Excerpt from A Brief Account of the Antiquities, Family Pictures and Other Notable Articles at Flaxley Abbey, Co. Gloucester: Compiled for Family Use and Private Information Only<br><br>Charles I., and were transferred to Flaxley Abbey when Joanna Clarke took up her residence there after she became mistress of the Abbey in the time of Charles II. The Abbey and all its possessions were granted to Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Castle of St. Briavells and Chief Warden of the Royal Forest of Dean, by King Henry VIII, at the time of the Dissolution in 1536. The Abbey Church was then destroyed, and the buildings of the Monastery were adapted for the purposes of a private residence. The Kingston period lasted from the Dissolution of the Monastery in 1536 to the time of the Commonwealth circ. 1654. This period is chiefly notable for the extensive destruction and transformation of the Flaxley Monastery which then took place. The principal buildings, including the Abbey Church and Cemetery of St. Mary of Dean, were then utterly destroyed, leaving only a small'portion of the original Cistercian fabric undisturbed. This portion, which is now used as the Kitchen and Servants' Offices of the Abbey, exhibits a good specimen of typical Cistercian architecture, and is of great 'public interest. The ruined buildings were, as usual in such cases, treated as a common stone quarry, and the materials were either buried in the ground, or were utilised in the construction of the existing premises. Portions of the original Abbey fabric have been found in all directions near the present buildings, and many carved stones, pillar bases, and- other interesting fragments of the ancient Monastery, are still preserved. The dimensions and probable character of the original Abbey Church can best be estimated by comparison with other Cistercian Abbeys of the same class, and those who have seen the remarkable ruins of Strata Florida in Wales, where the outline of the Cistercian Church is still visible, can form a good idea of the size and general character of the Flaxley Abbey Church as it existed at the time of the Dissolution. The Kingstons erected a small and mean-looking Chapel, as shown in Nicholl's Forest of Dean, p. 189, near the site of the present.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.