588 " The Chantry," Marlborough. 



into the large room, with part of the interesting two-light oak 

 window by its side to light the stair, is shown in the sketch of the 

 oratory. The large room retains its original stone fireplace, of 

 which a drawing is given to larger scale. 



Westward of the stair is a small ground floor room, which 

 was about lift, square and had, until December, 1908, its north 

 wall with four-centred arched doorway, of stone, intact. The room 

 was probably lighted from the west before other buildings were 

 built against it. Over this is an apartment which has always 

 been known — doubtless with good reason — as The Chapel, and 

 is marked on the plan as the Oratory; this also had until 

 recently its timber-framed north wall with part of the wattle 

 work and the lower part of a four-light oak window, in situ. 

 This room must have been entirely open to the stair, for the 

 moulded beam carrying the roof over, shown in the sketch of 

 the interior, bears no indication of mortices, nor can it have 

 rested on a wall. The roof of the oratory is intact and is a model 

 of what such a roof should be; it is divided into two bays by a 

 collar-braced hammer-beam truss, the wall plates and purlins are 

 moulded and below the latter are curved wind-braces. 



The roof over the main building, as shown by a separate sketch, 

 is similar to that of the oratory, but with the addition of inter- 

 mediate moulded principals and wind-braces above, as well as 

 below, the purlins. 



The devastating fire of 1653, which originated on the south side 

 of the High Street and crossed over to the north side, does not 

 appear to have caught hold of this house, for there are no indications 

 of it on the roof timbers which, in spite of the various alterations 

 of the premises, remain almost intact. 



The only part of the original work to be seen externally, how- 

 ever, was the north side of the priest's room and oratory, and this 

 has been a favourite bit with local amateur artists ; a charming 

 sketch of it appears in Mr. A. G. Bradley's History of Marlborough 

 College., 1893, where the tracery of the oratory window is shown as 

 it previously existed. 



But the two-li<dit window over the kitchen door is also shown 



