212 



Lacock Abbey. 



There is such a remarkable similarity of detail in cloisters of both 

 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as to lead to the supposition 

 that they emanated from some one place of origin. They are 

 nearly always constructed in Purbeck marble, and, considering the 

 large number of abbeys being built at that period, the demand at 

 the quarries for this one sort of work must have been very great. 

 To meet this demand it is almost certain the caps, bases, and 

 columns were worked in large quantities and sent out in sets as the 

 orders for the same were received, A parallel case is known to 

 have existed in the fifteenth century with regard to alabaster images 

 and carved panels. At first these were made at the quarries at 

 Ohellaston, in Derbyshire, and later at Nottingham, by special 

 " Alablastermen " in great quantities, and sent thence to all parts 

 of the country and even abroad. 1 



The first alteration in the original cloister was apparently made 

 in the middle of the 14th century, when the west walk was re-built. 

 It seems to have had a flat wooden roof divided into bays, and 

 resting against the main wall on stone corbels. One of these 

 remains perfect in the north-west angle and represents an angel 

 playing on a fiddle. The tails of three other corbels remain towards 

 the southern end, the projecting portions having been cut off in line 

 with the wall face. The wall next the court was the same height as 

 the later walls of the east and north alleys and each bay was pierced 

 by a large window, apparently square-headed. Unfortunately this 

 walk has subsequently been removed, except a small piece with the 

 corner buttress at what was the north-west angle of the court in 

 connection with the north walk. This buttress had, over its top 

 set-off, a carved gargoyle ; but it has been partly cut away. There 

 is a small square-headed loop in the wall of the north alley above 

 the later window, that is apparently of this work, though for what 

 purpose it is impossible to say. It was evidently intended to re- 

 build the south alley in the same way as the west, and the wall of 

 the first free bay beyond the west alley was set out and built as 

 high as the seat. A change of design was then made, and this bay 

 and the one forming the angle of the two walks were constructed 



1 Archceologia, vol. lii., pp. 679 — 680. 



