A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



square head. The east window is also of three 

 lights, with inner arch similar to the west, and 

 possibly of Bishop Fox's time, but the lights are 

 sharply pointed without cusping and appear to be 

 later insertions. 



Adjoining the kitchen on the north is the 

 buttery, one of the most picturesque parts of 

 the castle. Some remains of a previous building 

 on this site exist in the hall staircase, where a 

 portion of a I3thcentury corbelled parapet may 

 be seen incorporated in Bishop Hatfield's exten- 

 sion of the great hall. The present buttery, with 

 the scullery, and the brew house below, was built 

 by Bishop Fox about 1499.*^ It is entered by 

 the west door of the great hall under the gallery 

 and was formerly divided by a wall pierced by a 

 small door, now removed.^ The square-headed 

 mullioned window on the north side, with three 

 centred cusped heads, is apparently an enlarge- 

 ment of a window existing in 1775, and a similar 

 window on the west side of the annexe is not 

 earlier than the time of Bishop Cosin. The glass 

 of both windows was inserted in 1905. High up 

 in the north wall of the annexe is another square- 

 headed mullioned window with four lights dating 

 from the 15th century, now blocked. The 

 interior partition walls of the main building are 

 of half-timber construction with plain per- 

 pendicular oak timbers, darkened by age and 

 filled in with brickwork plastered over. The 

 south side is occupied by the ' Buttery Hatch,' 

 which opens into the kitchen, and is formed of 

 three compartments, the western of which is 

 the doorway. It is massively constructed of 

 oak, and each opening possesses shallow pointed 

 heads rounded at the springing ; the spandrils 

 are richly carved, those in the extreme east and 

 west having the crest of Bishop Fox together 

 with the date 1499 and the inscription ' Est Deo 

 gracia.' 



The butler's and other stores, lighted with 

 lead glazing, open out of the buttery to the east 

 and west. The plan of about 1775 already men- 

 tioned shows that the buildings on the west 

 side of the buttery have been considerably 

 altered ; the present store room and scullery 

 evidently then formed a bakehouse, as is apparent 

 by the two small ovens in the west wall, over 

 the large ovens in the basement. These small 

 ovens have entirely disappeared and commu- 

 nication has been formed from the kitchen to the 

 west chamber or scullery, which was then, it 

 would seem, divided into two compartments. 

 At the north end of the west side of the buttery 



^ See date on buttery hatch. 



^^ The floor, the beams of which were greatly 

 decayed, was renewed in 1900, with oak beams and 

 maple flooring, the best of the old oak being used in 

 the repair of the decayed or missing half-timber work 

 of the walls, and the renewal of the shelving, which at 

 that time was of deal. 



is a narrow passage which leads by a circular 

 newel stair of Bishop Fox's time to the base- 

 ment.^* On the west side of the basement is 

 a range of two ovens, one 12 ft. in diameter, 

 the other 8 ft., formed with stone sides (12 in. 

 high), the floor and shallow arched roofs being 

 of tiles with stone keystones. In the south- 

 west corner of this apartment are the remains 

 of a furnace for heating water, the recess being 

 lighted by a small square-headed window in the 

 south wall. From the remains it is evident 

 that the front consisted of a range of three cen- 

 tred, chamfered arches of stone, with a boldly 

 splayed sill course under each at the level of the 

 oven floors, the oven doors being recessed and 

 the flues opening out at the back of the front 

 arch. Above the ovens, but contained in the 

 height of the apartment, is a brick arched space 

 evidently intended as a cooling chamber, below 

 the apartment now used as a scullery. 



The west wall of this building has been sup- 

 ported on the outside by stone buttresses of 

 striking massiveness, of undetermined date. The 

 turret stair here, before mentioned, also forms 

 a picturesque feature. It is of live stages sepa- 

 rated by moulded string-courses, and is sur- 

 mounted by an embattled parapet. The turret 

 rises considerably above the rest of Bishop 

 Fox's work, providing access from the basement 

 to roof. 



The old chest of unknown date standing 

 in the buttery is worthy of attention. Legend 

 says that during the troublous times of the 

 Reformation the body of St. Cuthbert was 

 hidden in it. It has also been suggested that 

 it was from this chest that a robbery of treasure 

 in the year 1369 took place, and it is evident 

 that it has been forcibly opened at some time. 



The rooms to the north, now occupied by the 

 housekeeper and silver pantry, appear to be 

 comparatively modern, and the plan of about 

 1775 shows here only a small apartment about 

 13 ft. square. This has disappeared and a large 

 building of two stories has been erected, the 

 upper now occupied by the housekeeper's room 

 and the butler's pantry, and the basement used 

 as a heating chamber and bedrooms. The roof 

 of the southern part of this building has un- 

 doubtedly been raised and covers up the 17th- 

 century mullioned window, before mentioned, 

 in the north wall of the buttery. It has been 

 generally supposed that this was the building 

 erected by Bishop Fox, for the steward's apart- 

 ments, but it bears no resemblance whatever 

 to his work." If his building stood in this 

 position it has disappeared, and possibly the 



^ This chamber was in later years used as a brewery ; 

 on the removal of the old boiler about 1897 the range 

 of ovens and furnace was discovered. 



8' Hutchinson, op. cit. ii, 368. 



72 



