54 CHELTENHAM COLLEGE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
to the ground again and passing through the North transept we enter 
the cloisters. On the East side of these is the chapter house. Pass- 
ing at the corner of the North and East walls the guests’ dining 
chamber, and the gate leading to the river, we arrive at the refectory. 
In this room on the right hand as you enter is an opening in the wall, 
through which charity in the shape of loaves was administered by the 
monks to the poor, who stood in the cloisters. On the left is an open- 
ing in the wall communicating with the kitchen through which was 
passed the food for consumption in the refectory. In the centre of the 
same wall is a niche large enough to hold a man, and here it was that 
some brother read to his fellow-monks passages out of the Lives of the 
Saints, etc., as they were sitting at meals. Passing the refectory we 
come to the kitchen beyond, which at the corner of the North and 
West walls of the cloisters are two rooms, which were used as minor 
offices by the inhabitants. The situation of the Abbey is most 
beautiful. The river Wye flows a short distance from the East end of 
the Church, and all around on either banks, rise thickly wooded hills. 
Leaving the Abbey on our left we proceeded up the hill towards the 
Wyndcliff and Chepstow, the former, of which we were unable to 
ascend, on account of a heavy thunderstorm which overtook us as we 
were approaching it. Fortunately, before we had accomplished the 
three miles through a most beautifully wooded road, which brought us 
to Chepstow, this storm cleared off, and as we entered town the sun 
was shining again. We immediately proceeded to the Castle, a 
building dating from the XIV. Century, which, from its commanding 
position on a cliff overhanging the Wye, must before the days of 
artillery have been almost impregnable. The entrance to the Castle 
is on the East and as you enter on your right hand you see a massive 
tower. In this tower it was that Henry Marten the Regicide was 
imprisoned. On the left is seen a block of buildings of a more 
modern date, and still sufficiently intact to give shelter to the custodian, 
beneath these there is a fine vaulted chamber conimunicating with the 
river. Chepstow Castle is divided into three courts, of which the one 
described is the first and largest. Crossing this we come to another 
_ strong tower, which flanks the entrance to the second court. At the 
farther end of this is a building of much older date than any of the 
rest ; in fact it is the only part remaining of the former Norman 
~ Castle built by Fitz Osbern, Earl of Hereford, in the 11th Century. 
_ This building was im all probability the dining hall, though some have 
thought that it was the Chapel. This structure occupies the whole of 
_ the rocky plateau on which the Castle is built, and which here narrows 
