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With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck’d,

Implore the passing tribute of a sigh.

This ground has served for a place of sepulture almost since the Conquest, and has only recently been closed by act of parliament.

Deferring our special notice of the Cathedral, until “a more convenient season,” we shortly find ourselves at the end of Abbey Street, and immediately over the Kaleyards Gate. This postern leads to the cabbage and kale gardens, which formerly belonged to the Abbot and Convent of St. Werburgh. The opening was permitted to be made for their convenience in the reign of Edward I. to prevent the necessity of bringing their vegetables by a circuitous route through the East Gate. The “good things” in vogue among these reverend fathers were not, it is evident, wholly spiritual. A defunct ropery, timberyard, and infant school now flourish on the spot where monkish cabbages and conventual kale in old time grew.

A few paces farther on was a quadrangular abutment, on which formerly stood a tower called The Sadlers’ Tower, from its having been the meeting-room of the Company of Sadlers. This tower was taken down in 1780; and the abutment, which marked the place where it stood, was demolished in 1828.