D03IESTIC AKCIIITECTUKE. 7 



finest example of tlie houses of the thlrteenth Century whicli 

 existecl in England, or perhaps in Europe, was tlie Bishop's 

 residence at AVells. Its arrangement was not unusual for 

 tlie period. The lower story was vaulted, used only foi- 

 cellars and entrance-hall, the living apartments belng 

 entirely upstairs. The principal hall was on the first floor, 

 and probably the chapel at the end of it. This house was 

 found in the fourteenth Century not sufficiently large on 

 State occasions — bishops in those days being important 

 lords — and another palace was bullt by the side of it, whicli 

 was now a ruin. That appeared to hini to have been 

 merely state apartments, witli of course a kitchen, but not 

 a regulär dwelling-house. The Bishop's residence was a 

 most remarkable pile of buildings altogether. He knew 

 nothing equal to it. It forraed part of a group of building 

 in connection wätli the church, chapter-house, and close — 

 all coustituting one magniflcent conceptlon, giving an idea 

 of the magnificence of the middle ages they could hardly 

 obtain elsewhere. Mr. Dickinson informed liim that the 

 houses of the Canons were in the town, and not in the 

 close, although they usually were enclosed within a wall. 

 There were several houses of the fourteenth Century in the 

 county. One they visited last year at Meare, the hall of 

 which was also upstairs. It Avas a common practice in the 

 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to have the lower story 

 of the house vaulted, so that the cellars or store-rooms were 

 fireproof. There was also a good house of the fourteenth 

 Century near the church at Martock, very curiously 

 arranged. 



The specific noticcs of the Manor House and other 

 domestic buildings which would be vislted in the course of 

 the Excursions, were reserved, and will be found in the 

 following Eeport. 



