English MonasteriesThompson, A. Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
History
English Monasteries
Thompson, A. Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
Monasteries -- England
Fragments of friaries are left
in many of our large towns: of their general arrangements much can be
seen at the Dominican friary in Bristol and in the ruins of the Austin
friary at Clare and the Carmelite friary at Hulne. The church of the
Austin friars in London is still a place of worship: the quire of the
Dominican friary at Brecon is the chapel of Christ college. Fragments
of churches may be seen at Lynn (black friars) and Richmond (grey
friars), while the church of the Dominicans at Norwich and that of the
Franciscans at Chichester have been converted to secular uses. At
Cambridge the colleges of Emmanuel and Sidney Sussex were founded on
the sites of Dominican and Franciscan friaries. The Dominican buildings
at Emmanuel were cleverly adapted to the plan of the new college, the
hall of which, in spite of transformation, is substantially the church
of the friary.
CHAPTER II
THE CONVENTUAL CHURCH
§ 28. The precinct of a religious house was separated from the outer
world by an enclosing wall or dyke, on the line of which a gatehouse
gave admission to the outer court (_curia_). Here were placed various
offices and storehouses, and such buildings as the almonry and
guest-house, in which the monastery came into necessary contact with
secular affairs. The church and cloister, devoted to the religious
life, occupied approximately the middle of the precinct, the cloister
and its surrounding buildings being generally placed on the south
side of the nave of the church. At the east end of the church was the
graveyard; while outside the cloister was a collection of buildings,
sometimes arranged round a court or smaller cloister, of which the
chief was the infirmary. In dealing with these divisions, the church
and cloister, the centre of the daily life of the monastery, must
be taken first. It is necessary to remember that while the relative
position of _curia_, cloister and infirmary buildings was almost
always the same, their actual position varied according to the site of
the monastery. The natural place for the _curia_ was on the west side
of the church and cloister, and in Cistercian monasteries, where the
site was unencumbered by other buildings, it is usually found in this
position. On the other hand, as at Durham and Worcester, where the site
was longer from north to south than from east to west, the _curia_ was
on the south side of the cloister. Again, where a monastery was founded
on the north side of a town, as at Canterbury, Chester and Gloucester,
it was convenient that the cloister should be on the north side of the
church, where seclusion and quiet were possible. Occasionally, as at
Tintern, where a river ran north of the abbey, the cloister was placed
on that side for purposes of drainage; while in a few instances a river
on the west side of the cloister was the cause of important variations
in the plan of the buildings. In one exceptional case, at Rochester,
the confined nature of the site led to the building of the cloister on
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