A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Of the vaulted passage on the north little remains 

 beyond the traces of the vault on the 12th-century 

 wall, and the east jamb of a doorway opening north- 

 wards from its east bay. It is about contemporary 

 with the 14th-century work in the little dorter, and 

 had four bays, opening on the east to the hostry 

 passage, and at the south-west to the third bay of the 

 misericord. 



The hostry passage leading southwards from the 

 south-east angle of the cloister has a close parallel in 

 the ' Dark Entry ' at Westminster. It has been 

 vaulted in fourteen bays, the shafts and springers re- 

 maining in its west wall, while its east wall is entirely 

 destroyed, except at the north-east angle. It is 

 entered from the cloister by a 13th-century arch 

 coeval with the fratcr, and the first six bays of the 

 passage are of the same date, set against the east wall 

 of the frater. The next five bays have been open to 

 the space between the frater and the little dorter, 

 and, though now built up with later masonry, have in 



Infirmarer's Lodging, Peterborough 



three cases been unblocked on the east side, showing 

 the 14th-century transomed windows with which 

 they were filled. The twelfth bay contains the arch 

 to the vaulted passage on the north side of the little 

 dorter, and the remaining two bays were under the 

 little dorter, having a small doorway from its sub- 

 vault in the fourteenth bay. 



The reredorter (necessarium) was probably at the 

 south end of the dorter, but nothing of it remains. 



In a drawing of 1721 ' in the British Museum a 

 building of two stories is shown standing a little south 

 of the south end of the hostry passage. Its long 

 axis appears to be north and south, and it has an 

 entrance in its north end reached by a flight of steps 

 from the ground level. The prior's chapel must have 

 been somewhere in this direction. 



The infirmary (infirmarium) still stands in part to 



the east of the south end of the dorter range, its 

 axis being east and west, but not parallel to that of 

 the church, being inclined to the north. The first 

 mention of an infirmary is in the time of Abbot 

 William of Waterville, 1155-75, who built an 

 infirmary with a cloister and the necessary offices.' 

 This was superseded by the building, of which part 

 still remains, built by Abbot John de Caux, 1250- 

 62, at his own expense, 'adjoining the chapel of 

 St. Lawrence." 



It consists of a hall of seven bays, 115 ft. long and 

 56 ft. wide inside,' with north and south aisles, having 

 to the east a chapel with chancel and nave, whose 

 total internal length from east to west is 70 ft. 



The chapel, which was dedicated in honour of St. 

 Lawrence, retains its chancel of two bays, now divided 

 into two stories, and serving as the west wing of a 

 house at present occupied by Bishop Clayton. It 

 has an east window of four lights, an insertion of 

 the 14th century, at which time a good deal of altera- 

 tion took place. Over this 

 window is a row of 13th- 

 century mask corbels, re-used 

 below a gabled string of low 

 pitch, the original pitch of the 

 roof having been lowered. In 

 the south wall the jambs of 

 the original windows remain in 

 both b.iys, but the heads have 

 been altered in the 14th cen- 

 turj', ' and the buttresses re- 

 faced or rebuilt at the same 

 date. 



The north wall has been en- 

 tirely refaced in modern times, 

 and preserves nothing ancient 

 beyond parts of its buttresses. 

 In the west wall is the blocked 

 chancel arch of the chapel, 

 flanked on the west face by a 

 n.irrow blank arcade on each 

 side. The jambs have detached 

 marble shafts, and the details 

 of the arch mouldings are ex- 

 ceedingly good. The nave of 

 the chapel is destroyed, except 

 for its south-east angle, where 

 the lower part of the east jamb 

 of a window remains, appearing from its detail to be 

 an insertion of the 14th century. The existence of 

 this angle suggests that the chapel was aislelcss, at any 

 rate on the south side, but from the Custumal we know 

 that there were three altars in the chapel, the principal 

 being that of St. Lawrence, while that of St. Edmund 

 was on the north and that of St. Stephen on the 

 south, an arrangement which, in view of the narrow- 

 ness of the space on either side of the chancel arch, 

 suggests that north and south aisles may have existed, 

 and the position of the 15th-century building at the 

 north-east angle of the hall points in the same 

 direction. 



The west end of the nave is marked by the bond- 

 ing of its wall just east of the responds of the arcades 

 of the hall. If the drawing of 1721 in the British 

 Museum represents the original arrangement, it seems 



1 Add. MS. 32467, fol. 205. 



* From other sources it is known that 

 its chapel was dedicated in honour of St. 

 Lawrence. 



^ Sparkc, Scripforei, 132. 



^ The dimensions are given in 1539 as 

 65 yds. by 10 yds. which is accurate as 

 regards the length, including the east and 



450 



west walls, but the breadth seems to ignore 

 the aisles of the hall. 



5 And afterwards cut off b/ the lower- 

 ing of the walls. 



