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Monument details
| HER Number: | TR 15 NE 1247 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Table Hall (site Reredorter), Christchurch Priory |
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Summary
The Table Hall was the especial Refectory for those who were able to quit their chambers or were relieved for a time from the austerities of the cloister.
| Grid Reference: | TR 1519 5796 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR15NE |
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| Parish: | CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT |
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Monument Types
- BUILDING (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1338 AD? to 1546 AD?)
Full description
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The Table Hall was the especial Refectory for those who were able to quit their chambers or were relieved for a time from the austerities of the cloister.
The first recorded additions to the Infirmary are those of Prior Hathbrande (1338-1370), who built the stone Hall called 'Mensa Magistri Infirmatorii', or Table Hall as it was termed at the Reformation, and also seven adjacent chambers for the infirm. The walls of this Hall remain, and show that it stood at the east end on the north aisle of the Infirmary Hall, projecting northward off of it. The wall of the north aisle is the south end of the Hall, and latter, being worked into one of the prebendal houses which has escaped the late destructive changes, retains three windows, of two lights each, with plain transom and good tracery. The treasurer's accounts of the church in 1342 and 1343, show that this new Hall with a chamber, in the Infirmary, as well as other new chambers in the Infirmary, and also pentises or wooden cloisters about this Hall and these chambers were in course of construction.
The Distribution document of 1546 shows that the Table Hall along with other parts of the Priory had been converted into various private lodgings. Here a Mr Sentlegers Lodging comprised north aisle of Infirmary Chapel and garden on north side, the old Table Hall and Kitchen, buttery and lodgings at upper end of Hall, little garden there and a stable.
Note this structure is shown as being dated to c. 1200-1285 on J. Bowen's Map which conflicts with the date in Willis's great study of 1868.
Willis, R., 1868, 'The Architectural History of the Conventual Buildings of the Monastery of Christchurch in Canterbury' (Article in serial). SKE30206.
Blockley, K., Sparks, M. & Tatton-Brown, T., 1997, Canterbury Cathedral Nave, Archaeology, History and Architecture (Monograph). SKE29723.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | --- | Monograph: Blockley, K., Sparks, M. & Tatton-Brown, T.. 1997. Canterbury Cathedral Nave, Archaeology, History and Architecture. |
| --- | Article in serial: Willis, R.. 1868. 'The Architectural History of the Conventual Buildings of the Monastery of Christchurch in Canterbury'. |
