CITY OF DURHAM 



filled in and plastered over. Between the piers 

 of this wall runs a low solid stone bench, finished 

 with a square angle without projection of any 

 kind. The two existing semicircular headed 

 windows are modern, and, being in the outer 

 defensive wall to the north, they have succeeded 

 mere loops ; a portion of the old quick splay 

 of such a loop may be noticed upon one of the 

 arches. 



The east wall appears to be part of the chapel 

 structure, the half-round responds being bonded 

 in, and the courses and jointing of the stone- 

 work fairly regular but wide. This wall originally 

 possessed three windows, which appear to have 

 looked out into the inner moat, or the space 

 between the east wall of the chapel and chemise 

 of the keep. One of these windows, as already 

 mentioned, has been converted into an ap- 

 proach to the keep, but the two remaining 

 retain original work, though much mutilated. 

 They were round-headed, unmoulded and ap- 

 parently without ornamentation. In the middle 

 window the inner jambs appear to be original, 

 and their slight splays are finished with plain 

 angles. The northernmost has been recon- 

 structed ; the only original stones seem to be the 

 inner quoin stones, and the outer jambs have 

 been cut away to form a very wide splay. On 

 the outside both windows have had the arch 

 stones cut away at a sharp angle ; and large 

 areas extending upwards to a considerable 

 height above the window heads have been 

 formed in front of them. The jambs and 

 arches, where mutilated to form this splay, have 

 been rendered in lime plastering, mediaeval in 

 character. The centre area is partially of 

 ashlar work finely dressed ; the northern area is 

 formed in rubble, and there remains in the 

 centre area some portion of the lead with which 

 the bottoms of the areas were lined. There 

 appears to be no doubt that originally the win- 

 dows looked out into a clear space, but owing 

 to the enlargement of the mound by Bishop 

 Hatfield, the areas were rendered necessary and 

 were probably constructed by him. Under these 

 two windows are four corbel stones, two fairly 

 well preserved with 6i in. projection and 9 in. 

 on face, sharply splayed on the underside. 



The western bay in the south wall appears 

 to be as originally constructed up to above 

 the archway of the doorway and is recessed 

 H in. back from the face of the piers, to which 

 the lower portion seems to be bonded. This 

 bay contains the original entrance doorway 

 already referred to. The doorway is central 

 between the two side piers and has a semi- 

 circular plain arched outer head cut out of a 

 single stone and inner square rebated jambs. 



The only other feature in this wall is the 

 string-course 8J in. deep, which has a flat face 

 above a splay, the top of which is level with the 



upper part of the abaci of the columns, and is 

 continuous for the full length of the wall be- 

 tween the piers. The walling in the spandrel 

 of the arches above is ancient, but it is doubtful 

 whether it is coeval with the rest of the build- 

 ing. The late Mr. Parker stated that the two 

 windows and doorway were inserted about 

 1840 and that he assisted in making them ; they 

 appear, however, to be somewhat earher, though 

 the woodwork may have been renewed at that 

 time. 



The greater part of the west wall appears to 

 have been almost entirely reconstructed, but 

 at what period it is impossible to say. It has 

 in the northern bay a portion of a similar string 

 to that on the south wall and half capitals under 

 the transverse arches. The old wall would 

 probably have half-round responds under the 

 capitals, as on the east wall, but these have 

 disappeared and the capitals are now supported 

 by corbels, which have every appearance of being 

 worked from the upper part of such responds. 

 They are rounded and pointed at the base, but 

 do not form the full half-circle, projecting only 

 some 4 in. The middle portion of the rebuilt 

 wall has been advanced some 7 in., leaving only 

 an inch or two of the soflRt of the transverse 

 arch above, exposed. The lower portion of the 

 south bay is occupied by the new entrance 

 arch to the chapel. Only the east .ind a 

 portion of the west bay of the south wall are 

 original. 



The pavement of the chapel is of considerable 

 interest, there being little doubt that the 

 greater part is coeval with the building. It is 

 formed of stone blocks of rhomboid form, each 

 14 in. long by 8i in. wide, with a single central 

 line of square jointed flags. The jointing of 

 these blocks gives the appearance of herring- 

 boning. About one-fourth of the area of the 

 floor at the east end has been raised two steps, 

 of 4 in. and 6 in. rise, and the pattern of the 

 floor of this raised area has been obliterated. 

 This represents an alteration, for the steps almost 

 entirely hide the bases of the two east columns. 

 The ten pilasters on the north and south walls 

 have no bases, but rise straight and square to 

 the abaci. The pillars rise from circular 

 moulded bases. The pillars vary slightly from 

 I ft. 9 in. to 2 ft. in diameter and are built of 

 courses of different heights, one course being 

 generally formed of a single stone, the next of 

 two stones with a vertical joint. The bed 

 joints differ greatly, some being | in. wide, 

 others fairly close, but generally large, the 

 vertical joints being wide; some few are approxi- 

 mately 2 in. The capitals are carved rather 

 rudely, and all are of the volute type. They 

 have bold round neckings, of which three are 

 cabled, and abaci moulded with a flat face above 

 a quarter round, between double fillets. In 



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