SHALLCROSS AND YEARDSLEY HALLS. 199 



generally the minstrel gallery, but if this ever existed here it 

 would be done away with when the before-mentioned chimney 

 breast was built and the rooms formed over the hall. The 

 staircase leads up from one of the archways to the bedrooms, 

 and is probably in its original position, and the other archway 

 was formerly the entrance to the kitchens. It is, however, 

 probable that there was a third archway leading into the 

 parlour on the left of the entrance, as this was the usual form 

 of construction in those days, and it is not unlikely that its 

 jamb and arch are merely hidden by the plaster work. 



In any case, it seems quite clear that the existing house was 

 reconstructed, if not practically rebuilt, upon the foundations 

 of the ancient hall, seeing that the present building has the 

 same lines exactly as the early halls, and in all probability it 

 represents what, but a few years ago, would have been termed 

 a "restoration," rather than a rebuilding. On the easterly side 

 this seems certainly to have been the case, as it can be plainly 

 seen where the old foundations end and the later walling begins, 

 for the latter is in places set back in a very irregular line to 

 lessen the thickness of the older wall. 



A second staircase has been formed in modern times within 

 what was originally the great flue of the kitchen chimney, the 

 " gathering " of which can still be seen overhead. So early in 

 character is this massive work that, taken with other similar 

 features, there seems every indication that much of the mediaeval 

 hall was embodied in the subsequent rebuilding. Indeed, 

 the lavish display in the size of the domestic wing, its fireplace 

 and oven, or brewhouse, is only consistent with the necessities 

 of a feudal, rather than a Tudor, retinue. Compare the 

 butteries, kitchens, brewhouse and bakery in the early fifteenth 

 century hall of the De la Warrs, now the Chetham's College, 

 Manchester, and we have exactly the same arrangements, even 

 to the position and size of the chimney and the plan of the two 

 doorways leading from the through passage in the great hall. 



In the plan there will be seen the method of carrying the 

 upper floor by means of moulded beams, which are arranged 

 in such a way that the whole of the ground floor on either side 



