y 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