178 PREBENDAL HOUSES AT LITTLE CHESTER. 



walls, in which are a number of recesses, are the old part ; the bricks 

 are much more recent. Those seen on the left have been put there 

 to support the present wooden floor, a row of stone being gone from 

 this inner side. But on going outside, the other course of stone 

 rises above the pavement and shows that the walls are of two 

 courses in thickness. The side of the cellar not seen, and which 

 would be at the back of the spectator, is all of brick, except the 

 stones round the window lights. They are of old work, and 

 appear once to have been in some part of a house ; they do not 

 belong to the present cellar. The light at the right hand corner is 

 blocked up, and the wall inside shows nothing of it. Crossing 

 the corner obliquely are seen the under sides of two stone steps 

 and an old oak beam, formerly the threshold of a door, which 

 some time or other must have entered a room above the cellar ; 

 but not the slightest evidence is found in the present walls above 

 of any such doorway, so that it must have formed a part of some 

 previous house. Attention also may be drawn to an old corbel 

 seen between the recesses on the left. Whether that is its original 

 position is doubtful, as there is no other on the opposite wall to 

 correspond with it, and the piece of stone placed upon it has 

 made it come in as a support for the floor beam of the present 

 floor. It is, however, the recesses, of which there are eight, of 

 varying size, which excite the most curiosity ; what are they for ? 

 To hold bottles of wine has been suggested, but if so, why should 

 they vary in width so much ; beginning from the left hand, the 

 nearest is i ft. by i ft. 3|- in., next 9 in. same height, the next 

 I ft. 6 in., the remainder are all i ft. 6 in. wide, the height 

 varying from i ft. 4 in. to i ft. 6 in., in depth these are 8 in., 

 the others differing from 4 in. to 1 ft. in depth. Now as an 

 ordinary wine bottle is about i ft. high by 3 in. broad, the recesses 

 would hold on an average 12 bottles, but if this was their use, it 

 seems odd they should not be of an uniform size and depth. We 

 do not suppose the occupants of these old prebendal farms were 

 abstainers, still their incomes would scarcely admit of many 

 luxuries ; but they might of course supplement their income by 

 the manufacture of a liqueur, i.e., stomachic. We think, how- 



