the Chapel and
the refectory or Hall, a room 63 feet by 30, with a groined oak roof and
a dais at one end for the Warden and Fellows; while at the other is the
audit room, which has some fifteenth-century tapestry and an iron-bound
chest once belonging to William of Wykeham. Beneath the Hall is "Seventh
Chamber," an early schoolroom. Beyond are cloisters and more buildings,
and then the meadows which run down to the Itchen. The niches over the
second gateway contain figures of the Virgin, the Angel Gabriel, and
William of Wykeham; while the room below them is known as the election
chamber, where the annual election of scholars took place. In the inner
quadrangle the carvings over the windows should be noticed. "Over the
hall and kitchen entrance are the psaltery and bagpipe; over kitchen
window, Excess, a head vomiting; opposite a Bursar as Frugality, with
his iron-bound money-chest; over the Masters' windows are the Pedagogue,
the Listless Scholar, etc." In the Chapel, which is 93 feet long by 30
wide and 57 high, the Perpendicular windows should be noticed, and in
particular, the large east window. The glass is declared by Mr Winston
to be, with the exception of a few pieces, modern, dating from 1824,
while the "Jesse" window is "a very good copy of the old design." In the
vault Wykeham's wooden fan-tracery remains, but there has been much
change in the fittings of the chapel. The old screen has gone, and the
reredos is a restoration; the original stalls were removed as early as
1681. The tower had to be rebuilt in 1863, though the old stonework of
1470 was used where possible. At the north-east end are the sacristy and
muniment room, in which the college charters, etc., are kept. Among the
MSS., etc., kept here are certain Anglo-Saxon documents and charters of
Privileges from Richard II. to Charles II.; a table of Wykeham's
domestic expenses; a thirteenth century Vulgate in manuscript; a "Briefe
description of the Newe Founde Lande of Virginia," by Sir Walter
Raleigh; and a pedigree of Henry VI., tracing his descent from Adam. The
chief relic of Wykeham is a gold ring with a large sapphire in it. The
Cloisters are 132 feet in length on each side, and the stone roofing is
supported by rafters of Irish oak. The ground enclosed by the Cloisters
was once used for the burial of the Fellows. Among the names cut in the
walls may be seen the name of "Thos. Ken, 1646." In the square formed by
the cloisters is the Chantry Chapel