Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/34

18 since been broken away. There is a larger rude opening in the south limb, which may represent the place of another door. That this singular and highly ornate chamber was originally an oratory is evident, both from the care bestowed upon it, from the traces of an altar in the east wall, and from the window next the altar.

In Tudor times the south wall was breached and a clumsy flat-topped window of three lights inserted, for which much of the arcade has been cut away, and a rude wall with a door in it has been built across the south limb, probably to convert the oratory into two sleeping places. Upon the chalk ashlar of this chamber have been carved a considerable number of rude representations, apparently the work of one period. Some are simply incised, others carved in relief. There is one very evident Crucifixion with a soldier piercing our Lord's side, the disciples attending, and something like a veiled female figure about to faint. There is also a St. Christopher; a bishop recumbent beneath a crown, and other figures, both ecclesiastic and military. They are evidently the work of persons confined in this apartment, and as they are rude, illiterate, and without any trace of heraldic emblems, they are probably the work of common gaol prisoners, and are likely enough to be of the beginning of the 13th century, when the prison was over- crowded, and every available space sure to have been employed. There was of course a larger chapel in the lower ward, not to mention the parish church of St. Mary, hard by. These carvings have been engraved, but not with the necessary correctness. It speaks little for the public spirit of Guildford that they are not photographed.

On the other or north side of the main entrance, also in the west wall, is a second mural chamber, entered by a narrow, round-headed, original door, 2 ft. 4 in. broad by 7 ft. 7 in. high, quite plain, of ashlar. This chamber has a rude, round-headed barrel vault, and is 9 ft. 2 in. long by 5 ft. 1 in. broad. There is one loop in the west wall. The walls are rubble, but the internal jamb of the door, being of chalk ashlar, bears some carvings in the style of those described above.

The third chamber is in the north wall, at its east end. Its door and much of its inner wall and floor have been removed to allow of the insertion of a fireplace and chimney