In time of war, houses near the Border or on the South Coast suffered. The buildings of God’s House, Berwick-on-Tweed, were cast down by engines during a siege. The master and inmates implored aid in their sore extremity, declaring that in spite of all efforts to repair the buildings, the work was unfinished, and that they could not endure the winter without being utterly perished.[75] The same year (1333) the destroyed hospital at Capelford-by-Norham was being rebuilt. St. Nicholas’, Carlisle, was levelled to the ground more than once, and Sherburn was partly demolished at the time of the Battle of Neville’s Cross. The same story of attack and fire comes from houses at Southampton and Portsmouth. Before proceeding to any classification of buildings, some of the component parts may be mentioned. The precincts were often entered by a gateway beneath a [p110] tower. (Pl. VIII, XVI.) Sometimes, as at Northallerton, there was a hospice near the gate, especially intended for wayfarers who were too feeble to proceed; and an almonry, as at St. Cross, for the distribution of out-relief. The mode of life in different hospitals affected their architectural arrangement. The warden and professed members of the staff were expected to live in community. The master of St. John’s, Ely, was charged not to have delicate food in his own chamber, but to dine in the refectory. In most houses the rule was relaxed, and the warden came to have private apartments, and finally, a separate dwelling. (Pl. XVI, XXI.) In large institutions, the dining-hall was a fine building. The “Brethren Hall” at St. Cross (about 36 × 20 feet) consists of four bays, and has a handsome chestnut ceiling. (Pl. X.) The beautiful refectory at St. Wulstan’s, Worcester (48 feet × 25 feet 8 inches), adjoins another long, narrow hall; these buildings present interesting features—such as the screen, a coved canopy over the dais, and a loft from which reading was given during meals. The screen, gallery and oriel are reproduced in _Domestic Architecture during the Tudor Period_. The title of “minstrels’ gallery,” given by J. H. Parker to the screen at the western end of the hall, has been called in question; but as the same name is found at St. Cross it may be remarked that in such institutions minstrels were called in to perform on festal days, for the account rolls of St. Leonard’s, York (1369), and St. John’s, Winchester[76] (1390), allude to it. The hospital was a semi-secular house, and such halls were occasionally used for public affairs. Permission was granted in 1456 that the hall and kitchen of St. Katherine’s Maison Dieu, [p111] Newcastle, might be used by young couples for their wedding dinner and the reception of gifts, because at that time houses were not large. Leland notes that Thornton “buildid St. Katerines Chapelle, _the Towne Haulle_, and a Place for poor Almose Menne.” If the above-mentioned kitchen was as magnificent as that of St.