564 Stanley Ahhey. 



when the cement set, but what was the use of the pieces of iron 

 it is impossible to say. The eastern base of the north side re- 

 mained as well as the fourth and fifth on the south. At this point 

 the ruin was found as it fell, with the wliole of one of the columns, 

 though broken in two, and the vaulting it carried. In the second 

 bay of the middle aisle were three stone coffins, which, thougli 

 retaining fragments of bones, had all been disturbed. Westward 

 of these would stand the desk r«»rt/o^iHm^ from which the chapter 

 of the Eule and the martyrology for the day were read. A portion 

 of the tile floor was found in the middle of the fourth bay. Eound 

 the walls were stone seats, but they do not seem to have been 

 raised on a step in the usual manner, and nothing of them but 

 the rough foundation along part of the south side was found. 



Next to the chapter-house was the parlour (auditoriuvi), the 

 pla,ce provided for such talking as was necessary between the in- 

 mates, as silence was strictly maintained in the cloister. It usually 

 had a doorway at either end and formed a passage to the infirmary. 

 Sometimes there were stone seats at the sides, as at Hayles. 



At Stanley the parlour was 27^ feet long by 16 feet wide, and 

 was floored with plain dark and light coloured tiles, chequer-wise. 

 In this chamber were found some chamfered ribs of smaller section 

 than those of the rest of the range, which possibly indicates tliat 

 it was vaulted into three bays. 



The Novices' Lodging. 



Northward of the parlour, and extending some 166 feet, was a 

 long subvault constructed without a break and divided into twelve 

 bays, with a row of columns down the middle. The side walls had 

 been grubbed up, except a fragment of that on the east at the ninth 

 bay and the foundation on the west at the eleventh bay. The 

 piece of wall on the east retained its chamfered plinth, and in 

 connection with it was a fragment of the buttress which projected 

 opposite the ninth column. 



The middle of the building, except at the north end, was found 

 as it fell ; the floors generally were tiled, and the vaulting was of 

 simple chamfered ribs 8 inches wide. The columns down the 



