Este Rydinge in The Dortoure The Chapell WATTON. The vewe and Certificate of all suche superfluous howses coveryd wythe leade as doo at this Instant remayn at the late plorie of Watton in the Countie afforesaide. viz. [Feet] Fyrste the Dorter in xxxvijth yeardes [111] lengthe Item in Bredthe or xij yeardes di. [37] The olde dinyng Item in Depthe ix yeardes 27] [93] [37] ij Chambers caullid the haull side The haull staires [60 [22] 16 16/1 The old Kytchen xxxjth yeardes Item in lengthe entrye leading from the ij ffuthers leade The dimensions given do not represent the actual length and breadth of each chamber, but the roughly paced measurements for the valuation of the lead. In the longer dimensions these are always a few feet short of the actual lengths, as in the frater, dorter, and chapel, but the shorter widths agree more closely with the probable measurements between the parapets, or, if in excess of this, with the sum of the slopes of a ridged roof. Buildings covered with other than lead roofs are not included in the Survey. The first of the buildings given in the list is the canons' dormitorium or dorter. This no doubt formed the upper story of the eastern range, which was 118 feet long and 29 feet wide, but there is nothing to indicate the place of the stair by which it was reached. Nor can we at present locate the "entrie leading out of the dortoure to the Jakis house" or reredorter, but it was most likely at the north end. The "Jakis house" was 221 feet long and 12 feet wide, and the entry to it 161 feet long and 13 feet wide. The dorter stood upon a vaulted undercroft with a central row of columns, extending northward for eight bays from the south-east angle of the cloister. This subvault was divided by partition walls into at least four apartments. The northernmost was most likely a cellar or store place. It was entered from the cloister by the doorway in the first bay of the east alley, and was three bays long. The vault, which was quadripartite with moulded ribs, was carried by the central row of columns and by clustered shafts against the walls (Plate II. fig. 8). It had not any wall ribs. The next two bays probably served as the calefactorium or warming-house, where a fire was provided in winter for the canons to warm themselves at. It was entered by a doorway in its south-west angle. The fifth bay had a doorway from the cloister and also another on the east. It probably formed the auditorium or parlour, where such conversation might be carried on as was forbidden in the cloister. It also served as a passage to the infirmary and as a lobby to the remaining bays to the south, which were entered from it. These bays were originally prolonged eastward to form one large apartment 47 feet long and 294 feet wide, which no doubt was the canons' chapter-house, but the eastern division was pulled down after the Suppression and the arches opening into it walled up. These arches were of two orders carried by moulded piers, the section of which is shown in Plate II. fig. 9. The chapterhouse had a stone bench against the walls, which was also extended along the west end of the lobby as far as the doorway there. Upon the bench stood the vaulting shafts, as in the north alley of the cloister. The absence of a western entrance into the chapter-house is most unusual, and the arrangement can only be compared with the somewhat similar one of the chapter-house of the canons of St. George's chapel in Windsor Castle, built in 1360, which stood north and south with the entrance at the north-west corner. The eastern range abuts on the south against the canons' chapel, the next building mentioned in the Survey, which covered six of the bays of the south alley of the cloister. It was an aisleless parallelogram measuring 114 feet in length by 244 feet in width, with certainly one (Plate II. fig. 10) and probably two doorways from the cloister alley. The lower part of its south wall and part of the west wall remain above ground, and together with the base of the east front, are of the same fourteenth century work as the northern and eastern ranges of buildings,' but the north wall is much thicker than the others and evidently formed part of an older structure. Of the arrangements of the chapel we have no evidence, but a curious projection and thickening at the north end of the east wall, and a setting back of the adjoining section of the north wall, may point to the position here of a staircase from the dorter, which would thus have a doorway at its foot into the cloister. From an existing springer in the south wall it is clear that there was a vaulted ante-chapel in the western end, probably to support a gallery where guests might attend the services. A doorway, which is still in use, opened into the antechapel from without on the south, and to the west of this was another doorway, or more likely window, now blocked. Above these is a pointed a pointed doorway which opened southwards from the gallery on to a building The plinths of the buildings are shown in section on Plate II. figs. 11 and 12. |