Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/482

 442 MedicEval Milita7y Architecture. Ti inches broad by 5 feet 5 inches deep, lighted by a loop. The outer wall of the staircase is 5 feet 5 inches thick, the inner wall something less, the whole thickness being 12 feet 6 inches. The lobby opens by a full-centred doorway 3 feet 6 inches broad, into the third floor. The third or oratory floor, has a set-off of 12 inches for the floor, and is therefore 27 feet diameter. It is 16 feet 6 inches high. To the south-west is a window closely resembling that below, also with steps and side seats. There is also a fireplace above the last, rather smaller and more delicate in its details, but of the same pattern and construction. The lintel is composed of seven stones, joggled ; it does not extend from wall to wall, but stops, as is more usual, just clear of the jambs. The vent runs in front of the lower one, and joins it above. Above the lower water drain is a second, in a small sort of piscina recess, round-headed and trefoiled with cusps, but not chamfered. The oratory is a very remarkable feature in this floor. It occupies the south-eastern buttress, opposite to the fireplace. A doorway of 2 feet 6 inches opening, the only flat-topped one on this floor, very plain, and therefore meant to be concealed, opens into a short, straight passage leading direct into the oratory. This is in plan a hexagon, 6 feet 4 inches broad at the west end or entrance, 6 feet at the east or altar end, and having a length of 13 feet 6 inches contained between four sides averaging 6 feet. Its centre or broadest part is 8 feet 8 inches. In each of its four main angles, flanking the entrances and the altar, is a detached or nook-shaft 6 inches diameter, with a foliated capital. The two central angles are each occupied by a half-shaft, from which springs a triple cross