vaulted
roof. This was originally the entrance to the Abbey court, the "Magna
Porta" of the old monastic days. There was a former structure on or near
the same spot; this was blown down and the present building dates from
the rule of Thomas de la Mere, thirtieth abbot (1349-96). Used as a jail
some centuries ago, it has long been known as St. Alban's _Grammar
School_; the battlemented house S.W. of the archway is the residence of
the head master. The claims of this school to be _the oldest in England_
cannot be adequately discussed here. Suffice it to say that documents
attesting its existence date from Abbot Richard de Albini (1097-1119);
his successor, Geoffrey de Gorham, came from Normandy to become its
master. Matthew Paris records that the school was afterwards kept by a
nephew of Abbot Warine (or Warren) de Cambridge, and had at that time
more scholars than any school in England. Passing through the arch we
notice on the left a small, triangular burial ground. The spot is called
Romeland. Here George Tankerville was burnt by order of Bishop Bonner,
on 26th August, 1556.

Passing straight forward into Spicer Street the _Congregational
Chapel_, founded in 1797, is on the right. A little farther on is
College Street; on the left side stands the house in which Cowper was
placed under the charge of Dr. Cotton when his insanity was most
pronounced. To reach the old _Clock Tower_ we turn right into Verulam
Street and left into High Street. The Tower stands at the S. end of the
Market Place; note the quaint, narrow thoroughfare at its W. side,
called French Row. The Tower is Perp., of flint and dressed stone,
battlemented, and surmounted by a small spire; the basement has long
been utilised as a saddler's shop. It dates from the fifteenth
century,[7] but was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1864. In it hangs
the great bell "Gabriel" cast early in the reign of Edward III.; it is
now used for striking the hour and formerly tolled the curfew. In the
foreground, where the drinking fountain now stands, was "Eleanor's
Cross," erected, like the cross at Waltham (_q.v._), by Edward I. in
memory of his Queen. It was destroyed about 1700. The old market-place,
so quaint even fifty years ago, is now largely occupied by modern shops;
partly by reason of a fire which occurred many years back.

[Footnote 7: Clutterbuck says it was erected between 1402 and 1427.]

Continuing our way up the market-place we pass the _Town Hall_ or _Cou