ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF MOUNT GRACE By W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE, M.A. The houses of the Carthusian Order in England were but nine in number, viz. Witham, Somerset, founded in 1179 or 1180; Hinton, Somerset, founded in 1227; Beauvale, Notts., founded in 1343: London, founded in 1371; Kingston-upon-Hull, founded in 1378; St. Anne's, near Coventry, founded in 1381; Epworth, Lincolnshire, founded in 1395; Mount Grace, founded in 1397-8; and Shene, in Surrey, founded by Henry V. in 1414. There are now no remains of the Charterhouses at Witham, Kingston-upon-Hull, Epworth, or Shene, and comparatively little of those of Hinton, Beauvale, and St. Anne's. A good deal of the London Charterhouse can be made out, but by far the most extensive and best preserved remains are those of the Charterhouse at Mount Grace. Owing, no doubt, to its secluded position, the Mount Grace Charterhouse is comparatively little known, yet here alone in England can all the peculiar arrangements of the Carthusian Order be studied in detail. The church is complete as to its plan, and most of it is standing nearly to its full height. The area of the great cloister is intact, with the ruins of many of the cells that surrounded it, each in its little garden. The outer court is also still enclosed by walls and buildings prior in date to the Suppression, and contains, beside the church, etc. the foundations of a second series of cells and gardens. On the suppression of the monastery, in 1539, although the buildings were unroofed and dismantled of all their woodwork, ironwork, and glazing, there is no reason to suppose that any of them were pulled down; and it was probably not until quite a century later that a partial clearance was made of the western range of cells and some other buildings in order to make room for a farmyard. Whatever else has perished has done so for the most part through the gradual neglect of three and a half centuries and the destructive growth of ivy and other vegetation. In process of time, notwithstanding the considerable remains above ground, a number of interesting features had become buried or obscured through the falling in of buildings and the accumulation of rubbish. Arrangements were accordingly made in the spring of 1896 for the excavation of the more important of them. The operations in question extended to the eastern and southern parts of the church, the chapter-house, and other adjoining buildings. In the following year the frater, kitchen, etc. were explored, and further works were carried out in 1898. On the acquisition of the site by Sir Lowthian Bell, in 1900, the excavations were again resumed, principally in the great cloister and the cells that surrounded it. Eventually the whole of the eastern range of cells and their gardens were completely cleared of rubbish, and a number of interesting features brought to light, including many large pieces of the arcades of the destroyed cloister. Mount Grace Charterhouse is situated on rising ground on the west side of a high range of hills, running north and south, and now well covered with wood. The buildings stand upon an artificially levelled site, and are disposed round two irregular four-sided courts, on different levels, forming together what may be roughly described as an elongated pentagon. The lower or outer court lies to the south of the other, and has its western side covered by a range of buildings about 275 feet long. THE OUTER COURT. south of the middle of the range is the gatepassage only remains. It consists of an outer Fig. 1.-Springer of the gatehouse vault. gate-porch, entered by a broad but plainly chamfered four-centred archway, the mouldings of which die into the jambs, instead of being carried down to the ground. It was originally covered by a groined vault of one bay, with transverse, diagonal, and wall ribs, but only the springers are now left. (Fig. 1.) Beyond the porch was the gate-hall, which was entered by an arch with continuous jambs, closed by massive double doors. The gate-hall was vaulted in one bay like the porch, and opened into the court by a similar arch to that outside, and springing like it from the side walls. Since nothing is left of the superstructure of the gatehouse, it is impossible to say how it was carried up. From the gatehouse there extends southwards the ruined shell of a two-storied building, of slightly later date. Externally it is divided by good buttresses of (originally) four stages into five bays. (Plate III.) The ground storey has no external openings except a small inserted window at the further end. In the second bay from the gate there is a curious hole in the wall, as if for the outlet of a pipe, and to the right of it another hole has been begun, but not continued. The upper part of the west wall had in each of the first and second, and of the fourth and fifth bays, a plain square-headed window of two lights, the last of which is still perfect. In the third bay, in place of a window is a shouldered doorway, with chamfered sill. Since this could only have been reached by a wooden ladder, the upper floor into which it opened was probably a corn store. Both the doorway and the windows of the upper floor are insertions in an older wall. The south-west angle has a diagonal buttress, and in the south end is an inserted four-centred doorway from without, and over it on the upper floor a single light, square-headed window. The north end is formed by the side of the gatehouse, and has no openings. The division of the bays on the inner or court side does not correspond to that without, the buttresses being so spaced as to give three wide bays, and a fourth at the south end of only half the width of the others. This inner side is unfortunately much ruined, and the upper part has gone. The bay next the gatehouse has a square window of two lights, with cusped ogee heads, next to which was a wide doorway,' and then two windows, each of one light, of which the sills alone remain.2 The next bay is much broken down, and shows the sill of a doorway 37 inches wide, and part of one jamb. Beyond it were probably two small single-light windows, as in the first bay. The third bay has also a doorway, beyond which are the sills of a pair of single-light windows, about three feet apart. The narrower fourth bay contains a doorway only. This is fortunately perfect, and has a four-centred arch, without any outer label. All the doorways have steeply chamfered steps, and the windows have flat sills throughout. Internally the building was divided by massive cross beams, 17 inches by 15 inches in section, into ten bays, but there are not now any signs of partitions or other divisions. The four doorways, however, show that it contained at least as many apartments, and not improbably that next the gatehouse was the porter's lodge. 1 Only one jamb of this is left. 2 By inadvertence, only one has been shown on the plan. The |