A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



in 1903 the foundations of a 12th-century con- 

 duit house were also found, built against an 

 earlier wall running north and south, which 

 seems to have been the garth wall of the west 

 alley of the first cloister.^ There is reason to 

 suppose that the Norman conduit thus stood 

 in the south-west angle of the early cloister, the 

 alleys of which would therefore be of the same 

 width as at present, and from this and other 

 evidence* the extent of the cloister planned by 

 Walcher can be deduced. If these deductions 

 be correct, the south wall of Aldhun's church 

 must have been some 30 ft. south of that of the 

 present building, or approximately in a line with 

 the projection of the vice-turret of the south 

 transept,^ and the west wall of the first west 

 range would coincide with the east wall of the 

 existing range, which there are grounds for 

 believing was built upon it." 



The superstructures of the two undercrofts, 

 consisting of the dorter in the east and the 

 frater in the south range respectively, were 

 probably finished during the exile of St. Calais 

 (1088-91) if not before, and after the completion 

 of the existing church the chapter house was 

 begun probably by Flambard, and completed by 

 Geoilrey Rufus (1133-40).' In the 12th cen- 

 tury the south range appears to have been 

 extended westward and the west range rebuilt 

 on its present plan, the dorter then being 

 moved to it. Part of the walling of this period, 

 including the dorter stair doorway at the north 

 end, still remains, but the range was again rebuilt 

 in the 13th century. To the 13th century also 

 belongs the prior's chapel at the south-east 

 corner of the group of buildings now forming 

 the Deanery at the south end of the east range. 

 The main structural part of these buildings, 

 chiefly of 14th-century date, is noticed later ; 

 the existing great kitchen of the monastery was 

 erected in 1367-70. The cloister was rebuilt in 



* The rubble foundations of this wall, 2 ft. 10 in. 

 wide, run across the cloister in a northerly direction 

 from nearly opposite the third buttress from the south- 

 west angle. It was laid bare for about 30 ft. and traced 

 for 24 ft. 6 in. further ; Arch. Iviii, 444. 



* The distance from the old walling on the east side 

 of the cloister to the bonding mark on the south side 

 beyond the hbrary doorway, which marks the extent 

 of the early undercroft, is almost exactly 115 ft. 

 Other evidence is set out in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Land. 

 (2nd ser.), xxii, 417-21. 



* Sir William Hope pointed out that the chapter 

 house does not occupy the middle of the east wall 

 of the existing cloister as it normally should, but 

 is exactly in the middle of the east side of the first 

 cloister assuming it to have been 1 1 5 ft. square. From 

 this he inferred that it is an enlargement of an older 

 chapter house on the same site, which abutted the 

 south transept of Aldhun's church ; ibid. 420. 



* Ibid. 417. 



' Simeon, op. cit. ii, 142. 



more or less of its present form at the beginning 

 of the 15th century, being begun by Skirlaw* (d. 

 1406) and finished by Langley about 1418.* Of 

 what immediately preceded it little or nothing is 

 known, but if Leland'" is right in stating that 

 Pudsey built a cloister it may have subsisted 

 down to Skirlaw's time. Nothing of it, how- 

 ever, remains, unless some marks on the north 

 and east walls indicate the lines of its lean-to 

 roof.^* The upper part of the west range was 

 rebuilt in its present form in 1398-1404,^^ and 

 during the same period considerable reconstruc- 

 tion of the prior's lodgings took place. Later 

 in the century Prior Wessington (1416-46) also 

 extensively repaired the prior's lodgings and 

 other parts of the monastery buildings, and 

 Prior Castell (1494-15 19) made further changes, 

 all of which are noticed later. Castell also re- 

 built the gatehouse. 



After the Dissolution, apart from the different 

 uses to which the buildings were put, the chief 

 change was the rebuilding of the frater, or 

 ' fair large hall ' on the upper floor of the south 

 range, by Dean Sudbury, so as to serve as the 

 Chapter Library. The hall was described in 

 1665 as having ' long been useless and ruined,'*^ 

 but was finished in its present form soon 

 after Sudbury's death in 1684. The cloister 

 was repaired in 1 706-11 and on a larger scale in 

 1764-69 ; it was again restored in 1856-7. The 

 dorter was restored in 1849-53, and Dean 

 Sudbury's Library in 1858, the latter by Salvin. 



The CLOISTER is approximately 145 ft. 

 square,*'' and is surrounded by covered alleys 

 about 15 ft. wide, each of eleven bays divided 

 by buttresses, with a pointed window of three 

 lights in each bay. The diagonally flagged 

 pavement of the alleys is of 18th-century date,*-" 

 but the flat oak panelled ceiUngs are substantially 

 of Skirlaw's and Langley's time, though much 

 restored in 1828, when many new shields of arms 



' Skirlaw ' caused to be built a great part of the 

 cloister ... at a cost of ;^6oo ' ; Chambre, 

 Continuatio Hist. Dunelm. quoted by Boyle, Guide to 

 Durh. 198. 



* ' From 1408 to 141 8 there was expended on the 

 erection of the cloister ;^838 ' ; ibid. 200. 



1" Collectanea, i, 122 (ed. 1774). 



" Greenwell, Durh. Cath. 99. 



^ The contract is dated 22 Sept. 1 398 ; a second 

 contract was made with a new builder 2 February 

 1401-2, at which time the work was well advanced. 

 The building was begun at the south end. 



1' Hutchinson, Hist, of Durh. ii, 131 n. 



^^ The dimensions as given by Billings are : north 

 alley 147 ft. 8J in., south alley 146 ft. 8J in., east alley 

 144 ft. 10 in., west alley 145 ft. 6 in. 



1^ The flags are of Yorkshire stone laid on sleeper 

 walls of brickwork built lattice fashion in plan, 

 so as to leave a space of about 18 in. beneath 

 the slabs; Proc. Soc. Antiq. Lond. (2nd ser.), xxii, 

 422. 



124 



