her to the west on the same side.

Quite recently a valuable relic of the same period has been discovered
in the north-east corner within the above-mentioned chapel (by the
side of the new Harvard window)--apparently part of the original
arcading to the apse.

Early in the thirteenth century London was visited by one of those
great fires, which occurred at rather frequent intervals, before the
greatest of all, in 1666, led to the rebuilding of the city, and
better means for its protection. The date of the particular fire is
sometimes given as 1207, sometimes as 1212 or 1213. It is not
unlikely that there were several, in one or other of which London
Bridge, Southwark, and the church were seriously injured. (_Vide_ Stow
and Harleian MSS., No. 565.)

The repairs were soon taken in hand by Peter de la Roche, otherwise de
Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester (1205-1238), who altered the nave into
the Early English, which was then generally superseding the heavier
Norman work, and shortly afterwards built the choir and retro-choir in
a still lighter and more ornate style. The architecture gives us the
approximate date of de la Roche's work as the early part of the
thirteenth century, which is about as near as we can get to it in the
absence of a more precise record than that it was "begun after the
fire." In consequence of this, or some previous fire, the Canons were
led to found a hospital close to the Priory for the relief of the
distress and disease caused by the disaster. During the restorations
by Peter de Rupibus, in or about 1228, he had the hospital transferred
to a more favourable site in the neighbourhood, where the air was
fresher and water more abundant, and dedicated it to St. Thomas of
Canterbury, to whom the chapel on London Bridge was also dedicated.[4]

In addition to all this excellent work, Bishop de Rupibus built a
chapel for the parishioners, the conventual church being reserved for
the Prior and monks. This chapel stood in the angle between the walls
of the choir and south transept, and was called St. Mary Magdalene
Overy.

In the reign of Richard II there was another fire, involving repairs;
and then, as well as in the reign of Henry IV, Perpendicular features
were introduced by Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester
(1405-1447), aided by John Gower, the "Father of English Poetry." The
Cardinal is said to have restored the south transept at his own
expense, and is there commemorated in a sculptured rep