PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



earlier building belonging to the latter part of the 

 1 2th century ; on the west a wide semi-circular arch, 

 and on the north a plain round-headed doorway, both 

 blocked. The buttress and part of the walling at the 

 south-east angle of the hall are also of late 1 2th-cen- 

 tury date. South and west of the solar are the modern 

 buildings of the palace, containing some remains of 

 ancient masonry-, whose extent can only be conjectured 

 at the present time. 



The south wing of the palace has at its north end 

 Abbot Kirton'stwo-story building, known as Heaven's 

 Gate Chamber. In the upper story are two oriel 

 windows on the north side, below one of which is 

 Kirton's rebus, and on the south side, at the west, is 

 a third, larger and more elaborate, with stone panelled 

 sides and ceiling. A staircase formerly leading to this 

 room was destroyed when the modern rooms at the 

 south-west of the palace were built. The lower part, 

 which had open arches on the north, is probably the 

 successor of a former gateway known as Heaven's 

 Gate, and seems to have retained the name and use, 

 as it is spoken of as a gate in 1541 and 1629. It is 

 divided by a wall running north and south, which has 

 a late 12th-century string on its west face, either 

 re-used or i» situ, and the room east of this wall con- 

 tains on the south a low 13th-century recess abutting 

 at the west on the wall, and broken through at the 

 back to form a doorway. The west half of the 

 ground story is used as a lobby leading from the hall 

 to the south wing. Its south wall is of l^th-century 

 date, and in it a doorway opens to a long passage to 

 the present kitchen, originally open to the west, but 

 now enclosed with a 17th-century arcade, filled in at 

 a still later date. Along the east wall of the passage 

 is a long stone seat with moulded ends of the 15 th 

 century. East of the passage are rooms retaining no 

 ancient features, and at the south end is the kitchen, 

 with a 14th-century square-headed window of three 

 lights on the west side, its inner splay ornamented 

 with a band of quatrefoils, and in the south wall a 

 contemporary three-light window of plain detail, and 

 without ornament. There are no ancient fittings in 

 the kitchen or anything to show whether it is that 

 mentioned as being in use in the palace in 1629. 

 The upper story of this part of the range is of the i6th 

 century, and the whole has been so much altered at 

 various dates that its arrangement and use in monastic 

 times is doubtful. Its position near the abbot's house 

 points to the probability that it was for the use of 

 guests of high rank, and it may even be the au/a regis 

 mentioned in the records. 



The measurements given in the survey of 1 541 

 make it possible, with the help of the report of 1629, 

 to determine the general arrangements of the great 

 court. It was bounded on the north by the church 

 and the Gallery Court, on the west by the precinct 

 wall, on the south by the Derby Yard, and on the 

 east by a line running southward from the west range 

 of the cloister to the gates known as the * Redde 

 Gates.' On the west of the court, and probably near 

 the north-west angle, was the granary. On the 

 north of the court was a range of buildings having 

 the abbot's gallery chapel at the east and the outer 

 gatew.ay at the west. Until the last century they 

 stood without material alteration, but now the greater 

 part has been rebuilt. The western jamb of a 15th- 

 century gateway remains near the southern stair 

 tower of the west front of the church, the gateway 

 having been built against the tower ; it must have 



given access to the outer parlour at the west of the 

 cloister, and probably also to the east end of the great 

 court. Over the gateway was a room lighted by 

 two windows on the north, of which drawings are 

 extant. At its north-west angle is a projecting turret, 

 now much modernized, but interesting from being 

 in all probability that on which the 'loud-voiced 

 clerk ' of the Custumal stood on Palm Sunday, to be 

 answered by his brethren from the roof of the Trinity 

 chapel in the Galilee. Adjoining the gateway on the 

 west is a two-story 14th-century building, its lower 

 story vaulted, and retaining in the upper story two 

 two-light windows and a cornice with ballflowers 

 below the parapet. On the west again is a room 

 with 15th-century ceiling-joists, now the registrar's 

 ofiice, but from this point as far as the abbot's gate- 

 way all has been rcfaced or rebuilt. 



This gateway,' built by Robert of Lindsey between 

 1 2 14 and 1222, is vaulted in three sexpartite bays, 

 the doors being hung, with a side entrance for foot 

 passengers, between the first and second bays from the 

 north end. At either end is a pointed arch with 

 clustered responds, flanked by rectangular angle turrets, 

 which are finished above with tall battlements. Over 

 the gateway is a large room, reached by a staircase on 

 the south side, and known as the knights' chamber, 

 from having formerly been adorned with the portraits 

 and arms of the abbey knights. Its original windows 

 have been replaced by Jacobean muUioned and tran- 

 somed windows with square heads, but the moulded 

 stone string at the ceiling level is original. Each 

 end of the gateway is gabled, with a large niche in 

 the gable, and one in each of the angle turrets, all 

 retaining their original statues. 



A range of buildings runs westward from this gate- 

 w.iy, formerly ancient, but now entirely refaced. The 

 western end of this range was formerly the abbot's 

 prison, and old engravings show it to have been a 

 plain 12th-century building with pilaster buttresses. 

 A cellar of this date still remains, with a semi- 

 circular rubble vault having a small arched opening 

 at the south end 4 ft. deep, which has given rise to the 

 usual secret passage story. West of the cellar, but on 

 the ground-floor level, is a room with a 1 3th-century 

 vault, and beyond this again a large vaulted room, 

 now of two bays, but formerly larger, of late 12th- 

 century date, its west wall being the boundarj' wall 

 of the abbey precincts. Its south end has been re- 

 built, and on the north it is divided from the western 

 gateway of the precincts by a dark and narrow room, 

 with a blocked 12th-century window in its west wall, 

 known as the ' Condemned Cell.' Through the 

 jambs of the window runs the bar-hole of the gate. 



The western gateway was built by Abbot Benedict, 

 1177-94, and has a semi-circular ribbed vault of 

 one bay, with moulded semi-circular arches on the 

 east and west. There are wall arcades on the north 

 and south, and in the south wall a doorway leading 

 up to the chapel of St. Nicholas over the gate. This 

 with all the upper part of the gateway was rebuilt in 

 1302-7, and old drawings show that there was 

 another story, now destroyed, over the chapel. The 

 chief remains of the 14th-century alterations are to 

 be seen on the west side towards the market-place, 

 where a pointed arch has been built in front of the 

 semi-circular arch and flanking turrets added to the 



* Its proportions are injured by the present level of the 

 ground, which is 2 ft. 6 in. above the 13th-century level, 

 burying the bases and part of the shafts. 



455 



