[Illustration:  THE FIGHTING COCKS, ST. ALBAN’S
               The oldest Inn in England]

We will enter the city from the direction of St. Stephens.  Crossing the bridge over the Ver, we turn left by the Duke of Marlborough, pass through the gate near the river side and keeping the cress-beds on the left reach the silk mill.  Turning right we ascend the hill W. of the Abbey orchard, obtaining meanwhile a fine view of the stately W. front of the Abbey itself, as reconstructed by Lord Grimthorpe.  Our way into the city lies through the old, partially ivy-clad Gate House, a relic of the Benedictine Monastery; note the Perp. pointed arch and vaulted roof.  This was originally the entrance to the Abbey court, the “Magna Porta” of the old monastic days.  There was a former structure on or near the same spot; this was blown down and the present building dates from the rule of Thomas de la Mere, thirtieth abbot (1349-96).  Used as a jail some centuries ago, it has long been known as St. Alban’s Grammar School; the battlemented house S.W. of the archway is the residence of the head master.  The claims of this school to be the oldest in England cannot be adequately discussed here.  Suffice it to say that documents attesting its existence date from Abbot Richard de Albini (1097-1119); his successor, Geoffrey de Gorham, came from Normandy to become its master.  Matthew Paris records that the school was afterwards kept by a nephew of Abbot Warine (or Warren) de Cambridge, and had at that time more scholars than any school in England.  Passing through the arch we notice on the left a small, triangular burial ground.  The spot is called Romeland.  Here George Tankerville was burnt by order of Bishop Bonner, on 26th August, 1556.

Passing straight forward into Spicer Street the Congregational Chapel, founded in 1797, is on the right.  A little farther on is College Street; on the left side stands the house in which Cowper was placed under the charge of Dr. Cotton when his insanity was most pronounced.  To reach the old Clock Tower we turn right into Verulam Street and left into High Street.  The Tower stands at the S. end of the Market Place; note the quaint, narrow thoroughfare at its W. side, called French Row.  The Tower is Perp., of flint and dressed stone, battlemented, and surmounted by a small spire; the basement has long been utilised as a saddler’s shop.  It dates from the fifteenth century,[7] but was restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1864.  In it hangs the great bell “Gabriel” cast early in the reign of Edward III.; it is now used for striking the hour and formerly tolled the curfew.  In the foreground, where the drinking fountain now stands, was “Eleanor’s Cross,” erected, like the cross at Waltham (q.v.), by Edward I. in memory of his Queen.  It was destroyed about 1700.  The old market-place, so quaint even fifty years ago, is now largely occupied by modern shops; partly by reason of a fire which occurred many years back.