This had been cast some seventy years
before the building of the tower, and had hung in the central tower of
the Abbey Church; it weighs about a ton. It bears the inscription:
"Missi de coelis, habeo nomen Gabrielis." The tower was restored under
the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865, and in the process has lost
most of the interest it possessed.
#The Old Round House.#--This curious old house, also known as "The
Fighting Cocks," stands near the river at the bottom of the roadway that
leads down from the town through the Great Gate, and probably occupies
the position of the Abbey gate that was known as St. Germain's Gate.
There is little doubt that the foundations of this house date back to
the time of the monastery, and may have been the foundations of the
gateway. The cellars, it is said, appear to have an opening into some
subterranean way. The name of "Fighting Cocks" no doubt indicates that
after the dissolution of the monastery a cockpit existed here. It is
said that it was at St. Germain's Gatehouse that the monks kept their
fishing tackle, rods and nets. A claim is made for this building, that
it is the oldest inhabited house in England, a claim that many other
buildings may well dispute.
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