Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey. Study and Meditation. The Chronicles of Evesham Abbey describe the Chapter House as ‘one of the chief chapter houses of this realm’. The monks met here each day to hear a chapter from the Rule of St Benedict, and to organize the daily running of the Abbey. The Chapter House stood here until 1540, and its outline has now been marked out by the stone slabs near this panel. The archway through to the cloisters is all that remains today., But in the late 13th century for Abbot John of Brockhampton, the Chapter House would have appeared circular although it was in fact a ten sided structure. It was unusual in having no central support pillar, and its diameter of 15·7 metres (51·5 feet) made it the largest stone span in Europe at that time. A large window on each face of the building would have filtered coloured light onto the highly decorated interior., The Chapter House was designed to one hundred people. However, from the 13th century, there were only between thirty and forty monks. The greatest number of monks recorded Evesham was sixty-seven in 1095., Through the Cloister Arch, there would have been a range of two storey buildings around a cloister, where monks would have studied and meditated. Above this panel was the dorter (dormitory) on the far side were the carrels (monk's studies), to the left was the refectory (dining room), to the right was the scriptorium where books and illuminated manuscripts were produced. It was here, in 1390, that the Evesham World Map was created. A copy of this map is display in the Almonry Museum., On the other side of the Cloister Arch, much ornate decoration survives including the figures of abbots, bishops and saints.