Recent Excavations at Holy Island Priory. 231 



inches, in the north wall of which are the two large fireplaces 

 above referred to. This no doubt formed part of the new Prior's 

 Chamber, built in the year 1344, which would seem to have 

 comprised the whole of the block of buildings at the south-east 

 corner of the upper court — and it may have been,for it must have 

 been well heated, used as the " Calefactory " : the rooms above, 

 to which access was obtained by a circular staircase, the lower 

 portion of which still remains in the south wall, being devoted 

 to the use of the Prior, and perhaps of the better class of 

 guests entitled to a lodging within the Priory. 



Part of the plaster still remains on the east wall of the large 

 room. A portion of the foundations of the original buildings, 

 of which the new prior's chamber took the place was exposed, 

 and is shown on the plan. 



At the north-east corner, but detached from the prior's cham- 

 ber, the foundations of a rectangular, projecting, or flanking 

 tower were discovered, and part of the circular well of the 

 staircase leading to the upper portion of it still remains. There 

 seems to have been a passage to it from the " Parlour." 



Two towers are mentioned, and those only in the inventory of 

 1533 — "Whitfield and Yet House towers — both then fitted up as 

 sleeping apartments ; probably in former years being arranged 

 only for defensive purposes, they contained no furniture, and so 

 were omitted — this, as there are traces of no other towers, must 

 have been Whitfield Tower, Yet House Tower being over the 

 Gate. Latrines appear to have been provided in the thick 

 eastern wall of this part of the enclosure. 



The square mass of masonry at the south-eastern corner has 

 not yet been thoroughly examined, but it seems to have been in 

 connection with the circular projection outside. To the south of 

 the Cloister Garth, and occupying its whole width, was the 

 Refectory, (called the "Hall" in the inventories), 33 feet 6 

 inches by 23 feet. At the eastern end would appear to have 

 been a raised dais* ; at the south-western corner, a stone plat- 

 form, which may have been the position of a rexder during 



* Inventory 1493-4. In the Hall, one shaving dish (pelv pro rasar'), one 

 longsettle, 1 hallyng over the deas (super le de se) of different colours, viz. 

 red and green. A hanging for one side of the hall, and one for the other 

 of the same set, 6 painted clothes embroidered with divers armorial 

 bearings for the deas the gift of William Lawe, a round cnndlestick with 

 13 branches, — Raine, p. 124. 



