s said to have been built between the
years 1224-1227 by Ralph of Wylington, and Olympias his wife, and
endowed with lands.

The church was dedicated again in 1239, in Abbot Foliot's time, by
Walter of Cantelupe, "the patriot prelate who, six-and-twenty years
later, stood by Earl Simon on the day of martyrdom at Evesham."

Three years after the dedication in 1242 alterations in the triforium of
the nave were made, and the stone vaulting was done by the monks
themselves. It was a very laudable object, but they effectually spoiled
the nave. The same year saw the beginning of the rebuilding of the
south-west tower, and it was finished before 1246. If this was the tower
that collapsed in 1170, the monks would seem to have somewhat neglected
their duty to the fabric. The Norman refectory or "frater" was
demolished in 1246, and the new one begun. This building stood to the
north of the cloisters, and was pulled down at the Dissolution. Of the
Early English infirmary or "farmery" traces remain near the Bishop's
Palace.

In this place we may refer incidentally to Gloucester Hall, Oxford,
which college was founded in 1283 as a residence for thirteen monks, to
be chosen out of the brotherhood at Gloucester, and sent to study at
Oxford. The hall was empowered later on to receive students from other
Benedictine foundations, and the buildings were enlarged for this
purpose in 1298.

Fire again ravaged the Abbey and its precincts in 1300, on the feast of
the Epiphany. "It began in a timbered house in the great court, from
which it spread to the small bell-tower, the great camera, and the
cloister" (Hope, 36). Mr Hope thinks this bell-tower was either a single
western tower, as formerly there was at Hereford, or else a Norman
north-west tower, and that the great camera was part of the Abbot's
house, now the Deanery. Professor Freeman thinks that the small
bell-tower or _parvum campanile_ was so called as being less in height
than the south-west tower rebuilt in 1245-6.

In this same fire the Norman dorter or dormitory suffered considerable
damage. It was pulled down three years later, and a new one, which took
ten years to build, was opened for use in 1313, after being blessed and
sprinkled with holy water by the Bishop of St. David's. 1318 is a date
of importance in the history of the Abbey. John Thokey, Abbot from
1307-1329, made many changes. He reconstructed the south aisle of the
nave to save the south side from collapse. T