 | St Benedict's Abbey | The complete buildings of St. Benedict's Monastery, College, and Hospital, at Fort Augustus, N.B., illustrated in our pages by a perspective view, February 22nd, 1878, were opened on Tuesday week. 13th-century Gothic is adopted throughout as the style. The site is that of the Old Fort, and has, together with large contributions to the endowments, been given by Lord Lovat. Messrs J. A. Hansom and Son, of Kensington, were the architects, and Mr. Stokes has acted as clerk of the works. [Building News 3 September 1880 p285]
FORT AUGUSTUS - On the 21th ult. the completed Monastery of St. Benedict, Fort Augustus, was opened. The foundation-stone of the College was laid by the Marquis of Ripon in September 1876. The buildings were proceeded with great rapidity, and in 1878 the College was opened. The buildings now completed consist of the monastery, which has accommodation for forty or fifty monks; the hospice, which is divided into twenty-four rooms; and the college, with dormitories, halls, and class-rooms, calculated to accommodate about 100 pupils. These buildings occupy the three sides of a quadrangle, the remaining side being only closed in by the cloisters, and from the centre of it an arch opens into a fine scriptorium, supported by central arches. This is the south side of the quadrangle, and the intention is to erect here at some future date a branch to the cloisters, with an octagonal chapter house and a church. The north side of the quadrangle is taken up by the college, the west side of the hospice, and the east side by the monastery. Inside the quadrangle are the cloisters, designed by Messrs Pugin, of Westminster. These are Early Decorated Gothic. A spacious open ambulatory, accessible from the first floor of the monastery, occupies the roof of the cloisters. The passage floors are of tiles, while the wood works inside are chiefly of pitch pine and oak. The whole buildings, as already completed, represent an expenditure of about £55,000, and the entire buildings contemplated are estimated to cost about £100,000. The cloisters alone have cost £7,000, and the scriptorium cost about £1,000. The works have been conducted under the direction of the Benedictine Fathers, by tradesmen under the immediate charge of a clerk of works, the present clerk of works being Mr Andrew Cruickshank, a Banffshire man. [Building News 10 September 1880 p312]
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