XX. Although the cloisters are not in themselves of any unusual interest, they afford one of the best illustrations remaining in England of the manner in which the chief monastic buildings were grouped about them. On the _east_ side is a passage formerly leading to the prior’s house, and beyond it the chapter-house. On the _south_ side is the refectory, now used as a school-room. On the _west_ side, close to the lavatory in the wall, is the entrance to the _dormitory_, which has itself been destroyed; and beyond again is a narrow passage (in which are staircases communicating with the triforium of the nave, and with the upper part of the dormitory) by which the west front of the church was approached from the cloisters. The _slype_, or arched passage in the east walk, is Norman, (with some details, on the north side, of very early character,) and separates the chapter-house from the south wall of the great transept. Between the entrance to this passage and the chapter-house are two recesses in the wall, which may be compared with those in a similar position at Norwich; (see the Handbook for that Cathedral). Their original use is unknown. The _chapter-house_ [Plate III.] is circular within, (as it was without until the Perpendicular casing was added,) but is divided into ten bays by vaulting-ribs which spring from a central column, and from shafts at the sides. Without, the building is decagonal, with a buttress between each bay. The lower part of the chapter-house, the central column, and the vaulting, are transition Norman, of nearly the same date as the two western bays of the nave. Early in the sixteenth century, however, a Perpendicular window was inserted in the upper part of each bay, and the exterior of the building was entirely cased with Perpendicular masonry. The doorway [Illustration: THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.] opening from the cloisters is Perpendicular. A plain circular arcade, slightly recessed, runs round the interior, above a stone bench. A second arcade, of interlacing arches, covers the upper part of the wall, and is surmounted by a stringcourse with the billet-moulding, the whole being in alternate courses of grey and white stone. Above this are the Perpendicular windows. The chapter-house has shared in the late restoration. XXI. At the end of the east walk of the cloisters is a passage under the refectory, to the Close beyond. The _refectory_ (120 ft. long) extends the whole length of the south walk. There is an entrance to it near the south-west end. The lower part, or crypt, is early Norman; the room above, a long parallelogram, is Decorated, of the reign of Edward III. It is now used as the school-room of the “King’s school,” founded by Henry VIII. after the dissolution of the priory.