96 



The Ancient Sub-Chantry House, 



plans of the late Mr. T. H. Wyatt for the adaptation and enlarge- 

 ment of the buildings to the requirements of the college were carried 

 out by the late Mr. F. R Fisher. This involved the removal of 

 the old Sub-Chantry House to make room for a new building upon 

 its site ; it was accordingly pulled down with the exception of the 

 north wall, which was left to form part of the boundary wall next 

 the Deanery garden. 



Before it was taken down there was little in the exterior of the 

 building except the nail-studded door and pointed arch of the 

 entrance to mark its early origin ; many alterations and additions, 

 some of them of the sixteenth century, having been made to it ; 

 while the interior had been divided into three storeys and many 

 rooms, so that no part of the original building was visible, but as 

 the work of demolition advanced and the paper and canvas, lath 

 and plaster, floors and partitions of later times were removed, the 

 skeleton of a fourteenth century structure of great interest, and of 

 some importance was laid bare. The principal part of the building 

 consisted of a hall running north and south, 38ft. long by 14Jft 

 wide internally, having massive walls of flint with dressings of 

 Ohilmark stone, and open to the roof, which was of oak and divided 

 into bays by principals and curved braces forming a series of lofty 

 pointed arches ; the purlins were moulded and wind-braced, some 

 of the braces being simply curved and the rest foliated. The 

 sj^layed openings of the original windows still existed in the east 

 wall, but the stone mullions and tracery had been swept away to 

 make room for sash frames. There was an ample fireplace on the 

 west side of the hall, and two doorways immediately opposite in the 

 east and west walls, the former still retaining its pointed arch. 

 Some remains of a massive oak screen or partition were found in 

 the hall, which might have divided it into two apartments, but the 

 original building had been so much altered that it was impossible 

 to verify this conjecture. 



The decoration on the walls could be distinctly traced upon three 

 sides of the hall. The designs on the north and west walls appeared 

 to be heraldic in character. The ground of the north wall was 

 white and diapered with squares coloured gules and each charged 



