ggeration 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 12 1/2 feet and the
height 18 1/2 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 cemeter