II 



8totes on Jacrcnt ^makvm at Jacoxli jpfajh 1 



By C. H. Talbot. 



L->f*"5HE Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 

 lias, on several occasions, visited Lacock Abbey, so that 

 the building, as a whole, must be pretty well known to many of the 

 Members ; but, during the past year (1894) considerable discoveries 

 have been made, and works of the nature of restoration have been 

 carried out, under the professional superintendence of Mr. Harold 

 Brakspear, so that there is a good deal to be seen that will be new 

 to them. 



One of the ill-advised and destructive alterations of the last 

 century was the removal of the east walls and windows of the 

 sacristy, chapter-house, and day-room, by which those buildings 

 were thrown open to the terrace, the doors of communication with 

 the adjacent buildings being, at the same time, walled up. In the 

 case of the chapter-house and sacristy, this alteration has now been 

 reversed, and it is hoped that the day-room may soon be proceeded 

 with in a similar manner. 



The most striking discovery that we have made is that of the 

 original west front of the chapter-house, of the thirteenth century. 

 We have opened out the arch of entrance and the two unglazed side 

 windows. 2 This Early English front was respected by the builders 

 of the Perpendicular cloister, who retained it and carried their own 

 work across it, in a very remarkable manner. It must be understood 

 that the present vaulted cloister has replaced an earlier cloister, 3 



1 Read before the Society, at Corsham, August 1st, 1895. 

 2 It was obvious, from the treatment of the vaulting, as I noticed in my first 

 archaeological paper, (Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. xii., p. 224), that this, the typical 

 arrangement, must once have existed, but we hardly expected to find it so well 

 preserved. 



:i The four sides of this earlier cloister were probably complete, but the west 

 walk of the later cloister, though intended, was never erected. In the west wall 

 of the cloister court, at the back of the modern dining-room, I discovered and 



