions was, 
 perhaps, in some measure compensated by the vast supply 
 of materials which had been collected by the later Anglo- 
 Saxon Abbots from the ruins of Verulam ; and, while the 
 use of Roman tile gave a rudeness and simplicity to the 
 architecture, the saving in outlay must have been very 
 great, as the square form of the bricks obviates almost 
 wholly the cost both of purchasing and working stone. 
 This saving was clearly devoted to obtaining colossal size 
 at the sacrifice of architectural detail. 
 
 The Church, thus erected of rude material, was encrusted 
 wholly with plaster both within and without. Externally 
 it must have been like a snowy mountain, — one uniform 
 sheet of white covering every form ; but within this 
 uniformity of surface was richly relieved by decorative 
 colour, of which many interesting remains have recently 
 been brought to light through the patient care of Dr. 
 Nicholson. 
 
 The exterior has now acquired a somewhat correspond- 
 ing relief : for, while the old plaster has become coated 
 with lichen and its surfaces vermiculated and weather- 
 stained, — the parts from which it has fallen off show here 
 a d there surfaces of brickwork like those of a Roman ruin 
 — the whole having thus acquired by lapse of time a rich 
 and impressive aspect 
 
 This use, in mediaeval buildings, of the materials left by 
 the ancient Romans, though carried to a greater scale in this 
 than in any other building, is by no means unique. We 
 find it in the Saxon Churches of Brixworth and Dover; at 
 Colchester we see it in the Saxon Church of the Holy 
 Trinity, and also in the Norman Castle, and in tlie Church
 
 RESTORATION OF 
 
 of the priory of St. Botolph ; and, every here and there 
 where a Roman structure was at hand, we see its well- 
 burnt tiles doing duty in the existing Church. 
 
 Here, however, at St. Alban's we find this re-use of 
 the relics of Roman domination,— this spoiling of the 
 Egyptians, — on a scale far exceeding that of any original 
 Norman work now remaining in Britain. 
 
 We have remaining to our own day a considerable por- 
 tion of the work of Abbot Paul, consisting of the central 
 Tower, the entire transept, one bay of the aisles of the 
 choir, three entire bays of the nave, and six more bays of 
 its northern side. The whole of this is in the same stern 
 character ; majestic in its scale and proportions, but devoid 
 of any approach to decorative character. One fragment 
 only remains of a richer form of Norman architecture : a 
 small chamber against the end of the south transept which 
 separated the chapter house from the church. This con- 
 tains details of exquisite beauty ; a work of the middle of 
 the succeeding century. 
 
 The next work In point of date is the lower portion of 
 the west end. Abbot John de Cella, a prelate of more 
 taste than worldly wisdom, conceived (about the year 1195) 
 the ambitious idea of rebuilding the western facade with its 
 flanking towers in the rich Early English architecture of his 
 period. I will not detail the misfortunes and disappoint- 
 ments of this over-sanguine Abbot, so amusingly narrated 
 by Matthew Paris, arising, as his historian tells us, *' from 
 his attending but little to that admonition of which men- 
 tion is made in the Gospel, that is to say, ** he who is about 
 to build should compute the cost " lest " all begin to jest at 
 him saying * this man began to build and was unable to 
 finish it.' " Suffice it to say that after employing three 
 architects for several years, and obtained money in every 
 way he could think of, he was obliged to limit himself to
 
 ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY. 
 
 the erection of the three portals, — and probably hardly- 
 finished t/iem. Yet, let us not be too severe ; for, like a 
 work we have recently heard of in our Great Cathe- 
 dral in London, its quality goes far to compensate for 
 incompleteness. I doubt whether there exists in England 
 a work so perfect in art as the half-ruined western portals 
 of St. Alban's. I venerate the architect who designed 
 them, who I believe was Abbot John de Cella's second 
 architect, Gilbert de Eversholt. His work is cotemporary 
 with two others which are as fine as almost any in 
 existence : the western porch at Ely, and the Choir of St. 
 Hugh at Lincoln. All of them were the works of the 
 earliest perfected " Early English " after it had thrown off 
 the square form of the Romanesque Capital ; and I believe 
 it to be also cotemporary with another of the finest 
 English works : the Sanctuary of the dependent Monas- 
 tery of Tynemouth, which, however, retains the square 
 capital. 
 
 Next to this exquisite work is that of Abbot William of 
 Trumpington, who, in a more economical spirit — with 
 more of business but less of art — carried on the work 
 which De Cella had relinquished in despair ; completing the 
 west front (now almost destroyed) and finishing five bays 
 of the nave on the south side, and four on the north, 
 besides many other less important parts. His works are 
 noble specimens of "Early English," though without the 
 spiritual character which marks the work of De Cella. It 
 is most interesting to trace out the limits and the points of 
 junction in the works of the two Abbots, and to observe 
 the remorseless way in which the man of business cut 
 down the details of the work of his more ambitious pre- 
 decessor. Columns with bases for eight shafts reduced at 
 the capitals to fotir ; the marble bandings prepared for the 
 larger number but roughly altered to suit the reduction ;
 
 10 RESTORATION OP 
 
 while the marble largely used or contemplated by the one 
 is almost wholly omitted by the other. 
 
 It was fully twenty years after Trumpington's decease 
 before any other great work was undertaken in our Abbey. 
 During that interval the style had undergone much change 
 Henry III. had begun and carried on to a considerable ex- 
 tent his works at Westminster. The Chapter House of that 
 Abbey had been completed in 1253, in which the principle 
 of traceried windows had been carried out to a perfect ideal 
 In 1256 it was found necessary to rebuild the eastern arm 
 of the cross at St. Alban's, and we cannot suppose that 
 the first in rank among English Abbeys should fall short 
 in advancement in style of the second Abbey only some 
 tv/enty miles distant. Accordingly, we find the work of 
 John of Hertford and his immediate successors to be 
 among the finest productions of their period. 
 
 The reconstructors of these eastern portions of the 
 Abbey seem to have commenced, not only the Sanctuary of 
 the Church with the Chapel which contained the shrine of 
 the Proto-Martyr, but also the Chapel immediately east of 
 it, in which was placed the shrine of St. Amphibalus, the 
 Proto-Martyr's friend, with the Chapels on either side of it ; 
 and, yet further eastward, they commenced the Lady 
 Chapel itself, though its completion was left to a later date. 
 Nothing can be finer than the works carried out at this 
 period. They were never perfected according to their 
 original design, but what was done was as perfect in art as 
 anything which its age produced ; indeed its window- 
 tracery is carried to higher perfection than in any work I 
 know. I do not think it was carried out to anything 
 approaching completion under Abbot Hertford, as its style 
 carries us on apparently to the last decade of the thirteenth 
 century, agreeing in character with the Eleanor Crosses, 
 and with the work of De Luda, Bishop of Ely, in the
 
 ST. ALB AN' S ABBEY. 
 
 Chapel of his palace in London, which we know to have 
 been erected after 1290. 
 
 Next in date comes the completion of the Lady Chapel, 
 which was carried out by Abbot Hugh de Eversden be- 
 tween 1308 and 1326 — an excellent work of the perfected 
 " middle-pointed " style, but as inferior in artistic senti- 
 ment to the works last referred to as Trumpington's was 
 to that of De Cella. 
 
 In the very year of his accession to the Abbacy, we 
 learn from a document in the British Museum that Hugh 
 de Eversden renewed the marble substructure of the shrine 
 of St. Alban, of which the late Dr. Nicholson discovered 
 the exquisite remains while opening out one of the walled- 
 up arches east of the '' Saint's Chapel." During Eversden's 
 Abbacy a portion of the south side of the Norman nave 
 fell — and to him we are indebted for the five beautiful 
 bays on that side which continued the work of Trumping- 
 ton and included the portion of the cloister wall adjoining 
 — a work perhaps of greater merit than his Lady Chapel. 
 Its vaulting was, however, not completed till the time of 
 Mentmore, the second of his successors. 
 
 Subsequent to this date the works carried on in the 
 actual structure of the Church were for the most part 
 rather deteriorations than improvements, though the se- 
 pulchral monuments of the next age, as well as the 
 screens and other minor works, are replete with beauty 
 and interest, and tend to render this Church one of the 
 most thrilling interest which have come down to our 
 day, as well as being a mine of architectural wealth 
 which can scarcely elsewhere be paralleled. 
 
 Such is the venerable and beautiful edifice, on the 
 present condition of which I have now to report. 
 
 When we come to reflect on the fact that this stupendous 
 building, little short of 550 feet in length, and whose roofs
 
 12 RESTORATION OF 
 
 may almost be measured by the acre, has for more than 
 three centuries been left for its conservation to the re- 
 sources of a single parish of a moderate-sized country 
 town, aided occasionally by the subscriptions of the 
 neighbouring gentry, we need not wonder that its present 
 state of repair is unsatisfactory ; nor when we think 
 of its colossal dimensions need we feel surprised that it 
 should be a costly matter to repair its dilapidations. It 
 is, in fact, a genuine cause of wonder that it should have 
 stood so well against circumstances so adverse. 
 
 The injuries which the building has sustained may be 
 classed under the following heads : — 
 
 A. The deterioration of its design during the latter 
 part of the middle ages, and the earlier portion of the 
 succeeding period, mainly arising from decay in taste 
 and artistic sentiment. 
 
 Under this head may be enumerated — i. The removal 
 of all the high-pitched roofs, whether of the clerestories 
 or aisles. The latter included the lowering of the walls 
 which sustained the original aisle roofs, and the exposure 
 to external view of the backs of the Norman triforia, 
 which were thus converted into windows. Nothing could 
 tend more than these alterations to the reduction of the 
 dignity of the external aspect of the building. Unfor- 
 tunately the correction of this defect seems so formidable 
 a work that one scarcely feels to have courage to propose 
 it. 2. The alteration of the great windows, both of the 
 western and of the transept fronts, from their early forms 
 into huge perpendicular windows, an alteration which it 
 seems equally hopeless to correct. 
 
 B. The ruthless mutilation of ancient features, which 
 is more or less observable throughout the Church, and 
 may in most instances be repaired. 
 
 C. The loss of ancient features by structural failure,
 
 ST. ALB AN 'S ABBEY. 13 
 
 such as that which has ruined the two side portals of the 
 west front, and damaged the central portal. These losses 
 could be remedied, subject to a certain amount of con- 
 jectural restoration. 
 
 D. The natural course of decay, whether of stonework, 
 timber, lead covering, or other parts. This class of defect is 
 very extensive, and demands throughout effectual remedy. 
 
 E. Actual structural failure, threatening the safety of 
 the building. Of this the most marked instance is that 
 which has been recently detected in the central tower. 
 This is of a very serious nature, and has happily been 
 discovered in time, and effectual means taken to arrest 
 it, or most serious consequences might have resulted. 
 
 One of the most conspicuous and barbarous injuries 
 which the Church has sustained is the cutting off of its 
 beautiful eastern Chapels, a large portion of which has 
 been rendered little better than a ruin, while a public 
 footway has been cut directly through it. No attempt 
 at restoration will be worth the name unless this monstrous 
 piece of Vandalism be obliterated. Indeed, I think that 
 after providing for actual structural safety, this should 
 be the first work undertaken, as the continuance of such 
 a state of things is a public disgrace. 
 
 Happily, the way has been prepared for this by the 
 restitution to the Church of the Lady Chapel, so long 
 made use of as a grammar school. The next step must 
 be the stopping of the footway, which passes directly 
 through one of the most beautiful portions of the Church, 
 after which the restoration of these exquisite but ruinous 
 Chapels may be proceeded with, while the arches which 
 once united them to the Church may be reopened. 
 
 These walled-up arches will probably be found to be 
 perfect mines of antiquarian wealth. Some portions of 
 them already partially cleared by Dr. Nicholson, yielded
 
 14 RESTORATION OF 
 
 a rich return of architectural detail; including a consider- 
 able part of the marble substructure of the Shrine of 
 St. Alban — as charming fragments of ancient carving as 
 can well be conceived ; and we may hope that the mine 
 is far from being exhausted. Be this as it may, the 
 opening out of these long-closed arches will add to the 
 Church features of startling beauty, such as one now 
 hardly imagines. 
 
 The Lady Chapel itself is at present shut off from the 
 intervening Chapels, and the opening out of the arch 
 which formed its entrance will add yet another element of 
 internal beauty. This arch was closed only by an open 
 oak screen, of which the remains still exist. 
 
 The Lady Chapel itself is in far better condition than 
 those which united it with the Church, but it requires 
 very extensive restoration. The beautiful wall-arcading 
 which occupied the lower part of its walls has in a great 
 measure been cut away ; the vaulting which, like that of 
 the outer Chapels and that of the choir, was of oak, en- 
 riched with decorative painting, is now covered by plaster, 
 while its woodwork is much decayed, and other architec- 
 tural features are sadly mutilated. All these must be 
 fully restored. 
 
 The central part of the outer Chapels has been originally 
 planned to be divided into three spans, by two additional 
 ranges of columns, something as the Lady Chapel at 
 Salisbury ; but this plan was abandoned, and the whole 
 covered by a richly-panelled ceiling of oak, now sadly 
 ruined. This ceiling must be restored, and the evidences 
 of the change of plan left apparent. 
 
 The ruin and dilapidation of these outer Chapels is most 
 distressing. Exposed for centuries to the weather beating 
 through the unglazed windows and the gangways cut 
 through their walls — and used partly for a public thorough-
 
 ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY. 15 
 
 fare and partly for a sort of playground for the boys of 
 the grammar school, who have age after age amused 
 themselves by cutting the soft stone of its beautiful 
 arcading with their knives, — these Chapels have been 
 reduced to a most melancholy wreck ; yet enough re- 
 mains to show them to have been works of the highest 
 art, and happily enough also to guide their restoration, 
 a work of love and pity, which w^ill be richly repaid by 
 the result. 
 
 If we turn our attention for a moment from the eastern 
 to the western extremity of the Church, we shall find a 
 somewhat parallel demand for the restoration of exquisite 
 architectural features, now nearly lost through their dilapi- 
 dations. I refer to the three western portals, to which I 
 have more than once alluded. 
 
 These were deep porches, approached externally by 
 rich and lofty arches and surmounted by high gables, 
 parallel in many respects to the portals of French cathe- 
 drals. Unhappily their fronts at some period gave way. 
 That of the central portal was replaced by a plain arch of 
 a late period, but those of the side portals were simply 
 walled up, so that externally these exquisite features are 
 now wholly obliterated, while within they form mere 
 closets, in which fragments of sculptured stone are stowed 
 away. 
 
 At the risk of having to exercise some degree of con- 
 jecture, I think that these portals should be opened out 
 and restored ; and I feel confident that in the walls by 
 which they are now blocked up, evidences will be found to 
 aid greatly in the work of restoration. It is, indeed, 
 evident that these walls are composed largely of the 
 moulded fragments of the fallen fronts. 
 
 These portals were built from a level lower than that of 
 the nave, intending to rise by several steps from the first
 
 1 6 RESTORATION OF 
 
 to the second internal bay. This beautiful 
 was either abandoned or altered, and the consequence is 
 that the lower portions of the portals, as well as of many 
 adjoining parts, are now buried some two feet beneath the 
 floor. This must be corrected, and their forms brought 
 out in their noble integrity. 
 
 Another case of restoring lost features strikes the eye at 
 once on entering from the west. I refer to the lost vaulting 
 of the greater part of the aisles of the nave. Of twenty- 
 six bays of the aisles eight only retain their vaulting : three 
 of them Norman, and five of the Fourteenth Century. 
 Eighteen require to be revaulted : nine of them Norman, 
 and nine Early English. 
 
 Somewhat parallel in class are some extensive restora- 
 tions required in the interior of the choir ; where, besides the 
 cutting away of the shafts of piers and other architectural 
 details, some very important features have been wholly re- 
 moved, consisting of beautiful tabernacle- work projecting 
 over two doorways (themselves now obliterated) on either 
 side. I some years back discovered nearly all the parts of 
 one of these beautiful projections, and succeeded in get- 
 ting them fitted together, and their materials are still 
 preserved. Many minor cases of the same kind occur 
 throughout the Church, which it would be tedious here 
 to enumerate. 
 
 The most serious structural defect in the building is that 
 already referred to in the central tower, of which the two 
 eastern piers have shown signs both of subsidence and of 
 actual crushing. The failure of the north-eastern pier 
 extends into the choir, and is shared in a less degree by 
 the east side of the adjoining transept. 
 
 So pressing Avas the danger, that signs of increased 
 subsidence showed themselves while the parts which first 
 showed evidence of failure were under repair. Very active
 
 ST. ALB AN' S ABBEY. 17 
 
 measures were at once taken by the application of powerful 
 shoring-, followed up by the restitution to the piers of large 
 portions which had long since been cut away from them, and 
 the piers themselves have been greatly strengthened by the 
 substitution of sound for disintegrated material ; a difficult 
 and anxious operation. The foundations of these piers 
 have been a good deal weakened by the proximity of 
 graves ; and, strange to say, the southern pier had ap- 
 parently been excavated beneath the floor into a sort of 
 cave, so far as we can judge, with a view to the destruction 
 of the tower. 
 
 The repairs already undertaken are only such as imme- 
 diate security demanded, but there remain very extensive 
 dilapidations in the tower throughout its entire height, all 
 of which must be thoroughly and substantially repaired, or 
 it cannot be pronounced safe. Its tendency northward 
 both increases and is increasedby a corresponding tendency 
 in the north transept, which is clearly settling in that 
 direction, and is much cracked. This also demands a 
 decided remedy. 
 
 The decay of material externally is very extensive. The 
 Norman walls are free enough from this, having no stone- 
 work about them ; but the later portions have everywhere 
 their architectural features carried out in the soft church- 
 stone of Totternhoe ; a material which, though suitable 
 enough internally, is far from durable for external work. 
 The consequence is that throughout the more architectural 
 parts of the building sad havoc has been made by time and 
 the elements. This is especially the case with the long 
 ranges of clerestory windows to the nave, which are 
 shattered in a most lamentable manner, and their ruin is 
 increasing every winter. The old parapets, erected of this 
 material, have almost wholly perished, and been replaced 
 by brick ; and every part which has stone dressings exter-
 
 1 8 RES TOR A TION OF 
 
 nally shows more or less the sad eftects of the use of this 
 perishable stone. 
 
 In renewing these shattered details^ I should endeavour 
 to find a durable material which would correspond in colour 
 with the old stone, and this, I think, we have in the Chil- 
 mark quarries in Wiltshire, from which Salisbury Cathedral 
 was erected. 
 
 The timbers of the roofs and ceilings also demand careful 
 reparation. This is especially the case with the ceilings, 
 which are everywhere very much decayed, and are getting 
 actually unsafe. The lead covering also requires careful 
 reparation throughout, and renewal in some parts ; as a 
 rule, it has been carefully attended to — but, as it greatly 
 exceeds an acre in extent, this alone is a work of 
 importance. 
 
 The plastering and stonework of the interior require to 
 be carefully freed from whitewash. This has already been 
 effected in many parts with a happy effect under the 
 direction of Dr. Nicholson, bringing to view the beautiful 
 and most interesting coloured decorations of the old wall- 
 surfaces. 
 
 Every Norman pier on the north side of the nave is 
 found to have an altar-painting on its western side, 
 forming a sort of reredos to the small altar erected 
 against each. These paintings all represent the crucifixion, 
 and are most valuable specimens of Early Art. 
 
 The simple operation of taking off whitewash from 
 surfaces so prodigiously extensive, and doing it with such 
 care and tenderness as not to disturb the painting beneath, 
 is a work of considerable cost. 
 
 If we had succeeded in enumerating all the manifest 
 defects of the structure, which would be a wearisome 
 catalogue, the fact still remains that the minor reparations 
 of a building of such enormous extent still form, by the
 
 ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY. 19 
 
 vastness of the surfaces over which it is spread, a formidable 
 and costly undertaking. 
 
 To avoid tedious details, which would encumber without 
 elucidating my report, I will accompany it by a rough 
 specification of the leading items of reparation I re- 
 commend. 
 
 It will be seen that I have not calculated anything for 
 internal fittings, nor for the detached objects, such as tombs, 
 screens, &c. ; having limited myself to the repairs of the 
 actual structure, with its roofs, walls, and floors. 
 
 My leading object in the treatment I have calculated on 
 has been to ensure the perpetuity of the structure, and to 
 guard against the loss of any of its architecture, but to do 
 this with the smallest possible change in its general aspect ; 
 such changes being limited to the restoration of such lost 
 features as are essential to its character, especially as viewed 
 from within. 
 
 No Church in Great Britain more thoroughly deserves a 
 careful and conservative restoration, nor would any more 
 richly repay this labour of love. It is a glorious work, and 
 one with which I feel a special pride in being connected ; 
 and I most earnestly wish you every possible success and 
 liberal support in what may fairly be styled a great 
 national undertaking. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 Most obedient humble Servant, 
 
 GEO. GILBERT SCOTT. 
 
 t^th Aprils 187 1.
 
 LONDON : 
 IJ. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, 
 BREAD STREET HILL.
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 ADDEESS from the Couxcil of the Chukch Pexiten- 
 TiAEY Association to the Eight Eev. the 
 Bishops of England, Scotlant), and Ireland. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 1. The Church Penitentiary Association was established under 
 the auspices of Bishop Armstrong, in 1851, for the purpose of reclaiming 
 Fallsn Women by the agency of Self- devoted Women. 
 
 2. The result of nineteen years' work has been, that there are in 
 association nineteen Penitentiaries and ten Houses of Refuge. They 
 are managed by ninety-seven self-devoted women. The Penitentiaries 
 are capable of containing 633 Penitents, the Houses of Eefuge 144. 
 The average number in both was 593 in 1869. 365 Penitents left the 
 Penitentiaries during that year, and of 179 of them (or 49 per cent.) the 
 authorities entertain every confidence that their reformation will be 
 permanent; 92 are considered doubtful cases, and 68 unfavourable. 
 But it has not uncommonly happened in previous years that doubtful 
 and even unfavourable cases have been found to have pursued a virtuous 
 course of life after leaving the Penitentiaries. 
 
 3. The annual expenditure on the maintenance of both classes of 
 houses, from various sources, including the grants from the Church 
 Penitentiary Association, appears to be, of Penitentiaries about ^^17,000, 
 of Houses of Refuge about £4,000 ; the average estimated gross annual 
 cost of each Penitent in a Penitentiary appears to be about £29 (vary- 
 ing from i^l7 to £40), of w^hich she contributes by remunerative 
 labour on an average about £9 (varying from to £22) ; the average 
 annual cost of each Penitent being £20. As rent varies according 
 to locality, and as some of the Penitentiaries pay no rent, it has been 
 excluded from the above average ; but all other expenses are included. 
 
 c
 
 34 
 
 4. The Council gratefully acknowledge the frequent evidences they 
 have had that the work has been blessed to many souls ; and, while 
 not disparaging other means of gaining the same end, they remain 
 firmly convinced that the very best agency for the reclamation of their 
 fallen sisters is the loving care of self-devoted women. Many of these, 
 who have devoted their lives to this and the kindred works of nursing 
 and. teaching, have had, amid hardships of various kinds, to contend 
 also with an amount of misconstruction and even of calumny, known 
 only to those who have laboured with them and witnessed their 
 courage, their forbearance, their meekness, their devotion, which at last 
 seem to be triumphing over all opposition. 
 
 5. It is the earnest desire of the Council largely to extend their 
 special work. They aim at ultimately aiding in the establishment of 
 one or more Church Penitentiaries in every Diocese, and of one or 
 more Eefuges in each large town, and, so far as their funds will 
 permit, in assisting to maintain these Houses until they can be self- 
 supporting. 
 
 6. The Council believe that, in order that this great additional work 
 may be carried out with a reasonable prospect of success, it is essential 
 that the Association should take rank among the large Church Societies, 
 and become known to, and enjoy the confidence of, the great mass of 
 English men and women. 
 
 7. The greatest and most urgent needs at present are : — 
 
 (1.) Funds for aiding in the erection of new, and the maintenance of 
 those old Houses that have not become self-supporting. 
 
 (2.) Large additional numbers of self-devoted women, who will either 
 join existing, or, under wise and discreet supervision, create 
 new Institutions. 
 
 8. Your Lordship may perhaps ask whether there is any way in 
 which the Bishops can aid the Council beyond giving their general 
 countenance and approval to this work. 
 
 9. Various suggestions have been made by different Members of the 
 Council ; they are necessarily more or less of a speculative character, 
 as the nature of the case will not permit of an arrival at exact and 
 positive conclusions. The Council venture to submit them as follows 
 to your Lordship's consideration: — 
 
 (I.) To mention Penitentiary work under self-devoted women, in 
 their charges, and recommend the establishment and mainte- 
 nance of Church Penitentiaries and Houses of Kefuge in special 
 neighbourhoods.
 
 35 
 
 (II.) To name, in their charges, those Penitentiaries and Houses 
 of Refuge in their Dioceses which either enjoy the privilege of 
 their Episcopal control as Visitors, or have their approval. 
 
 (III.) To specify, in general terms, for the information of Institu- 
 tions already established, and for the guidance of persons desir- 
 ous of establishing new Institutions, such leading Statutes, 
 regulating position, duties, and status (but not relating to 
 internal rules and management), as their Lordships might con- 
 sider desirable in order to secure their approval and their co- 
 operation as Visitors. 
 
 The Statute should, it has been suggested, provide, among other 
 matters — 
 
 (a) That the Bishop of the Diocese be invariably requested to 
 
 act as Visitor. 
 
 (b) That self-devoted women, before fully entering upon their 
 
 work in a Penitentiary, should seek the Bishop's blessing. 
 
 10. The Council beg to draw your Lordship's attention to Rule LIL, 
 enclosed. It is a fundamental regulation that no Penitentiary can 
 be taken into association if the Bishop of the Diocese objects ; but the 
 Rules do not provide for the case of the Bishop not being by the 
 Statutes Visitor; nor do they provide for the case when the self- 
 devoted women who manage the Penitentiary belong to a Sisterhood, 
 the Parent House of which is 7iot under Episcopal Visitation. In each 
 of these cases serious inconveniences may possibly arise ; hence the 
 stress that is laid by many persons on the great importance of the 
 suggestion (HI.) (a) being adopted. 
 
 It is the opinion of many persons that the supply of self-devoted 
 women would be largely increased if Episcopal Visitation were 
 secured in all cases. Many hundreds are required for Penitentiary 
 work alone. 
 
 11. Parents, guardians, and friends have now, it is said, a ready and 
 effectual answer to any one desirous of devoting herself to some work 
 of mercy and to live in community, viz., that such institutions are not 
 as yet thoroughly welcomed by some of the Bishoj^s. The above 
 statement may or may not be true, and if true, it may or may not have 
 the effect of largely diminishing the supply of self- devoted women, but 
 at all events it appears to be within their Lordships' poAver to prevent 
 the repetition of any such discouraging reply. 
 
 12. The Council of the Church Penitentiary Association trust that 
 their Lordships may, in the first place individually, and before long
 
 3G 
 
 collectively, consider these important questions, and find it in their 
 power to support Church Penitentiary work, under self-devoted women, 
 aided by the Church Penitentiary Association as the Parent Society. 
 
 13. If their Lordships are pleased to view favourably these 
 suggestions, the Council confidently rely upon rapidly increased 
 progress being made towards a realisation of their hopes. 
 
 We are, my Lord, 
 
 Your Lordship's 
 
 Most obedient Servants, 
 
 (^Signed for the Council) 
 
 Chairman A. P. Ryder. 
 
 G. C. Campbell. 
 Hon. Secretaries \ E. L. Birkett 
 
 T. WODEIIOUSE.
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 PEELIMINAEY EEPOET 
 
 OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CHURCH 
 IKDUSTEIAL HOMES FOE PENITENTS AFTEE 
 LEAVING HOUSES OF MEECY. 
 
 Ilth April 1871. 
 The Special Committee on Cliurcli Industrial Homes have received 
 and considered Admiral Ryder's report, drawn up at their request, and 
 in submitting it to the Council as a portion of the Special Committee's 
 Preliminary Report on Industrial Homes, beg to suggest for the con- 
 sideration of the Council that this their Preliminary Report be appended 
 to the forthcoming Annual Report of the Church Penitentiary Associa- 
 tion, for the information of the Associates — accompanied by a statement 
 (1) that the whole question will continue to receive the attention of the 
 Special Committee : (2) That their labours will be much aided if the 
 Superiors, Chaplains and Associates will communicate to them useful 
 information and suggestions bearing upon the question, after receivinf>- 
 which the Special Committee hope to present a//iaZ report for the Coun- 
 cil's deliberate consideration. (3) The Special Committee further suggest 
 to the Council, that it might be well to inform the Associates in the 
 forthcoming Annual Report, that until the final report of the Special 
 Committee is received, the Council will take no action and express no 
 opinion upon the important questions, where, and how, Church Indus- 
 trial Homes, so much needed, can be best established. 
 
 The ' Special Sub-Committee on Church Industrial Homes for Peni- 
 tents ' was appointed under the following circumstances : — 
 
 Resolution of Executive Committee, Feb. 21, 1870. — * It having been 
 represented to the Executive Committee that many of the penitents 
 are unfitted to contend with the temptations of the world and yet 
 should be removed from the Penitentiaries, the Ladies -Superior are 
 requested to inform the Executive Committee whether it is their 
 opinion that it would be well to provide that some of the Penitents, 
 
 D
 
 38 
 
 after leaving the Penitentiary, be still under the supervision of self- 
 devoted women in an Industrial Establishment which is self-sup- 
 porting.' 
 
 The answers were as follow : — 
 Clewer — 
 
 Their work incomplete without such an Industrial Home. 
 Bussage — 
 
 Has found Miss Hurry's Home a great blessing. 
 Highgate — 
 
 Thinks an Industrial Home very desirable. 
 Ditchmgh am — 
 
 Even in this small house (average 23), there are four women 
 evidently unable to face the temptations of the world. 
 Edinburgh — 
 
 Great need of an Industrial Home. 
 Salisbury — 
 
 Need of an Industrial Home felt. 
 Wantage — 
 
 Great need of an Industrial Home. 
 Llandaff — 
 
 Need of an Industrial Home felt. 
 Barley House — 
 
 Need of an Industrial Home felt. 
 Kent {Stone) — 
 
 Need of an Industrial Home felt. 
 JLostwithiel — 
 
 Need of such a Home felt. 
 Bedminster — 
 
 Industrial Home needed. 
 Oxford — 
 
 Industrial Home needed. 
 Bovey Tracey — 
 
 Need of keeping Penitents felt. 
 St. Stephen^s^ Notting Hill — 
 
 This Home an answer ; it has worked for 8 years. There might 
 be one near each large town. 
 
 It is the opinion of one of the most experienced of the ladies, the 
 Lady- Superior at Clewer, That it would be very beneficial to 
 provide that some of the Penitents, instead of being sent out into the 
 world again after the usual stay of two years, should remain in an 
 Industrial Home, under proper supervision, for a further period,
 
 39 
 
 because a large proportion of them (probably the majority) fall 
 
 through silliness, vanity, weakness of intellect (which often 
 
 leads to habits of intoxication), &c. In such an Industrial 
 
 House as above described, this class of fallen women who have 
 
 become penitent can be preserved from further danger, but not 
 
 otherwise. 
 
 After receiving the above answers, at a Meeting of the Council, held 
 
 May 2, 1870 — ' It was resolved that a Special Committee be appointed 
 
 to consider the propriety of establishing Church Industrial Homes for 
 
 Penitents after leaving Houses of Mercy. B. Lancaster, Esq,, Admiral 
 
 Ryder, Dr. Birkett, the Rev. T. Wodehouse, and the Rev. G. C. 
 
 Campbell were placed on the Special Committee, with power to add to 
 
 their number.' 
 
 The Special Committee appointed to carry out the above Resolution of 
 the Council of the 2nd of May 1870 requested Admiral Ryder to visit 
 the home at Notting Hill, which is managed by Miss Hurry, and report 
 on it to them : 
 
 REPORT by ADMIRAL RYDER. 
 
 31 March, 1871. 
 
 I have visited the Home at Notting Hill, the only House in con- 
 nection with the Church Penitentiary Association which is stated to 
 be entirely self-supporting. I beg to make to the Special Committee 
 the following report, viz., that 
 
 The Industrial Home, at Notting Hill, for fallen women, appears to 
 have been, Avhen situated at Shepherd's Bush and after being removed 
 to Notting Hill, very successful, not only (1) in completing, with God's 
 blessing, the reformation of several fallen women who, in the opinion of 
 the Heads of the Penitentiaries where they had been first sent, required 
 a further term of probation in an Industrial Home ; but also (2) in 
 effecting this most important object, at no cost whatsoever beyond the 
 first outlay on plant ; the earnings of the women having been sufficient 
 to support the whole expenses of the house (including at Shepherd's 
 Bush a rent of £150), with this sole exception, viz., that resident ladies 
 contribute what they would certainly have to pay for board and lodging 
 elsewhere, viz., £1 Zs. per week. 
 
 DETAILED INFORMATION REGARDING THE WORK AT 
 ST. STEPHEN'S HOME, NOTTING HILL. 
 1. The Home at Shepherd's Bush was entirely self-supporting for 
 six or seven years, including all expenses except first outlay, £300, and 
 it is self-supporting now, since it was moved to Notting Hill.
 
 40 
 
 (a). As there is a considerable quantity of laundry work, it has been found 
 better to hire a horse and cart at 12s. a week, instead of buying them ; the 
 washed clothes are taken out on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Satur- 
 day afternoon is a half-holiday. The clothes are brought in on Monday. 
 
 (b). To build a wash-house for about 20 workers, and fit it up, costs about £300. 
 Ironing room, drying room, sleeping room, £300 more. 
 
 (c). Three months' credit is given for washing account; there are no bad debts. 
 
 (d). The old ' connection ' was to a certain extent transferred from the last 
 house, but a new connection has arisen in the neighbourhood. Scale of prices 
 same as usual. 
 
 2. It is not considered by Miss Hurry, and I agree with her, that 
 the Home at Shepherd's Bush was other than self-supporting because 
 the two ladies who managed it contributed £1 3s. each per week to the 
 expenses. As a general rule, Sisters in English Sisterhoods contribute, 
 but frequently in a lump sum, the interest of which will, it is estimated, 
 cover the expense of their board and maintenance. The ladies at the 
 new residence at Notting Hill contribute the same sum as before, viz., 
 £1 3s. per week. There was at Shepherd's Bush a self- devoted woman 
 who acted as Housekeeper, but no other i^esident ladies, such as are now 
 in the Home at Notting Hill. After a few years' experience the 
 presence of resident ladies (not Sisters) was found to be urgently 
 required in an Industrial Home for Penitents, for the purpose stated in 
 paragraphs Nos. 7, 8. 
 
 3. There were from 20 to 25 Workers. 
 
 4. The rent at Shepherd's Bush was £150 a-year, it is now nil, as 
 the lease has been purchased. 
 
 5. The Penitents (entitled "Workers) receive on leaving, as an outfit, 
 clothes to the value of £3 to £4, but no wages during their residence. 
 According to the value of their work they were, and still are, given 
 small presents, travelling expenses to their homes and back. 
 
 The £3 to £4 worth of clothes is given as an outfit, when the 
 inmates are sent to service from St. Stephen's Home ; during their 
 residence at the Home they are supplied with ordinary servants' clothes 
 as required, but do not receive any for three months, as they always 
 bring an outfit with them. 
 
 6. If the work were entirely laundry luoi^k, for which many of the 
 penitents are quite unfitted from ill health, want of aptitude, e^c, three 
 ladies, viz., a Head, a Housekeeper, a Superintendent of Laundry, would 
 be required to manage from 20 to 40 workers, but for 50 four ladies 
 would be required. 
 
 7. It is, however, Miss Hurry's decided opinion that in an Industrial 
 Home for Penitents, intended as an intermediate Home between the 
 Church Penitentiary and life in the world, the main object of 
 the Home is lost sight of if only one occupation is taught, as the
 
 41 
 
 opportunities of placing the penitents, difficult at all times, are much 
 more restricted if they are only fitted for, say, the place of laundry- 
 maid, Avhich is quite unsuited to many of them. 
 
 8. Miss Hurry aims at instructing the penitents : — 
 
 1. As Laundry-maids 
 
 2. As House-maids 
 
 3. As Kitchen-maids 
 
 4. As Waiting-maids 
 
 5. As Nurses to Sick 
 
 6. As Nurses to Children 
 
 including all the more common occupations. 
 
 The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th occupations are provided for by Miss 
 Hurry having united with her, as residents in the House and occasional 
 assistants, three or four ladies, one of whom is a permanent invalid ; a 
 young child has been received into the House to enable those ' workers ' 
 who appear to be fitted for nurse-maids to have the necessary oppor- 
 tunities of learning. 
 
 The dwelling-house is purposely fitted-up in the ordinary style of a 
 gentleman's house, with drawing-room ornaments, requiring great care 
 on the part of the house-maids. 
 
 (a) The women are never sent out as maids of all work, but only to gentlemen's 
 families. 
 
 (b) Of the twenty workers only fourteen work in the laundry, 
 
 (c) A fairly intelligent girl can be made a good laundry-maid in two years, and 
 take a place at £16 a year. Three have been thus sent out lately, and are doing 
 well. 
 
 9. Miss Hurry is of opinion that it would be well if most of the 
 women who leave a Penitentiary where the discipline has been strict, 
 and the devotional exercises frequent, passed a longer or shorter time in 
 an Industrial Home, where the system was very much what would be 
 found in the service of an English gentleman — morning and evening 
 family prayers, the day occupied with hard work, &c. ; so that the change 
 from the Penitentiary to the servants' hall should not be so sudden as at 
 present. Hence the nature of her Home. 
 
 10. Miss Hurry will give information to any one desirous of visiting 
 the Home, Notting Hill. 
 
 There are now in the Home five women who have been drunkards : 
 
 A . 
 B . 
 
 C . 
 
 
 6 years \ 
 . . 5 „ / 
 
 . 3 „ > in the Home 
 
 D . 
 E . 
 
 
 . 2 „ / 
 
 The fifteen others have been under two years in the Home. 
 
 ]\Iore than half the number have been received from Penitentiaries 
 in union with the Association. 
 
 The above mentioned older women look after the others — keep order 
 ia dormitories, &c.
 
 42 
 
 11. We should, in my opinion, only aim at present at assisting in the 
 establishment of a sufficient number of Industrial Homes to receive from 
 the Penitentiaries those penitents who are as yet unfitted to contend with 
 the temptations of the world, but have been prepared, more or less, at 
 the Penitentiary for a life in it ; and whose dispositions and characters 
 point out that they should be removed from the Penitentiary to an 
 Industrial Home for their own sakes, and also to make room for others. 
 The further extension of the number of these Industrial Homes, so as to 
 enable all penitents to pass, with few exceptions, through Industrial 
 Homes as a matter of course, as an intermediate state, will be well worth 
 our consideration when a sufficient number have been opened for the 
 first purpose, viz., for select cases carefully chosen by the authorities at 
 the Penitentiaries to have their character further tested. There is little 
 doubt but that the attempt to separate girls under 15 from the older 
 women would be very beneficial. The Lady- Superior at Clewer 
 attaches much importance to this. The question of ' classification ' 
 and ' separation ' is now opened up, and the great experience gained by 
 many of the Ladies- Superior may well encourage us to hope that ere 
 long means may be provided for carrying it out. 
 
 12. The Ladies- Superior of the Church Penitentiaries may very 
 naturally wish that their Industrial Homes be situated not far from 
 their Penitentiary, and be managed by Sisters from the Parent House. 
 No better solution of the difficulties of the question could, in my 
 opinion, be found. The cases that require in most instances to be pej-~ 
 manentli/ retained appear, in Miss Hurry's opinion, to be drunkards. 
 They are rarely safe in the world ; whether they should be retained at 
 the Industrial Home, where the active, hard-working life is often very 
 beneficial to them, or be returned to and retained at the Penitentiary, 
 must often be a difficult question, depending very much upon the 
 wishes of the penitent. If the class proved to be very numerous it 
 might be worthy of consideration whether special Industrial Homes, 
 for them and other incurables, should be opened under self-devoted 
 women, specially selected for what Mr. Carter considers to be the very 
 difficult task of managing such an Institution. 
 
 A. P. Ryder. 
 The Special Cojnmittee on 
 
 Church Industrial Homes. 
 
 13. The Special Committee are aware that some persons have 
 objected to the idea of making Church Penitentiaries self-supporting, 
 under the impression that^ if this is attempted, the spiritual instruction 
 of the Penitents, to which so much attention is necessary, especially at
 
 43 
 
 first, must be neglected, as almost their whole time would be required 
 for their industrial work. 
 
 This may be very true, but the objection would not hold good as 
 against the creation of separate Industrial Homes, offshoots from the 
 Penitentiaries, into which those Penitents would be drafted (after the 
 termination of their terra in the Penitentiaries), who, in the opinion of 
 the Ladies- Superior, were not as yet fit to return to the world. 
 
 14. The time set aside for devotion, for instruction, for relaxation, 
 for labour, will vary not only in the different Industrial Homes, but 
 frequently also in individual cases at the same Home. The spiritual 
 and other needs, and the physical strength of ' the worker,' must 
 decide the question in each case. It will no doubt be found, 
 after numerous Church Industrial Homes have been established 
 and in fiill work for some years, that the Ladies-Superior, by 
 comparing results (as shown by the conduct of * the workers ' 
 after leaving the Home), will be enabled to arrive at some 
 valuable conclusions as to the best division of time, taking every 
 circumstance into due consideration. In the meanwhile, any person 
 who takes an interest in a Church Industrial Home may feel assured 
 that although a Home may be made self-supporting on Miss Hurry's 
 plan, yet that extraneous aid, however slight, will always be very useful 
 and most welcome by enabling the Lady-Superior to add a little to the 
 period of relaxation, and thus encourage ' the workers ' by a more 
 frequent holiday or treat. To have aided these poor women in their 
 hard struggle to redeem their characters by thus throwing among them 
 an occasional gleam of sunshine may well be esteemed a privilege — and 
 when we recollect how painful, how irksome, it must at first be, after 
 leaving the Church Penitentiary, to work still more continuously day 
 by day, and how keen must be the temptation to look back longingly 
 on the old life of idleness and pleasure, is it not wonderful that so many 
 remain and * work out their salvation ' ? 
 
 15. The whole question appears to us to be very important. 
 
 If these Industrial Homes can be made self-supporting, or nearly so, 
 we may hope to double our work without any serious increase of ex- 
 penditure after the first outlay. 
 
 Our machinery would then be : — 
 
 (1) The House of Refuge retaining its inmates for a few weeks, 
 and sending all promising cases into Penitentiaries. 
 
 (2) The Church Penitentiary, which after its inmates had resided 
 for from one and a-half to two years, receiving, it is to be hoped, 
 spiritual instruction as the primary object, but performing a
 
 44 
 
 certain amount of remunerative labour, woiTld send them either 
 
 back to the world, or to — 
 (3) The Church Industrial Home, whence some Penitents would, 
 
 after a longer probation, return to the world, and others would 
 
 remain. 
 16. There appears to be sufficient unanimity in the answers from the 
 Ladies-Superior to j ustify the Council in drawing the attention of the 
 Associates, Subscribers, and Friends of the Church Penitentiary Ai^so- 
 ciation in their next Report (1) to the urgent want of Industrial Homes 
 in connection with the existing Penitentiaries, and (2) to the fact that 
 as these Industrial Homes can be made, after first expenses have been 
 incurred, entirely or nearly self-supporting, the number of women 
 rescued may be largely increased, and many be saved who are lost 
 after leaving the Penitentiary, if only the funds for this object, viz. 
 the first outlay, are liberally provided ; seeing that (3) a first outlay of 
 ^300 in the case of Miss Hurry's Home enabled it to be started on 
 her plan, and to become entirely self-supporting, notwithstanding that 
 there was a rent to be paid of ^150 a year. It may be presumed that 
 the Council, if they adopt the views of the Special Committee, will 
 urge upon the Associates that any support they might be inclined 
 to give towards the establishment of a Church Industrial Home should 
 not be allowed to diminish the amount of aid they would otherwise 
 have given or continued to give towards the establishment and main- 
 tenance of Church Penitentiaries. The work of healing can best be 
 effected at a Church Penitentiary. The ' Industrial Home ' aims but at 
 acting as a ' Convalescent Home ' in some cases, and a ' Hospital for 
 Incurables ' in others. 
 
 We think it well to add that we have been told, upon good authority, 
 what we can readily believe, viz., that the task of guiding and con- 
 trolling the inmates of a Church Industrial Home, among whom there 
 will be some persons who may remain for life, will be very difficult, 
 and require special qualifications in the self-devoted women : we can 
 only pray that the Lord of the vineyard will send, in answer to our 
 daily prayers, the ' labourers ' required for this special work. 
 
 A. P. Ryder. 
 
 To the Coitncil. 
 
 
 Spottiiwoode d- Co., Printers, New-street Square, London,
 
 '0 ^. 
 
 
 
 *,•» '« 
 
 ^V-rCl 
 
 *ir^. 
 
 :^.».. 
 
 .^v:f*.:v . 
 
 » »>j» - 
 
 SSfe^