398 Bewley Court, Lacock. 



In the south wall is a two-light window with cusped heads re- 

 taining its original stanchions and saddle bars. In the wall 

 opposite is a doorway into the gallery over the screens. It has a 

 circular head and is part of the original timber-framed building. 

 On the east side of the lobby was the door into the great chamber 

 which is now represented by a modern one. 



The great chamber is 21^ft. long by 14:^ft. wide and occupied the 

 southern part of the east wing and was open to the roof. It was 

 lighted by a tall bay window in the south gable, which was supported 

 by a centre buttress similar to that at Great Chalfield and covered 

 by a stone roof ; but this has been destroyed. The inner jambs and 

 moulded rere-arch, however, remain. There is a fireplace in the 

 east wall that has a sixteenth century stone chimney piece and 

 doubtless the remains of the earlier openings exist under the plaster. 

 The chimney above is of the fourteenth century and consists of a 

 circular tun with moulded capital, upon a stack with two series 

 of sets-off, carried by a centre buttress and two moulded corbels. 

 The roof is of the fifteenth century alterations, and is divided into 

 three bays by framed arched principals, the middle rafter of each 

 bay is larger than the others. There is a single purlin on either 

 side with arched wind braces, of which those in the lower division 

 spring from the couples and those in the upper from both the 

 couples and middle rafters. 



The room was much altered in the seventeenth century, when a 

 ceiling was added at the level of the wall plates, the south window 

 was replaced by one of two lights, and another window of three 

 lights was inserted in the east wall. There is the bulk-head in the 

 north-east corner of a small staircase, which leads from the room 

 below to the gallery over the screens, covered by a good chest of 

 drawers of contemporary date. 



The space beneath the great chamber was originally the buttery, 

 which would be divided by partitions into buttery and pantry with 

 a lobby of entrance to the kitchen. It was altered in the seven- 

 teenth century to form a sitting room with windows in the south 

 and east walls, similar to those in the great chamber above, and a 

 fireplace was inserted on the south side at a still later date of 

 which the flue is carried in a brick chimney. 



