The long list of works undertaken and completed from 1887 to 1893, under the succeeding Rector, the Rev. Sir J. Borradaile Savory, Bart., includes the restoration of both transepts, the opening out of both sides of the choir triforium,[18] the erection of the north and west porches, the refacing of the west front, the reparation of the brick tower, and the re-hanging of the bells, besides numerous external and internal details.
The crowning work was the reconstruction of the Lady Chapel, which was not completed till 1896, after the tedious business of releasing it from its secular holders, and the recovery of the original design amidst the mutilation in which they left it. The whole has been admirably carried through by Sir Aston Webb, R.A., who has restored the precious fabric as nearly as possible to its original state, by replacing what was destroyed, and revealing what was concealed when the difficult task was committed to him.
The restoration has since been extended to three bays on the eastern side of the cloister, all that remained of the original quadrangle, and these in a sadly ruinous state. Whether the cloisters were completed by Rahere is a matter of conjecture; but it may be fairly assumed that they were begun by him as a necessary part of the monastery. The surviving Norman fragments point to the twelfth century as the date of their first erection. It is certain that they were rebuilt in the fifteenth, for besides the architectural remains of that period, there is historical evidence that the work was done under Prior John Watford soon after his appointment in 1404. For in September, 1409, Pope Alexander V, when making a grant of Indulgences to those who visited and gave alms at the church on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and the Feast of the Assumption, expressly mentions the reconstruction of the Cloisters and Chapter House by the Prior among the reasons which had induced him to confer the privilege.
When the monastery was suppressed, the archway leading into the east cloister from the church was built up, and the doors were taken from it—in all probability to be transferred (in 1544) to the principal entrance at the western end of the truncated building.
In the reconstruction attempted by the Dominican Friars, it seems that, instead of re-opening the cloister-arch to its full extent, they contented themselves with inserting a smaller doorway within it, the jambs and lintel of which were discovered in the rubble masonry when the arch was opened out in 1905. On the suppression of the Dominicans by Queen Elizabeth, the cloisters passed again into secular hands, and disappear from history until the year 1742, when there is a record of the stabling that occupied the ruins till our own day, with the temporary interruption of a fire in 1830, which brought most of the eastern side to the ground. The stables were afterwards rebuilt, and left undisturbed till 1900, when negotiations were opened for the purchase of the freehold from the owners.
It was not till Michaelmas, 1904, that possession, even of a part, could be obtained, as there were various leasehold interests to be reckoned with, and many beneficiaries to be satisfied, whose rights will not be finally extinguished until June, 1926. But excavation was at once commenced, and the actual rebuilding in 1905. It need hardly be said that all that has been discovered of the ancient work, here and elsewhere, whether above or below ground, has been carefully preserved, and incorporated (as far as possible in situ) into the restoration.
Footnotes
[1] I. "Liber fundationis ecclesiae et prioratus S. Bartholomaei in West-Smithfield, London; per Raherum qui illic religiosos viros secundum regulam S. patris Augustini aggregavit, iisdemque per XXII annos prioris dignitate et officio functus praetuit, et de miraculis ipsius."
II. "Idem liber Anglice."
Both are on parchment, in pages of the same (quarto) size, and bound together in a single volume of eighty-three leaves, divided almost equally between the Latin and English versions.—Cottonian MSS. Vespasian, B. ix.