eredos itself, but all traces of this
were effaced in subsequent alterations.

[Illustration: FIG. 5--SCREEN OF ROGER DE WALDEN'S CHANTRY, AND RAHERE'S
MONUMENT.]

One alteration was made in the choir which very much affected the
proportions of the building between the date of its first building and
the erection of Rahere's monument. Perhaps because the ground outside
the church had become raised by the building operations, which had gone
on around it, and the drainage of the interior had become defective, or
for some other reason, the floor over all the eastern part was filled in
for a depth of nearly three feet, dwarfing considerably the Norman
arcades, and burying the bases of the columns; and it was upon this
altered level the screen of Bishop Roger de Walden's chantry was built.

Having undergone such extensive repairs the priory received no further
alterations until, after another hundred years, William Bolton became
prior in 1506. It has been asserted, on what seem very insufficient
grounds, that Bolton was the architect of Henry VII.'s Chapel at
Westminster; but although this is very improbable, he was associated
with those who were engaged on the work, and seems himself to have been
disposed to architectural display. He has been credited with very large
alterations to the conventual buildings, and the erection of a tower
over the crossing; but nearly all traces of his work have disappeared,
except a doorway in the south aisle, and the beautiful window in the
triforium, overlooking the choir, which is always, known as "Prior
Bolton's window," and is distinguished by his rebus, a bolt in a tun, in
the centre lower panel, as is shown in the illustration (fig. 6).

Bolton's successor, Robert Fuller, was the last of the priors, and with
him is ushered in the era of dissolution and decay, when--

"The ire of a despotic King
Rides forth upon destruction's wing."

The priory was suppressed, and the great nave was deliberately pulled
down. But, except that so much of the cloister as adjoined the nave was
destroyed with it, no further demolitions took place at that time, and
it was only gradually that the conventual buildings, some of which
lasted to our own day, were removed. The choir and transepts were
preserved to form a parish church, and the area of the destroyed nave
became the churchyard. The rest of the buildings were sold by the King
to Sir Richard Rich, for the sum of L1,064 11s. 3d., not a large