Recent Excavations at Holy Island Priory. 283 



Adjacent to those ofl&ces, and* at the back of the bakehouse, 

 is a long room 31 feet 7 inches by 14 feet 2 inches, to which 

 there is now no trace of any communication from the interior of 

 the priory ; but an entrance to it from outside seems to have 

 existed. There are good reasons for supposing that this was 

 the " Hall of St. Cuthbert," or the " Guest Hall." In 1363 a 

 large sum of money was expended upon the new " Hall of Saint 

 Cuthbert," the " Bakehouse," and " Brewhoxise," the expendi- 

 ture for the three being lumped together, so tending to show 

 that the three rooms were adjacent and under the same roof. 

 Again in none of the inventories published is St. Cuthbert's 

 Hall mentioned,but in some of them the " maskefatte " is entered 

 as being in the " Brewhouse," in others as being in the " Guest 

 Hall."* It is fair therefore to conclude that such was the 

 designation and purpose of the room. 



The remaining buildings on the west side of the inner court 

 were doubtless the cellarage and other usual accessories to the 

 Domestic Offices, and at the northern end probably the workshops, 

 there being traces there of an inner wall which may have been 

 intended to deaden the noise of the workmen. These buildings 

 were covered with barrel arches of 1 7 feet span, the springings 

 of which at equal distances apart, can be seen on the western 

 wall ; and in this wall are six windows narrowing to the outside. 



A drawing in the British Museum of the last century shows 

 traces of a gable roof abutting on the then standing south-east 

 tower of the church (the upper part of the present tower is a 

 reconstruction) similar to those on the south transept ; there were 

 therefore rooms above which may have been occupied as dormi- 

 tories by the lay dependants and inferior class of guests. The 

 lower steps of a staircase leading to those rooms is to be seen in 

 the thickened part of the exterior wall of the " Buttery." 



The latrines connected with this part of the priory are at the 

 corner near the Bakehouse, from which there would appear to 

 have been a drain at some time communicating with cesspits — 

 an open, trough projecting from the outside wall was come upon, 

 which seems to have had some connection with it, but it is pro- 

 bably of a much later date. 



* 1347 Inventory. In Brevrhonse and Bakehouse a ' mashefatte.' In 1416 

 the Guest Hall (Pandoxatorium) and Bakehouse are bracketted together. 

 1533. In Guest Hall 1 ' tnaskefatt.' 

 lE 



