was destroyed at the dissolution in 1539, the nave, of nine bays, being preserved for a parish church. The north aisle had been used for the purpose before, and is so still. Besides this there is left now the west front, consisting of a tower with short spire and a very fine Perpendicular window, and all but the gable and window tracery of the beautiful ornate west end of the nave. This had originally no less than twenty-nine statues under canopies, in seven tiers, covering the wall on either side of the doorway and window, and also above the window. The handsome doorway is entered by a deeply moulded single arch enclosing two smaller ones, and in the tympanum is a large quatrefoil illustrating the life of St. Guthlac. The tower has a western porch under a six-light window. Much has been done by the rector, the Rev. T. H. Le Bœuf, to preserve this magnificent ruin, and since 1860, under Sir G. Scott and Mr. J. L. Pearson, sound restoration has been carried out. Besides the west front and the western tower and spire, one of the most remarkable parts of the abbey still existing is the stone screen which, contrary to usual custom, filled the west arch of the central tower, and is pierced by two doors, one on either side of the altar. Of this the side looking west is plain and probably had wooden panelling, but the eastern side is handsomely carved and panelled in stone. The north aisle has Lytlyngton's groined roof, five large Perpendicular windows, and a rood-screen. Of St. Guthlac's Shrine, which was destroyed in 870 and newly erected in 1136, and moved in 1196, nothing remains.
Of the old glass fragments have lately been found buried in the churchyard.
An epitaph on the north wall, dated 1715, has the following apt lines:—
Man's life is like unto a winter's day,
Some brake their fast and so departs away;
Others stay dinner then departs full fed,
The longest age but supps and goes to bed.
THE BOUNDARY CROSSES The boundaries of Croyland, which in Æthelbald's Charter were rivers, were staked out more definitely when disputes between this abbey and Peterborough arose, by stone crosses; and though these are in part destroyed or broken down, six crosses, or parts of them, are still standing in fields or hedges, which are all mentioned by name, in later charters. One of
