DALE ABBEY REPORT. 103 



walls of the cloister, the kitchen, the hall entire, under it the 

 cellars, at the end of the hall the Abbot's parlour, all the 

 ceilings well wainscoted with oak, .... and a magnificent 

 gatehouse just dropping." All this in* 1730 ! 



It is a favourite theory with many, that the existing window- 

 arch was not the end of the church, and the mark on the 

 gable of the high-pitched roof of the eastern adjunct is pointed 

 to in corroboration thereof. In refutation of this, it may be 

 remarked that the bases of the buttresses are still in situ on 

 the eastern face, having been recently cleared of the superin- 

 cumbent earth- — that the external plinth common to other parts 

 runs beneath the window— that the workmen made search, 

 according to orders, for further walls, but could find no trace — 

 and, it is obvious to anyone who will carefully examine the 

 buttresses, that no walls have ever been built on to them, but 

 that they are the original buttresses of the eastern wall. Next, 

 as to the supposed weather-mould. When the gable was 

 originally finished, its section was equilateral, and the slopes 

 were ornamented with a dog-tooth moulding. Abbot Richard 

 de Nottingham, when he re-roofed the choir, about 1500, raised 

 the side walls and formed a clerestory, and the jamb of one 

 of the south windows is still visible. This, of course, altered 

 the aspect of the gable, although not the height of the ridge 

 of the roof; and the dog-tooth ornament was then removed, 

 with the exception of a small portion on each side, which may 

 still be seen. It is, therefore, obvious to any careful observer, 

 that the pitch of the roof being altered from an acute to a 

 very obtuse angle, would produce such an alteration in the 

 gable as has been pointed out. Lastly, there is nothing in the 

 Inventory of the Abbey which will in any way agree with the 

 idea of an eastern chapel. 



The Choir consisted of five bays, with perhaps that number of 

 windows on the north, and one on the south in the easternmost 

 bay — the south chapel abutting on the other four bays. The 

 great east window was possibly of five lights ; but as nearly the 

 whole of the tracery, and all the window-cill, has disappeared, 

 this cannot be positively determined. The mouldings of the arch 



