PREBENDAL HOUSES AT LITTLE CHESTER. 



173 



roof, so that probably this house had once a balustrade round the 

 top, before the present tiled roof was raised. There is still to be 

 seen at tiie angle of a wall in the yard the base stone of an old cor- 

 ner pinnacle — with the pinnacle itself broken off. The unfinished 

 state of the back angle shows it was for a corner, not for a gable. 

 We suppose the roof had become leaky, and that this was the only 

 means of remedying it. The roof was covered with a floor of 

 plaster formed into coffers or divisions by moulded stones, if these 



Fig. I. 



remain in their original positions. We can judge of the length 

 of time that this flat roof has existed by the great accumu- 

 lation of sand and hay which have been blown through the tiling 

 for centuries past. There cannot be much less than a cartload of 

 this rubbish, which has thus slowly accumulated by the persistent 

 draughts always blowing through the old tiled roof. 



We will now descend into the cellar, which is the most curious 

 feature in this old prebendal house. It speaks to us of times 

 long before prebends ever existed, when Christianity had made 

 very little progress in this part of our island, for there seems 

 little reason to doubt that in this cellar we look upon the remains 

 of some old Roman building. The cellar is about 12 ft. 6 in. by 

 14 ft. ; the walls, of old work, are about 4 ft. high, upon which 

 the modern brick foundations are laid. This construction of the 



