The first stone was laid for the Pope, who had consented to the removal of the church from Old Sarum; the second, for Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, then with young Henry III. in Wales; the third, for Bishop Poore; the fourth was laid by William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury; and the fifth, by the Countess Ela, his wife. When the King returned from Wales many of his courtiers visited Salisbury, “and each laid his stone, binding himself to some special contribution for a period of seven years.” The building was undertaken by Elias of Dereham, clerk of the works; and his successors were Nicholas of Portland and Richard of Fairleigh. The latter completed the spire in 1375. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1258, by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of Henry III. and his Queen. The Cloisters and Chapter-House were built in the Thirteenth Century and the Spire (which seems, however, to have formed part of the original plan) in the Fourteenth. “The history of no English cathedral is so clear and so readily traceable as that of Salisbury. It was the first great church built in England in what was then the new or pointed style (Early English); of which it still remains, as a whole, one of the finest and most complete examples. The Abbey Church of Westminster, commenced in 1245, and completed to the east end of the choir in 1269, is the only great building of this age in England which can be considered finer than Salisbury; and it is probable that Henry III. was induced to undertake the rebuilding of Westminster from admiration of the rising glories of the new Wiltshire cathedral, which he had several times visited. On the Continent, the great rival of Salisbury is Amiens; commenced in the same year (1220) and completed, nearly as at present, in 1272.