y of Roman workmanship, but its
embattled crest, of which a fragment _in situ_ may be seen, was built or
renewed in the Middle Ages.

In the wholesale destruction wrought by the Great Fire so much perished,
and, as a consequence, so much was rebuilt that one looks in vain for a
specimen of a mediaeval house constructed of wood within the bounds of
the city. It is because of this that Crosby Place, a domestic dwelling
of the fifteenth century and of the most important class, was so highly
valued, not alone by antiquaries, but by all who love mediaeval London.

Until a comparatively recent date there were some wooden houses covered
with weather-boarding at Cripplegate. These were examples of the type of
house erected immediately after the Great Fire. Others, somewhat less
picturesque, still remain between Cannon Street and the river.

A remarkable group of timber houses, presumably of about the same date,
exists in and immediately adjacent to the narrow street at Smithfield
known as the Cloth Fair. Although they present no particular feature of
architectural merit, they remain as an extremely interesting group of
old wooden houses with over-sailing storeys and picturesque gables. The
street, by reason of its very narrowness, looks old, and,
notwithstanding the various reparations and rebuildings which have been
carried out at the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, and in spite of
the many other changes which have been carried out in the neighbourhood,
the Cloth Fair remains to-day a veritable "bit" of old London as it was
pretty generally in the seventeenth century.

The accompanying views, reproduced from recent photographs, represent
the general appearance of the houses, although it is somewhat difficult
to get anything like a clear picture in such a dark and narrow street.

A little way out of the City we have the remarkably picturesque
half-timbered buildings of Staple Inn; and in the Strand, near the
entrance to the Temple, there was once a group of wooden houses, one of
which, popularly called Cardinal Wolsey's Palace, has been rescued from
destruction, thanks to the action of the London County Council.

[Illustration: THE CLOTH FAIR, SMITHFIELD.

_The north-east end of the street._]

OLD ST. PAUL'S

No account of mediaeval London, however brief and partial, could be
considered adequate which did not include some reference to Old St.
Paul's. One of the greatest glories of London in the old days was its