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Page 14
The Hospital buildings consist of an outer courtyard and gateway, to the
right of which are the kitchens, and on the left the old brewhouse and
remains of some of the earlier buildings. Immediately facing us is the
tower gateway, thoroughly restored, if not built originally, by Cardinal
Beaufort, under the groined archway of which is the porter's lodge,
where the "Wayfarers' Dole" is still distributed to all who apply at the
hatchway, an interesting and almost sole survival of the mediaeval
custom by which food and drink were offered to passers-by. The daily
dole at the present day consists of two gallons of ale and two loaves of
bread, divided into thirty-two portions. The apartment over the archway
is the Founder's room, wherein are stored all the ancient documents
relating to the foundation. Beaufort's arms appear in one of the
spandrels above the gateway arch, the corresponding spandrel exhibiting
the ancient regal arms of England. On this side of the entrance are
three niches, one of which contains a figure of the cardinal in a
kneeling posture. The vacant niche in the south front once held a statue
of the Virgin, which fell to the ground more than a century ago, and
nearly killed one of the Brethren in its descent.
Passing through this noble gateway, which, somehow or other, does not
look as old as we know it to be, we enter the great quadrangle, around
which the various buildings are grouped. On the eastern side is the
Infirmary, with the Ambulatory beneath it, a long, low cloister of
sixteenth-century date, which extends along the whole side to the
church. In one of the rooms above, a window opens into the church, where
there may once have been a gallery to enable the infirm to hear the
services. In 1763 Bishop Hoadley granted a license to the Master to pull
down the cloister and use the materials for other purposes, but
fortunately this was never done. On the opposite side of the quadrangle
are the houses of the Brethren. Each dwelling consists of two rooms and
a pantry, and has a garden attached.
The Brethren's Hall stands on the north side of the quadrangle, and is
a portion only of the old "Hundred Mennes Hall"; but enough is left to
enable one to form a good idea of the original apartment, which measured
36 feet by 24 feet, until a portion was cut off to provide rooms for the
Master, who is now lodged in a modern dwelling outside the gates. At the
east end of the hall is a table where the officials sat, those for the
Brethren being ranged along the sides. Some black-leather jacks,
candlesticks, salt-cellars, pewter dishes, and a dinner bell, all dating
from Beaufort's time, are still carefully preserved. At the opposite end
of the hall is a screen with the minstrels' gallery above, whence, on
high days and holidays, the Brethren were enlivened with music during
their feastings. The chief festivals of the year were All Saints' Day,
Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Twelfth Day, and Candlemas Day, on which
occasions the Brethren had "extraordinary commons, and on the eve of
which days they had a fire of charcoal in the Common Hall, and one jack
of six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary, to drink together by
the fire. And on the said feast-day they had a fire at dinner, and
another at supper in the said hall, and they had a sirloin of beef
roasted, weighing forty-six pounds and a half, and three large
mince-pies, and plum broth, and three joints of mutton for their supper,
and six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary at dinner, and six
quarts and one pint of beer after dinner, by the fireside; six quarts
and a pint at supper, and the like after supper." During Lent, each
brother had eight shillings paid to him instead of commons, and on Palm
Sunday the Brethren had a "green fish, of the value of three shillings
and fourpence, and their pot of milk pottage with three pounds of rice
boiled in it, and three pies with twenty-four herrings baked in them,
and six quarts and one pint of beer extraordinary". On Good Fridays they
had at dinner "in their pot of beer a cast of bread sliced, and three
pounds of honey, boiled together, which they call honey sop". Beneath
the hall is a fine vaulted cellar, of ample proportions, a worthy
resting-place for the stock of St. Cross ale.
[Illustration: THE BRETHREN'S HALL, ST. CROSS]
But, interesting as are all these portions of the Hospital of St. Cross,
it is the church which has the greatest attraction for architect and
antiquary alike, for it contains good examples of every style. From
Romanesque, through Norman and Early English, to Later Decorated, and to
Transition Norman, the church is considered to be the best example in
existence. This building, unfinished after nearly two hundred years, was
roofed with lead, in place of the thatch which originally covered it, by
William of Edyndon, the famous Wiltshireman who became Master of St.
Cross in the fourteenth century, and who restored the fabric from the
ruinous state in which he found it to a condition of beauty and
strength. The windows of the clerestory were erected by him; he
re-roofed the "Hundred Menne's Hall", and built a new chamber for the
Master.
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