PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



that there was here a central doorway in a solid 

 wall separating the chapel entirely from the hall, 

 as at Canterbury and Ely, unless its upper part, which 

 was ruined by 1 72 1, had other openings in it. 



The hall has north and south arcades of seven bays 

 with deeply moulded arches of two orders, and piers 

 of four engaged shafts with moulded capitals and 

 bases. These, with the walls above them, remain per- 

 fect, with slender corbel shafts between each bay 

 running up to the level of the wall plate. Of the 

 north aisle of the hall the eastern and western bays 

 alone remain, forming parts of dwelling houses, the 

 arcades being built up with thin walls. The north- 

 cast angle of this aisle is well preserved and shows that 

 in the east wall was a two-light window (its tracery 

 now destroyed and its arched head used as a doorway 

 to an upper room), and in the north wall of this bay 

 a second two-light window, with wide lancets under 

 an arched head pierced with a quatrefoil. The jambs 

 have nook-shafts within and without, and the arch is 

 moulded in two orders. Above is a cornice with 

 mask corbels at the level of the eaves of the roof. 

 The jamb of a second window remains more to the 

 west in this wall, and seems to be of the 14th century. 

 East of it is a small doorway of 15th-century date, 

 with an inserted square head above it filled with two 

 15th-century cinquefoiled lights. The wall from 

 about this point has been rebuilt, and from the jamb 

 of the second window is destroyed. In the west bay 

 of the aisle are remains of two windows in the north 

 wall, with details like that at the east end of the same 

 wall, but single lights, and in the north-west angle 

 is a small projecting vice. 



The whole length of the south aisle remains standing 

 though much altered, and is used as a dwelling house, 

 the arcade being built up with thin walls. The east 

 wall of the aisle is modern, but in the two first bays 

 from the east on the south side are tall blocked win- 

 dows, whose jambs are perhaps original, but the heads 

 have been altered in the 15th centur}'. Further west 

 are several inserted windows, perhaps of the 15 th 

 century, at two levels, and in the sixth bay is an origi- 

 nal doorway, with marble nook-shafts, which is set to 

 open outwards from the hall into a passage or 

 pentice long since destroyed. The west wall of the 

 aisle has a wall arcade of three arches with two 

 moulded orders, and at its north end, adjoining the 

 western respond of the south arcade of the hall, is the 

 base of a stone vice, contained in a rectangular turret 

 projecting from the west wall of the hall. Some 

 traces of a corresponding turret remain at the west 

 of the north arcade. 



On the inner face of the west wall of the hall is a 

 wall arcade of four bays with clustered shafts ; above 

 it the wall is broken away, but evidently contained 

 one or more windowsset in the gable end between 

 the staircase turrets. 



The hall had an open timber roof, which may have 

 continued unbroken over the aisles, as there has never 

 been a clearstory. The walls blocking the arcades may 

 be in part of pre-suppression date, and from the Cus- 

 tumal it is clear that the division of the aisles into 

 separate chambers was already in existence in the 

 latter part of the 14th century. 



PETERBOROUGH 



Monastic infirmaries, starting as open halls, were, 

 as early as the 14th century, commonly divided into 

 sets of separate chambers by walls between each of the 

 bays, and the chambers were often fitted with fireplaces. 

 In this instance no ancient fireplaces exist, and in the 

 Custumal one only is mentioned, which may have 

 been in the middle of the hall after the ancient 

 fashion.' The division of the aisles into stories is 

 undoubtedly ancient and probably dates from monastic 

 times, though later alterations have obscured the evi- 

 dence for this. The greater part of the outer wall of 

 the north aisle having perished, the evidence is not so 

 clear on this side, but the north arcade is shown built 

 up like the south, with doors and mullioncd windows 

 at two levels, in a drawing made in 172 1.' There is 

 little evidence as to the date of the removal of the 

 roof of the nave of the hall, but Gunton' speaks of 

 ' that goodly building called the Infirmary (commonly 

 the Farmery) lately pulled down.' As so much of the 

 hall still stands, this can only refer to the roof and 

 west gable of the hall, or the nave of the chapel. 



Two buildings adjoining the infirmary must now 

 be noticed. The first is an early 13th-century hall, 

 at the north-east of the chapel, but not quite touching 

 it. It is 30 ft. long by 15 ft. 6 in. wide inside, and 

 is lighted by two windows in each of the north, south, 

 and west walls, these being of two narrow lancet lights 

 separated by a shaft with capital and base and having 

 a pierced quatrefoil or trefoil in the head. They are 

 widely splayed within and must originally have been 

 closed with shutters only. In the north wall near the 

 west end is an original doonvay, and opposite it in 

 the south wall a modern opening. At the cast of 

 the hall is a large fireplace, not of original date, and 

 beyond it the building is of two stories, with a 

 passage on the ground floor running north and south, 

 and two chambers east of it. In the north wall the 

 original doorway to the passage remains, but the south- 

 east angle of the building is destroyed, later work 

 being added at this point. The upper rooms have 

 been lighted bysmall two-light square-headed windows. 

 The second building is of the 15th century, of two 

 stories adjoining the north-east angle of the north 

 aisle of the infirmary hall. At the north end it has a 

 thick stone wall with fireplaces on both stories, and 

 the east wall is also of stone, but thinner. The west 

 wall is of timber only, setting out on the upper floor, 

 and the south wall, which seems to have been built 

 against an existing building, perhaps a north aisle of 

 the infirmary chapel, w.as of the same material. 



The ground floor consists of a single room with two 

 two-light windows on the east, partly destroyed by a 

 modem recess, and has moulded wall-plates and 

 ceiling beams, while the rooms above are attics, and 

 retain no ancient features except the roof timbers. 



As this building is of later date than the Custumal, 

 its purpose cannot be identified from that source, 

 but in the 14th century the infirmarer's chamber 

 seems to have opened into the infirmary, and this may 

 possibly be its successor. Its position is almost iden- 

 tical with a similar room adjoining the Infirmary Hall 

 at Canterbury, which is called the Mensa Magistri 

 Infirmarii — or shortly, the Table Hall.' Later 

 buildings have been set against the north end of this 



I This is Mr. W. H. St. John Hope's 

 suggestion, though the word used, ' Cami- 

 num,* rather implies a fireplace with a 

 chimney, and the fireplace in question 



may have been in the infirmarer's cham- 

 ber. Sec below. 



"Add. MS. 32467, fol. 208. 



' Op. cit. 34. 



• For its use see Willis's Monctt^ry of 

 Ckriit Church in Canttrburyy 55, 



