Chertsey monks

This evening I visited the Chertsey Abbey, or rather the ruins of it.  I had been around the place sometimes, but never really to the actual site. Of course, there is nothing more than a pile of stones left.  But still the stones tell the tale of monastery which began in the 7th century!  The initial monastery built of timber was vandalized by Viking raiders in 871.  The surviving stones maybe of the fourteenth century construction.  In the beginning it is believed to have had more than 50,000 acres of land attached to it! But it is said that it was about 1346 that the monastery was at its best.  Plenty of work, involvement and renewed spirit. More about the historical facts, here.

I spent sometime there, prayed a while. Sat a while trying to imagine what it would have been to be monk living in the Abbey, in those days. After some wild guesses, I said to myself, it all could have been very different.  However, one thing I was sure of, most of them would have been happy!