THE PARISH CHURCHES The two parish churches, placed together in one yard, make with the bell tower an unusually striking group.

What then would be the feelings aroused in the spectator were the great church, a cathedral in magnitude and splendour, still visible, rising majestically above roofs and spires.

To us the Abbey which is gone can do no more than add solemnity to the scene which once it graced.

It matters little by which entrance we approach the churchyard, for from every side the buildings group harmoniously; each of the steeples acting as it were as a foil to the other: and both the spires unite in adding dignity to the bell tower.

The churchyard in Norman times would seem to have been part of the Abbey precincts, as it is enclosed within Abbot Reginald's wall already described, and a second wall, part of which is still standing, divided it from the Monastery and the monastic grounds.
The Church of All Saints seems to have served, from very early times, as the parish church.