in the angle formed by the
cloister and the church; the other to the west, with the court between
it and the cloister." The southern block, which contained the private
apartments of the Abbot, consists of three large Norman chambers, one
above the other, with their original windows enriched within and without
with zig-zag mouldings. Each chamber has also in the north-east corner
an inserted or altered doorway into a garde-robe tower (shown in
Carter's plan, 1807), but now destroyed; and the two lowest chambers
have their southern corners crossed by stone arches, moulded or covered
with zig-zag ornaments. All these chambers are subdivided by partitions
into smaller rooms. Mr. Hope says:
"The ground storey is entered from a vaulted lobby or antechamber,
now modernized and converted into a porch. The first floor has a
similar antechamber, as had originally also the second floor, but
this has been altered. These antechambers are all of early
thirteenth-century date, with a good deal of excellent work
remaining about the windows.
"Between the church and the rooms just described is a building of
two storeys. The ground storey consists of a vaulted passage,
already described as the outer parlour. It is on a lower level than
the cloister, which is reached from it by a flight of steps. Over
it is a lofty room, also vaulted, which was the abbot's chapel. It
is now entered by an awkward skew passage from the first-floor
antechamber.
"Both the chapel and outer parlour were once 9 feet longer, but
were shortened, and their west ends rebuilt with the old masonry,
at the same time that, I have reason to believe, the west front of
the church was rebuilt and also curtailed of a bay in the fifteenth
century. The first floor of all this part of the house contained
the abbot's private apartments, namely, his dining-room, bedroom,
solar, and chapel. The second floor was devoted to his own special
guests, while the ground storey contained a reception-room, and
probably accommodation for one or two servants.
"At the north-west corner of this southern block is a
semi-octagonal turret. Until this was altered a few years ago it
contained the front entrance into the deanery, and within it a
flight of stairs led to a series of landings communicating with the
antechambers on the first and second floors, as
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