228 Recent Excavations at Holy Island Priory. 



luxurious accommodation at the Priory for the monks and their 

 dependants, and for such strangers as on rare occasions visited 

 the island. 



The area of the enclosure within which these buildings were 

 placed, bounded by the sunken fence and exterior wall before 

 mentioned is approximately an acre ; and it was divided almost 

 equally into an upper and lower court, the former being nearly 

 on a level with the floor of the church, the latter about seven 

 feet below it. Eound the upper or cloister garth were the 

 domestic buildings of the monks; round the lower or what may 

 be called the outer or garden court were the stables, granaries, 

 and other buildings connected with their agricultural and other 

 industries. 



Very shortly after the dissolution of the monastery, the church 

 and buildings were utilized for secular purposes : amongst the 

 public Treasury papers is a memoranduui stating that in the 

 reign of Edward VI., " upon wars between England and Scot- 

 land," the Privy Council wrote to Bishop Sparke, the last prior 

 of Holy Island, and then titular Bishop uf Berwick and suffragan 

 of Durham, directing him to let the "house " at Holy Island to 

 the Surveyor of Victuals at Berwick ; and that the Bishop having 

 done so, succeeding surveyors of victuals up to the time of Mr 

 Vernon, who held that office in 1579, had " pretended right to 

 the said house as a storehouse, because of lofts for laying of 

 grain and brew vessels there remaining." 



From the "Border Survey," made by Sir Eobert Bowes in 

 1530, we find that the great storehouse was the former church 

 of the Priory, and that there were also other ** storehouses, 

 brewhouses, and bakehouses to conserve and prepare victuals 

 suificient to furnish the navy of ships which could rest safely in 

 the harbour of Holy Island very aptly for the wars towards 

 Scotland." These brewhouses and bakehouses were no doubt 

 the old domestic offices of the Priory. 



The holes for the flooring joists of the "lofts for laying of 

 grain " in the church, are to be seen in the walls of the chancel, 

 and other alterations and additions made during that time in the 

 other buildings are plainly evident, such as the rough cross walls 

 and what seems to have been a feeding trough for cattle in the 

 cloisters ; these, though having no connection with the old 

 priory, have been allowed to remain, as illustrating the vicissi- 

 tudes of the establishment. 



