The next work was the rebuilding of the cloister. This was built between 1351 and 1412. It is covered with a fan-vault, supposed to be the earliest example of the kind. But the supports look as if designed for a lierne vault. It is possible, therefore, that the earliest fan-vaults are those of two monuments in the neighbouring Abbey-Church of Tewkesbury. In the south walk are twenty “carols” or “studies” for the monks; in the north walk a lavatory and a recess for towels. Between 1421 and 1437 Abbot Morment was guilty of the west front and the two western bays of the nave. He intended to rebuild the whole nave, but could not make up his mind how to do it. The two bays he did build are quite different in height and span and general design. With his big west window, and with the insertion of Perpendicular windows in the north aisle and in the clerestories of the nave, the improvement of the lighting of the church may be said to have been effectually completed. [Illustration: CLOISTER.] Instead of going on with Abbot Morment’s rebuilding of the nave, the monks now turned their attention to the central tower. The tower was of no use as a lantern, for the lierne vault of the choir had been carried beneath it. So it long remained unaltered. But in the days of Abbot Seabrooke (1460-1482) it was rebuilt under the superintendence of a monk named Sully, to be in character with the new exterior of choir and transepts. A very imposing tower it is; fully able, from its massiveness as well as from its height, to gather together the masses of the building—all the more so because the transepts are so short. It succeeds where the central towers of Worcester and Hereford fail; in fact, it is as effective in its way as Salisbury spire. The pinnacles, again, bear witness to the love of these later artists for harmony and unity: each pinnacle, with its two ranges of windows, is a repeat of the two stages of the tower below. Then—after the tower had been erected—it was decided to rebuild the Lady chapel. So an immense detached building was constructed to the east of the great window of the presbytery; without aisles, but with little transepts; almost one continuous sheet of glass, and with a superb vault. This Lady chapel had to be joined up to the presbytery, but the great east window was in the way. However, the difficulty was got over by a series of ingenious shifts and dodges, which must be seen to be appreciated (1457-1499). And so ended this great building-period at Gloucester (1330-1499), which turned the course of English architecture; so that the Curvilinear style of 1315 to 1360 did not find its natural development in Flamboyant, as on the Continent, but was switched off to Perpendicular and Tudor design. The Cathedral Church of St. Mary and St. Ethelbert, Hereford. [Illustration: FROM NORTH-EAST.]