THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS
Within the area once contained by the boundary walls of the Abbey (for which see the plan on p. 103) there are remains of four of the original Gateways. The finest of these is that which leads into St. Mary's Square, and the best view of it is obtained from the steps of the memorial to Bishop Hooper. It is a very typical specimen of Early English work. "It has a gate porch entered by a wide but low pointed arch, with an inner arch where the doors were hung. The gatehall thus formed also had doors towards the court, and in its south wall are two recesses. The upper storey has, towards the street, an arcade of four arches, and the outer pair have each a trefoiled niche or panel in the back. The other two arches are of larger size and are both pierced with two interesting square-headed lights, also of the thirteenth century, with dividing mullions. In the gable, within a large triangular panel, is a niche of three arches, originally carried by detached shafts, but these are now broken away." (Hope.)
Tradition has it that Bonner watched the burning of Bishop Hooper from the window over this gateway.
The "inner gate gave access to the inner court, known of late years as Miller's Green, where the bakehouse, boulting-house, brew-house, stable, mill, and such-like offices were placed. It was also the way to the later Abbot's lodging. The existing gateway is of the fourteenth century, and has a single passage, in the west side of which is a blocked doorway. The passage is covered by a lierne vault."
"The gateway on the south side, towards the city, has been almost entirely destroyed, and only a fragment of the west side remains. It was known as 'King Edward's' gate, from its having been built by Edward I. It was afterwards restored and beautified by Abbot Malverne, alias Parker, 1514-1539. The remaining turret of the gate, on the west side towards the church, is probably part of Parker's work." (Hope.)
On the south side of what is left of this gateway are the arms of King Osric, as King of Northumbria. The stone bearing these arms was dug up some seventy years ago and was placed in its present position.
In College Court, a narrow turning leading from the north side of Westgate Street into the close, is a small gateway, consisting of a flattened archway with canopied niches at the sides. This is also supposed to have been built by Abbot Parker. The upper portion, which was destroyed, has been converted into very commonplace offices.
In the north-west corner of the precincts was the Vineyard. The vineyards of Gloucestershire used formerly to be famous. William of Malmesbury, in the twelfth century, writes: "This county (Gloucestershire) is planted thicker with vineyards than any other in England, more plentiful in crops, and more pleasant in flavour. For the wines do not offend the mouth with sharpness, since they do not yield to the French (wines) in sweetness." The Gloucestershire vineyards survived as late as 1701. The curious terraces or step-markings on the Cotswolds in various places, locally called "litchets" or "lyches," are by some supposed to have been portions of the sites of these vineyards.
"The Dorter (says Mr Hope) and its basement are now destroyed, and their plan and extent are at present uncertain: but owing to its south wall having been partly that of the chapter-house also, one small fragment has been preserved which ... helps to fix the position of the dorter. This fragment, which may be seen on the north-east corner of the chapter-house, is the jamb of one of the windows built between 1303 and 1313, and its date is clearly shown by the little ball-flowers round the capital of the shaft." The dorter then may be assumed to have occupied the space between the chapter-house and the end of the east alley of the cloister.
The Refectory (or Prater), "which was begun in 1246, on the site of the Norman one destroyed to make room for it, was a great hall over 130 feet long and nearly 40 feet wide. It was reached by a broad flight of steps, beginning in the cloister and passing up through the frater door. The steps did not open directly into the frater, but ended in a vestibule screened off from the rest of the hall, and covered by a loft or gallery. Into this vestibule would also open the service doors from the kitchen and buttery.... The west end and nearly all the north side have been pulled down to the ground, but the south wall, being common to the cloister, remains up to the height of its window sills. The east end is also standing to the same height.... Much of the stonework of the east and south walls is reddened by the fire that destroyed the frater in 1540."
The Little Cloisters consist of an irregular quadrangle, with sides of varying length. The garth wall is a good specimen of Perpendicular work. There are five openings on each side. In the times of the Great Rebellion the little cloisters were partly unroofed. The western alley is part of an interesting fifteenth-century house which is built over it, and the south alley has a lean-to roof.
The other two alleys, which are now unroofed, were formerly covered by part of a large building which was built over them, and called Babylon. All traces of Babylon have now disappeared.
In the north wall of the cloister three stone coffins have been built in with the masonry. Mr Hope thinks it quite possible that this small garth was used as the herbarium or herb garden.
"On the west side of the little cloister, and partly over-riding it, is a medieval house of several dates, from the thirteenth century to the suppression, and later. Owing, however, to modern partitions and fittings, and repeated alterations, it is somewhat difficult to trace its architectural history. The oldest part of it consists of a vaulted undercroft of Early English work extending north and south beneath the western part of the house. It consists of three bays, of which two now form the kitchen of the house, and the third or northernmost is walled off to form a passage outside. More work of the same period adjoins this on the west, including a good doorway with moulded head. This doorway was clearly, as now, an external one. The undercroft stops short about twelve feet from the frater wall (or wide enough to leave a cart-way), and there is nothing to shew that it extended further east. Looking at its position so near the great cellar, the kitchen, and other offices, it is very probable that the original upper floor was the cellarer's checker, or counting-house, and the undercroft a place for stores."
Close by, to the north-east, are to be seen six graceful arches of Early English work. These are a portion of the remains of the "infirmary" or "farmery," which was "deemed superfluous" at the suppression, and for the most part pulled down.
"The chapel was destroyed and the great hall unroofed and partly demolished, but its west end and six arches of the arcade escaped, the latter probably because, as at Canterbury, the south aisle had been previously cut up into sets of chambers. All these remains are of admirable early thirteenth-century work, and it is much to be regretted that in clearing away the old houses in 1860 it should have been found necessary to also remove a curious vaulted lobby and other remains on the east side of the little cloister. The main entrance was originally in the west end of the hall, where part of the doorway still remains, and was probably covered by a pentise or porch with a door (still remaining) from the infirmary cloister, so that there was a continuous covered way from the farmery to the church." (Hope.)
"The Library is an interesting room of the fourteenth century, retaining much of its original open roof. The north side has eleven windows, each of two square-headed lights and perfectly plain, which lighted the bays or studies. The large end windows are Late Perpendicular, each of seven lights with a transom. There are other alterations, such as the beautiful wooden corbels from which the roof springs, which are probably contemporary with the work of the cloister, when the western stair to the library was built and the room altered. None of the old fittings now remain, but there can be no doubt that this was the library." (Hope.)
The library of the monastery, judging by the list given by Leland, must have been of considerable value and of no little interest. A list of the books it contained is given in "Records of Gloucester Cathedral," vol. i. pp. 145-6.
The books were at the time of the dissolution of the monastery confiscated to the Crown, and the cathedral was apparently without a library till the time of Bishop Godfrey Godman, who was consecrated in 1624. Writing to his clergy in 1629, he says: "I am to lett yow understand that I have lately erected a Librarie in Glouc'r. for the use of all our brethren throughout my Dioces, as likewise for the use of Gent. and Strangers, such as are students. I conceave it will not onely be most usefull, but likewise a great ornament to Citie and Dioces." He goes on to ask the clergy to give either "a booke or y'e price of a booke," and tells them not to "inquire what bookes we have or what are wanting, ffor if we have double we can exchange them." Thoroughly business-like and considerate, the bishop also says: "If any man's weake estate and povertie be such that he can neither give booke, nor price of booke, yet in manners and courtisie (seeing his diocesan require it), I doe expect that he should excuse himselfe, and I will take the least excuse, without any further inquirie, as lovingly as if he had given the greatest gift." He was tender-hearted to his curates, for he says, "Neither doe I write this to Curates or Lecturers, unlesse themselves please to bestow; only I do expect from them that they acquaint the parsons and vicars, and returne their answers unto mee."
This, then, was the beginning of the Cathedral library. Later, in 1648, after troublous times in Gloucester, when even the cathedral itself was in danger, Thomas Pury, jun., Esq., with the help of Mr Sheppard, Captain Hemming, and others, made this library at considerable expense, and, as Sir Robert Atkyns quaintly observed, "encouraged literature to assist reason, in the midst of times deluded with imaginary inspiration."
In 1658, after the "late Cathedrall Church of Gloucester had been settled upon the Maior and Burgesses for publique and religious uses, the Common Council vested and settled the library on the Maior and Burgesses, and their successors for ever." The Restoration, however, in 1660, made still another change, and the library then became the property of the Dean and Chapter.
Sir Matthew Hale was a liberal benefactor to the library.
Owing to the damp in the Chapter-House, which for many years had to serve as the library, the books, in 1743, were removed into the south ambulatory of the choir. This was done by order of the Dean and Chapter, but the Chapter-House was apparently in use as a library in 1796, when Bonnor was making the drawings for his "Perspective Itinerary." In 1827 new and lower cases for the books were fitted, and the Chapter-House was used up to 1857 as the Cathedral library. Since that time the old monastic library has been restored to its original use.
The Chapter-House is entered from the east alley of the cloister through a Norman archway of very good work, enriched with zig-zag ornament.
Originally consisting of three bays of Norman work, it probably, like the chapter-houses at Norwich, Reading, and Durham, terminated in a semi-circular apse. The present east end is of Late Perpendicular work, and makes a fourth bay. Judging from the method in which the new work was joined on to the old in the fifteenth century, it would seem as if the builders intended to remodel the whole building. The vaulting of the later part is well groined, and the window is good. The roof of the three Norman bays is a lofty barrel vault supported by three slightly-pointed arches springing from the capitals of the columns, which are curiously set back, and separate the bays.
Norman arcading of twelve arches—i.e. four to each bay, runs along the three westernmost bays on the north and south walls, and in the arcading are inscriptions restored from the description given by Leland. Below the arcading "may be traced the line of the stone bench on which the monks sat in chapter." (Hope.) The floor has been considerably lowered in modern times. The tiling is modern, having been copied by Minton from the old work, both as to subject and arrangement.
"The west end is arranged in the usual Benedictine fashion, with a central door, flanked originally by two large unglazed window openings, with three large windows above.... Only one of the windows flanking the doorway can now be seen, the other having been partly destroyed and covered by Perpendicular panelling when the new library stair was built in the south-west corner of the room." (Hope.)
"At the south-west corner of the chapter-house is a large winding stone staircase, with a stone handrail worked in the newel, and also in the side wall." (F. S. W.)
The lower part of this west wall shows distinct traces of fire, which the upper part does not. This seems to confirm the idea that when the fire of 1102 broke out and destroyed so much, it burned down the cloister and the temporary roof of the chapter-house, both of which were probably of wood.
Walter de Lacy was (Hart. i. 73) buried in the chapter-house with great pomp in 1085, and the room must have been ready or nearly ready for use in that year. As Fosbroke naïvely says of the distinguished dead who are buried here, "They could not have been buried in this room before it existed."
In Leland's time the names were painted on the walls near their gravestones in Black Letter. As he says, "These inscriptions be written on the walles of the chapter-house in the cloyster of Gloucester: Hic jacet Rogerus, Comes de Hereford; Ricds Strongbowe, filius Gilberti, Comitis de Pembroke; Gualterus de Lacy; Philipus de Foye Miles; Bernardus de Novo Mercatu; Paganus de Cadurcis; Adam de Cadurcis; Robertus Curtus."
Of the names given by Leland it may be noted that Roger, Earl of Hereford, Bernard de Newmarch ("Novo Mercatu"), and Walter de Lacy, were all contemporaries of the Conqueror, and "much about his person." They, therefore, when money was being collected for the abbey buildings, subscribed, adding some reservation as to the places in which they wished to be interred.
In spite of the wires stretched across the building, there is a remarkable echo.
The Cloisters are entered from the church by a door near the organ screen in the north aisle of the nave. They were begun by Abbot Horton (1351-1377), who built as far as the door of the chapter-house, and finished by Abbot Froucester, 1381-1412. It will be noticed how the mouldings, the tracery of the windows, and the character of the work generally differ. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that "the cloisters are some of the finest and most perfect in the kingdom. They form a quadrangle, and are divided into ten compartments in each walk. The vaulting is of the kind known as fan-tracery, and is considered to have originated in Gloucester. It is found also at Peterborough, at Ely, and in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, the latter being one of the last examples of the method.
"The outer walls are substantially of Norman date, but now overlaid and refaced by Perpendicular panelling." (Hope.)
Though the cloisters are quadrangular, the length (147 feet) of each of the four walks is not quite the same, but the width is 12½ feet and the height 18½ feet.
East Alley.—On the right-hand side in this walk will be noticed a new door. This was inserted in 1874 in the wall in the same position as the former door into the monks' locutorium or parlour. The original wide opening of the doorway may be seen under the moulding of the panelling on the wall.
The passage to which the glazed door gives access "is chiefly of early Norman date, and was originally of the same length as the width of the transept against which it is built. It was entered from the cloister by a wide arch, and has a wall arcade on each side of fifteen arches on the north, but only eleven on the south, the space between the transept pilaster-buttresses admitting no more than that number. The roof is a perfectly plain barrel vault without ribs. In the south-west corner is a hollowed bracket, or cresset stone as it was called, in which a wick floating in tallow was kept to light the passage."
"It having become necessary in the fourteenth century to enlarge the vestry and library over the passage, its east end was taken down and the passage extended to double its former length. At the same time a vice, or circular stair, was built at the N.E. angle to give access to the library. To prevent, however, the new stair from encroaching too much on the apse of the chapter-house, the addition to the passage was deflected a little to the south instead of being carried on in a straight line. The vault of the added part is a simple barrel like the Early Norman work. The use of this passage was twofold. First, it was the place where talking was allowed at such times as it was forbidden in the cloister. Hence its name of locutorium, or, in English, the parlour. Secondly, it was the way for the monks to go to their cemetery. When the present cloister was built the original use of the parlour seems to have passed away, and in the new works the arch of entrance was blocked up and covered by the new panelling. Since this also cut off all access from the cloister to the library stair, a new stair was built at the west end directly accessible from the cloister. For want of room this had to be intruded into the south-west corner of the chapter-house." (Hope.)
Above the passage are two floors, one being the vestry, entered from the north-east chapel of the choir, and the upper one, the library, now restored to its original monastic use after many vicissitudes.
This east alley "was used as a passage between the church and the farmery, and the later Abbot's lodging; out of it also opened the parlour, chapter-house, and dorter door." (Hope.)
"In the third bay from the church the southern half is pierced with a door below the transom. On the cloister side of the southern half of the second bay, and of the northern half of the fourth bay, there was, in each case, built out a little cupboard or closet, now destroyed. These may have been used for keeping books in. This alley has no bench against the walls." (Hope.)
Opposite the fifth bay in this alley is the doorway, containing some good Norman work, slightly restored, leading into the chapter-house.
"The construction of the outer walls of the east walk is peculiar as to the arrangement of the buttresses and the projecting shelf of stone connected with the transoms of the windows, which was evidently meant as a protection from the weather for the lower half of the windows, at that time not glazed." (F. S. W.)
The first window in this east alley or walk, beginning at the south corner, nearest to the door into the north aisle, is one of four lights, by Hardman, to the memory of Rev. H. Burrup, a missionary, who died in Africa in 1862.
The second window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to Rev. John Plumptre, who was Dean from 1808-1825.
The third window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to Archdeacon Timbrill.
The fourth window (by Hardman) is a memorial to the Hon. and Very Rev. Edward Rice, who was Dean from 1824 to 1862.
The fifth window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to the Rev. T. Evans, D.D., a former Headmaster of the Cathedral Grammar School; died 1854.
The sixth window (by Hardman) is in memory of Miss Mary Davies.
The seventh window is a memorial (by Hardman) to Rev. B. S. Claxson, D.D.
The eighth window is a memorial to Rev. John Luxmoore, D.D., who, after being Dean of Gloucester from 1800-1808, was Bishop of Bristol, later of Hereford, and finally of St. Asaph, where he died in 1830.
The ninth window is a memorial to the Ven. Henry Wetherell, B.D., a late Prebendary of Gloucester, who died in 1857.
The tenth and last window in this alley is by Clayton & Bell, and is in memory of Rev. E. Bankes, D.C.L., late Canon of the Cathedral, who died in 1867.
"At the north end of the east alley of the cloister, and almost concealed by the later panelling, is an Early English doorway opening into a vaulted passage or entry, chiefly of the thirteenth century. This entry passes between the east gable of the frater and what I have suggested may have been the common house-garden, and leads straight into the infirmary cloister. The passage is covered by a stone vault of four bays, supported by heavy moulded ribs springing from corbels. The south half of the passage is 6 feet 10 inches wide, but the northern half of the east wall is set back so as to increase the width to 7½ feet. This passage was lighted in the first bay by a single light with trefoiled head, with very wide internal splay. In the wider end were two other openings now blocked. That to the north had a transom two-thirds of the height up, above which the rear-arch is moulded, while below it is plain. The other is not carried above the transom level, and the sill has been cut down and the opening made into a doorway into a house outside; in which state it remained until within the last forty years. That some thirteenth-century building stood here seems evident, and the upper half of the north opening was clearly a window above the roof to light that end of the entry.
"The north end of the entry opens directly into the east alley of the infirmary or "farmery" cloister, which is built against the north side of the east end of the frater." (Hope.)
North Alley (east to west).—This "north alley" was closed at both ends by screens, and must therefore have had some special use. From analogy with the arrangements at Durham there can be little doubt that this alley was partly appropriated to the novices.... We have curious evidence that the north alley at Gloucester was so appropriated, in the traces of the games they played at in their idle moods. On the stone bench against the wall are scratched a number of diagrams of the forms here represented:
The first is for playing the game called "Nine men's morris," from each player having nine pieces or men. The other two are for playing varieties of the game of "Fox and Geese."
"Traces of such games may generally be found on the bench tables of cloisters where they have not been restored, and excellent examples remain at Canterbury, Westminster, Salisbury, and elsewhere. At Gloucester they are almost exclusively confined to the novices' alley, the only others now to be seen in the cloister being an unfinished 'Nine men's morris' board in the south alley, and one or two crossed squares in the west alley." (Hope.)
In the north alley wall some of the lower halves of the five easternmost windows have been re-opened, and the bricks with which they were blocked removed.
The next bay contains traces of a doorway into the cloister-garth that has been blocked.
The Monks' Lavatory takes up the next four bays. As Mr Hope says, "it is one of the most perfect of its date that have been preserved. It projects 8 feet into the garth, and is entered from the cloister alley by eight tall arches with glazed traceried openings above. Internally it is 47 feet long and 6½ feet wide, and is lighted by eight two-light windows towards the garth and by a similar window at each end. One light of the east window has a small square opening below, perhaps for the admission of the supply pipes, for which there seems to be no other entrance either in the fan vault or the side walls. Half the width of the lavatory is taken up by a broad, flat ledge or platform against the wall, on which stood a lead cistern or laver, with a row of taps, and in front a hollow trough, originally lined with lead, at which the monks washed their hands and faces. From this the waste water ran away into a recently discovered (1889) tank in the garth." (Hope.)
A plan of this tank is here shown by permission of Mr Waller. It seems to have had a sluice at the west end in order to dam up the water if required in greater volume for flushing the drain.
Opposite the lavatory is a groined almery or recess in which the monks kept their towels. The hooks and indications of doors to this recess are still there. There are traces, too, of screens or partitions in the lavatory arches.
To the west of the lavatory is a "curious arrangement. It consists of a large opening in the lower part of the window, occupying the space of two lights, with a separate chase in the head carried up vertically on the outside. It had a transom at half its height, now broken away, as is also the sill." (Hope.)
It is possible, as suggested by Mr J. W. Clark, F.S.A., that this chase was lined with wood, and was the means by which a bell rope passed out to ring the bell which summoned the monks to meals.
The North Alley.—The windows in this alley as far as the Monks' Lavatory have been filled recently, 1896-97, at the expense of Baron de Ferrières of Cheltenham.
There are twenty-seven lights in all, and they constitute the lower part of five windows, a doorway taking the space of three lights. The eighth contains a mitre and a crozier, an initial E and the date 1022. This window is an anachronism, as Edric was not a mitred abbot. Abbot Froucester was the first to wear a mitre, in 1381.
Over the lavatory are four windows, also given by Baron de Ferrières. Like the windows in the lavatory, they contain subjects which are in some way connected with water.
The small two-light windows (ten in number) in the Monks' Lavatory have been glazed by Hardman, at the expense of Mr B. Bonnor.
A brass on the wall near the lavatory records that the masonry of the north walk was restored by the Freemasons of the province of Gloucester in 1896.
The West Alley.—The north window of three lights has been filled with glass (by Ballantyne) to the memory of members of a Gloucester family named Wilton.
The window was formerly an Early English doorway, which can still be traced. "It retains the upper pair of the iron hooks on which the doors were hung, and was the entrance into the great dining-hall of the monks, called the refectorium, or, in English, the frater." (Hope.) The effect of the window is beyond words.
The Slype, or covered passage, which is entered from the south-west corner of the cloisters, is a vaulted passage of Norman work, and is under part of the old Abbot's lodging—i.e. the present Deanery.
This passage, which is on a lower level than the cloister, was "the main entrance into the cloister from the outer court. This entrance was always kept carefully guarded to prevent intrusion by strangers or unauthorized persons." (Hope.)
The passage served as the outer parlour, in which the monks held conversation with strangers and visitors.
The South Alley.—This alley has ten windows each of six lights, but below the transoms the lights are replaced by twenty carrels or recesses, two to each window. This was the place to which the monks resorted daily for study (after they had dined) until evensong. The first window—i.e. the westernmost window nearest to the slype—is a memorial to J. Francillon, Esq., a judge of the county court, who died in 1866. The glass is by Hardman.
The first two carrel windows were filled with glass of a simple and inoffensive nature, by T. Fulljames, Esq., and the rest were filled by T. Holt, Esq., to the memory of members of his family, their initials being inserted in the lower corners.
The last window in this south alley is a memorial to R. B. Cooper, Esq., as the brass tablet sets forth. The glass, which is by Hardman, represents the conversion and the execution of St. Paul.
Some of the windows in the cloister are glazed with a peculiarly charming white glass, which admits plenty of light, but is not transparent. The effect is most restful to the eyes after examining some of the bizarre creations in the other windows.
When the cloister windows are entirely filled with glass they will contain a history of the Life of our Lord.
Britton, in 1828, bemoaned the conversion of the garth into a kitchen garden, and showed how the accumulation of vegetable refuse was injuring the stone-work. There are still residents in Gloucester who can remember Dean Law digging up his own potatoes in the garth. This is now the private garden of the Dean, and is very simply, and therefore charmingly, laid out. It contains the old well of the Abbey.
The present Deanery was originally the Abbot's lodging, in which royal persons, high ecclesiastics, and nobles were entertained. When, however, in the fourteenth century, a new Abbot's lodging was built on the site where the episcopal palace now stands, the Abbot's old lodging was assigned to the Prior. The Deanery (which, however, is not shown to visitors), as it now stands, "consists of two main blocks, built on two sides of a court—the one to the south, in the angle formed by the cloister and the church; the other to the west, with the court between it and the cloister." The southern block, which contained the private apartments of the Abbot, consists of three large Norman chambers, one above the other, with their original windows enriched within and without with zig-zag mouldings. Each chamber has also in the north-east corner an inserted or altered doorway into a garde-robe tower (shown in Carter's plan, 1807), but now destroyed; and the two lowest chambers have their southern corners crossed by stone arches, moulded or covered with zig-zag ornaments. All these chambers are subdivided by partitions into smaller rooms. Mr. Hope says:
"The ground storey is entered from a vaulted lobby or antechamber, now modernized and converted into a porch. The first floor has a similar antechamber, as had originally also the second floor, but this has been altered. These antechambers are all of early thirteenth-century date, with a good deal of excellent work remaining about the windows.
"Between the church and the rooms just described is a building of two storeys. The ground storey consists of a vaulted passage, already described as the outer parlour. It is on a lower level than the cloister, which is reached from it by a flight of steps. Over it is a lofty room, also vaulted, which was the abbot's chapel. It is now entered by an awkward skew passage from the first-floor antechamber.
"Both the chapel and outer parlour were once 9 feet longer, but were shortened, and their west ends rebuilt with the old masonry, at the same time that, I have reason to believe, the west front of the church was rebuilt and also curtailed of a bay in the fifteenth century. The first floor of all this part of the house contained the abbot's private apartments, namely, his dining-room, bedroom, solar, and chapel. The second floor was devoted to his own special guests, while the ground storey contained a reception-room, and probably accommodation for one or two servants.
"At the north-west corner of this southern block is a semi-octagonal turret. Until this was altered a few years ago it contained the front entrance into the deanery, and within it a flight of stairs led to a series of landings communicating with the antechambers on the first and second floors, as well as the rooms on the north. Both the turret and the landings replace a much earlier entrance tower, nearly square in form, and of the same date as the antechambers. Many traces of this remain, and show that it was a handsome and important structure.
"The western block of buildings, which is connected with the southern block by the turret and landings, has been so altered in the fifteenth century, and further modernized and enlarged of late years, that it is very difficult to make out the original arrangement. The southern half is two storeys high, with a large hall on the upper floor and the servants' department below. The hall is now divided into two rooms, lined with good Jacobean panelling, and its fifteenth-century roof underdrawn by plaster ceilings.
"At the north end of the hall is another two-storey building. The lower floor is of stone, and now contains various domestic offices. But originally it formed part of a building of considerable architectural importance, as may be seen from the jamb of an elaborate Early English window at the north-west corner. From its position, this Early English building, which seems to have extended westward as far as the inner gate, was most likely the abbot's hall, and here doubtless took place the famous historical dialogue between Edward II. and Abbot Thoky.[1] Some time before the end of the fifteenth century this hall was cut down, and an upper storey of wood built upon it, of which the east end still remains. At one time it evidently extended further west. Internally it has been gutted, and now contains nothing of interest to show its use."
"The court of the Abbot's house was probably enclosed by covered alleys on the north and west sides to enable the Abbot to pass into the cloister under cover. In the recent alterations to the Deanery, a block of additional rooms has been built on the west side of the court against the hall." (Hope.)
There is a timber-framed room on the north-west where Richard II. is reputed to have held his parliament. It had a narrow escape some years ago of being destroyed by a fire caused by an overheated flue.
The new lodging for the Abbot (1316-1329, temp. Wygmore) was built near the infirmary garden, on the site now occupied by the Bishop's Palace. Drawings of the plans of the old buildings (made in 1856) are in the custody of the Bishop, and reduced reproductions of them are to be found in the "Records of Gloucester Cathedral," 1897, in the article by Mr Hope. Part of the buildings remain on the south side of Pitt Street, and serve to screen the palace from the road.
The Bishop's Palace is a modern building, erected in 1857-1862 by Christian on the site of the abbot's lodging.
The so-called Grove, laid out by a distinguished head-master of the King's School, Maurice Wheeler, 1684-1712, on the north side of the church, was used as a school playground till 1855, presumably to the detriment of the windows in the Lady Chapel. It was in that year thrown into the gardens surrounding the east end of the cathedral. These gardens had been originally the monks' cemetery, and adjoining them had been the lay-folks' cemetery, extending along the greater part of the south side.
When all the accumulation of soil was removed, and the ground lowered, the foundations of the old walls were discovered.
The Cathedral, or King's School, is of Henry VIII. foundation. For many years it was held in the old monastic library. A drawing of it is given in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary," 1796. The present buildings date back to 1850.
