was not the Church of the Priory. 



13 



not return along the west wall of the transept, whereas the docu- 

 ments, printed by Canon Jackson, show that the great cloister of 

 the Priory, which of course would adjoin the Priory Church, was a 

 Complete square of four equal sides, and had a low-pitched roof. 

 This is in the survey of the leads : — " a flat roof over the cloister 

 covered with lead, containing 4 squares, every square in length 

 104 foot and in depth 12 foot." This being the measurement of 

 the lead, the extent of the cloister, along the walls of the surrounding 

 buildings, would be at least 104 feet and probably about 114 feet. 



It is curious to note how Canon Jackson quickly passes, from a 

 supposition that the present Church may have been the Priory 

 Church, to an assumption that it was that Church, presently stating 

 it as a fact. In accordance with this assumption, he says: — 

 " against the tower walls are still to be seen dripstone lines which 

 may represent the older roofs that were stripped of lead at the 

 Dissolution." This is anything but convincing. Nothing is 

 commoner than to see the dripstones of high-pitched roofs remaining 

 in Churches, where low-pitched roofs have succeeded them, and the 

 change generally took place in the fifteenth century. 



Canon Jackson quotes a number of documents, relating to the 

 demolition of the buildings of the Priory, which he has not arranged 

 in order of time. The one which he prints first, from the original 

 at Longleat, is signed " By chard Byche," and appears to emanate 

 from the Augmentation Office. Richard, Lord Riche, was Chancellor 

 of the Court of Augmentations, from 1536 to 1544. The date is 

 28th January, 32nd of Henry VIII. (1541), and it appears to be 

 the third in order of time of the documents quoted. I have reduced 

 all these dates to the year A.D., by the help of Nicolas's " Tables 

 and Calendars." This document relates to an exchange, between 

 the Earl of Hertford and the King, and is of earlier date than the 

 actual grant to the Earl of Hertford, which is dated 7th April, 

 1541, and is by way of exchange of the lands granted for other 

 lands in Middlesex. It may be well perhaps to point out that 

 Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, was the brother-in-law of 

 Henry VIII., better known, by his later title, as The Protector, 

 Duke of Somerset. 



