s some French prisoners were confined within
the walls. In 1868 the Gatehouse was found too small for use as a gaol,
and a new prison was built near the Midland Station. The Gatehouse was
bought by the governors of the grammar school, and in 1870 the school
was removed from the Lady Chapel to the Gatehouse. There are dungeons
beneath the level of the roadway; over the archway is the large room
where the sessions used to be held, with other rooms on either side. In
this building some old chimney-pieces may still be seen. Although the
present foundation dates from the reign of Edward VI., yet a school had
existed in St. Albans from very early time. Some think it was founded by
Ulsinus. Be this as it may, it is certain that Geoffrey de Gorham, who
was afterwards Abbot (1119-1146), first came to England during the time
of Richard of Albini (the fifteenth Abbot), with a view of being master
of the school. In 1195 we read that the school had more scholars than
any other in England. The school in these early days stood to the north
of the Great Gate on the other side of the street that runs down the
hill on the north side of the triangular graveyard known as Romelands,
where a Protestant martyr, one George Tankerfield, a cook, born in York,
but living in London, was burnt on August 26th, 1555, during the reign
of Mary I.

#Sopwell Nunnery.#--There are a few remains of Sopwell Nunnery in a
field near the river Ver, to the south-east of the city. They may be
reached by taking the first turning to the right hand after crossing the
bridge on the way from the city down Holywell Hill. This nunnery was
founded by Geoffrey of Gorham, sixteenth Abbot, about the middle of the
twelfth century. Two women, pious and ascetic, had taken up their abode
on this spot in a hut which they built for themselves, and Geoffrey
determined to build them a more permanent dwelling, and make them the
nucleus of a religious house. They accepted the Benedictine Rule, and
gradually the nunnery increased in size, and many ladies of high birth
took the veil here. One of the abbesses wrote the "Boke of St. Albans,"
not, as might be imagined, an account of the saint or of the religious
house, but a treatise on hawking, hunting, and fishing. It was printed
in 1483 at the St. Albans printing press. When the nunnery was
dissolved, Sir Richard Lee, to whom the Abbey lands were granted, turned
it into a dwelling-house for himself. The ruins consist of ivy-clad
walls