26 2 Afterword. 



An interesting specimen of the domestic architecture of the 

 Elizabethan period, near to where once stood the West gate, is 

 Hetling House, occupied, if aot built, by Sir W. Hungerford of 

 Farleigh as a "town house, overlooking the western borough 

 walls." It only needs the removal of some mean and miserable 

 buildings which have been allowed to encroach upon its precincts 

 to worthily remind us of the history it represents. Its vicissi- 

 tudes of occupation have been many and strange. In the i6th 

 century it was a noble mansion with subterranean passages 

 eading to the gardens and pleasure grounds without the walls. 

 In the 17th it was garrisoned by the soldiers of the King, and 

 its spacious upper chamber converted into a barrack. It has 

 been the temporary dwelling place of Princesses of the Blood, 

 the Hall of the Odd Fellows, the office of the Bath and West of 

 England Agricultural Society, and is now the Church House of 

 the Abbey parish. The noble fireplace and old oak staircase, 

 which still recall the memory of departed grandeur, are now it 

 may be hoped in safe keeping. 



