A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Its inner wall was formed by a colonnade corresponding with the other 

 colonnades having an intercolumniation of 13 ft. 6 in., the opus sigmnum 

 floor of the corridor passing over the sleeper wall of the colonnade between 

 the bases of the columns. The outer wall of the corridor bordering on the 

 street has a smooth and level surface as though it had formed a bed for a 

 continuous line of large blocks of stone. If this were so, it probably carried 

 a colonnade also. The entrance to the courtyard which cut through this 

 corridor was 22 ft. wide and was flanked by walls 5 ft. thick which supported 

 the entrance arch. The corridor on the north-west side was not explored, 

 but it possibly corresponded to this. 



The buildings opening on to the south-west corridor were elaborate. 

 In the middle was a large chamber 62ft. gin. by 40ft. (internal measure- 

 ments), having rubble walls 3 ft. 10 in. thick with brick bonding courses. 

 The south-west (outer) end was apparently square, but the walls here were 

 not followed through. The floor seems to have been tessellated but lay too 

 deep below the surface to be properly examined without considerable 

 expense. The chamber itself was entered from the corridor by a doorway 

 5 ft. wide, and at its north-east corner was another doorway 8 ft. 6 in. wide 

 which led down by three steps of about 8 in. deep into a smaller chamber 

 39 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in. The walls of this chamber were 3 ft. thick ; its floor 

 was paved with coarse red tesserae in good condition and it had an entrance 

 from the corridor 3 ft. 8 in. wide on its north-east side. On its south-west 

 side stood a semicircular apse 1 5 ft. diameter, which seemed to have been 

 added at a later date, as it was not bonded into the wall of the chamber and 

 a space sufficient to run a knife existed between the two walls. The apse is 

 solid and the existing surface is 5 in. below the floor level of the chambers. 

 Both these chambers were plastered and coloured inside in the usual way. 

 There were indications of a corresponding chamber on the other side of the 

 middle chamber, remains of the doorway and the offset of the south-west 

 wall being found, but were not followed out. 



The outer wall of the corridor, 3 ft. 6 in. thick, was between the 

 chambers possibly a sleeper wall for a colonnade. It continued south-east 

 32 ft., where there was another large chamber 63 ft. gin. by 34 ft. 6 in. 

 (internal measurements). At the south-west end of this chamber was a large 

 apse, 20 ft. wide, which was raised some 4 ft. 8 in. above the floor of the room, 

 but no approach to it by steps or otherwise now remains. The upper 

 surface of the floor of the apse is broken away. The side walls of the 

 chamber were 8 ft. 6 in. thick, ending at the corridor in pilasters. The 

 thickness of the walls suggested that they supported a vault, possibly a 

 barrel vault, and corroborative evidence of this was found by the discovery 

 of some curved pieces of painted wall plaster.'" In places the walls were 

 2 ft. above the floor, and here there remained on them some painted wall 

 plaster with the usual roll at the junction of the wall and floor. From the 

 quantities of painted plaster which was found, it was clear that the whole of 

 the interior walls and vault were painted mostly in floral designs in dark 

 olive green and other colours, while the evidence of some fragments of 



■" For further evidence of a vaulted building here it may be mentioned that little or no charcoal was 

 found, as was discovered in the corridor, where the roof was apparently of wood, and the pavement was 

 much damaged by masonry embedded in it which had apparently fallen from some height. 



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