e to the west (see
illustration, p. 43), but the bottom of the glass was kept high so as to
be above the roof of the north walk of the cloister, which rested
against the wall of these bays. Two of these windows contain modern
glass, one being inserted to the memory of the present Dean's father.
There was once a door in the second bay from the west, which probably
was used for processions, and in the seventh bay was a small door
opening into the cloister, from which a passage in the thickness of the
wall led up by a flight of steps into the Abbot's chapel. This opening
has been converted into a muniment room, and is closed by an iron door
leading from the aisle. The vaulting of the western part is of stone,
and was erected by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1878. The vaulting of the
eastern part is fourteenth-century work erected at the time of the
reconstruction of this part of the church in Decorated style, and is
only plaster.

Against the south face of the large pier, at the junction of the Early
English and Decorated bays, once stood an altar dedicated to our Lady of
the Pillar, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi above it. Iron
railings inclosing the space between this pier and the next to the west
formed a chapel set apart for the use of the Guild of St Alban. This
guild was founded in the reign of Edward III., but dissolved at the time
of Wat Tyler's rebellion. It was the duty of the brethren of this guild
to follow the shrine containing the relics of St. Alban whenever it was
carried outside the church.

[Illustration: HOLY WATER STOUP.]

#North Aisle.#--At the west end of this aisle the beautiful though much
restored holy water stoup should be noticed. A semicircular arch crosses
this aisle, springing from the pier where the Early English and Norman
work join (see illustration, p. 47). The roof is of timber with only a
slight slope, built in 1860. The first four windows from the west are
new, inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the new wall which he built here.
The other windows have new tracery, but the internal parts remain as
William of Trumpington left them. Some old glass (fifteenth century) is
to be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth windows of the aisle. The
font, a modern one, stands at the east end of this aisle. It took the
place in 1853 of a marble one, now in the workhouse chapel. There was
once a brazen one brought as spoil from Dunkeld in Scotland, together
with the lectern now in St. Stephen's Chur