of indignation at the behaviour of "a powerful
junto" which had been formed in the parish to sweep the whole structure
away, church included, on the pretext that part of the choir was in
danger of tumbling down. It had, however, been saved by the exertions
and judicious repairs of Mr. Hardwick, to whom the writer pays a just
compliment for his timely action against the particular committee. He
then goes on with a lamentable picture of what met his eyes on a "recent
survey" of the Priory, which he had previously examined in 1791, when it
was pretty much in the same state.[14] The Lady Chapel was still in
existence, but wholly filled up with modern tenements; the north
transept was more or less destroyed, and the arch bricked up to reduce
that side of the church to a level, while the south transept--a ruin
without a roof--was walled off from the church, and used as a
burial-ground. The eastern side of the cloister was all that remained of
the quadrangle, and was turned to account as a "comfortable eight-stall
stable" for horses. The site of the north cloister was occupied by a
blacksmith's forge, a public house, and certain private offices; the
south and west being covered with store-rooms and coach-houses. Of the
Chapter House the remaining walls were "no higher than a dado," and
under them the timber was stored after treatment in the sawpit of the
enclosure. The dormitory to the south of the Chapter House had been
demolished, and the crypt beneath it bricked off into divisions for
stores, with a common thoroughfare open between them. It may here be
mentioned that a close examination of the ground has shown that there
was formerly the usual "slype," or open pathway, running from the
cloister-garth, between the south transept and the Chapter House, to the
canons' cemetery on the southern side of the Lady Chapel.

The building against the south wall of the choir (probably the sacristy,
though called a chapel) is described as a magnificent structure, of
about the time of Edward III, with windows on the eastern and southern
sides, and a grand arch (then latticed up) which formerly connected it
with the south transept. It was being used as a store-room for hops. The
chapel to the east of this was destroyed in its upper part, and the
windows had lost their arched heads, though the columns and architraves
to the jambs remained, showing some very delicate and beautiful work,
which was also remarkably fine in the dado mouldings.