THE OLD SHAMBLES, CHESTERFIELD. 135 
in Tenant Stteet, Derby, have the same kind of embattled orna- 
ments as these have, which seems to indicate that both were 
erected during the Plantagenet period. The house of which we 
now write is: covered on the outside with plaster, which entirely 
hides the timber framework of the walls; but, on entering the 
shop, we found plaster between the beams only, and they appear 
to have always been so exposed. ‘There is no flooring between 
that of the shop and the roof, which is open to the rafters and 
tiling, the shop having evidently been used for purposes of 
slaughter, as one of the pulleys is still in its place, the floor, 
doubtless, having been removed to adapt the place to this 
purpose. It is a very long time, too, since the windows were used 
for any other purpose than as ventilators. Over the shops are 
huge penthouses to keep off the rain and snow, and Also to act as 
screens from the sun’s rays; they are wide enough to meet 
together in the centre, and form a covered way, and thus were 
tude foreshadowings of the elegant arcades of the present day. 
Provision is made for carrying off the rain-water and other fluids 
by means of a channel in the centre of the pavement, which is 
made to slope towards it from either side, and, as there is a very 
considerable decline from north to south, no fluids from the shops 
or slaughter-houses would remain stationary. In this respect the 
situation chosen was a fortunate one for the inhabitants, on 
sanitary grounds. 
Another very characteristic cluster of these buildings is repre- 
sented on Plate VIII. ; it will give a very good idea of the quaint 
appearance of the place in its original condition. It is interesting 
as bringing before our modern eyes a portion of the belongings of 
a medizval town, such as can now be seen in but few, if in any 
other town in England at the present time; such, too, as will not 
be very much longer found even in Chesterfield of the crooked 
spire, for steam and increasing facilities have at last begun to 
make their mark on it, and it is joining in the general race. 
The windows are so pretty that we have thought it advisable to 
give sketches of them on a rather increased scale, so that their 
construction may be better understood than they would be from 
