From the year 1221 to the present year of Grace is a long period, even in the life of a great nation; and yet that is the length of time during which the Dominican Brethren, with long and short intermissions, have exercised their influence in this country. A reminder of this, the great part which the Brethren played in the development of English Character at a period when mediævalism was on the wane and the glimmerings of the New Age were appearing on the horizon, has recently been presented in the form of relics in stone recovered from the church of the Blackfriars in London. For some time the position of the church at Ludgate had been known to a close degree of accuracy, such that when, in September, 1925, the site of the quire was once again in disturbance, the expectation that remains of the Priory would be brought to light was realised. An excavation of the site afforded an opportunity for examination at close quarters of the material cast up during the progress of the work before its consignment, threatened and actual, to the river barges, which within three hundred yards away lay in waiting.