John le Rus had at its south-east angle a small tenement belonging to Stephen Barker'; and along the rest of its southern boundary was the land of Eustace Seled. Barker's house abutted on the south upon that of Hoel and Thomas Barton*; beyond which again lived Stephen the cooper. These several pieces, probably of no great extent, even when united, indicate a row of houses next the street, with gardens and pastures behind them3.

This is all that can now be ascertained respecting the history of the site of the Friary. As regards its position, it is stated in one of the deeds of surrender*, 2 Edward II. (1308—9), to lie between the land of Robert de Wynwick on the south, and the messuage of Richard de Aylsham on the north, and to extend from the street to the pasture.

There are four deeds relating to Wynwick's property. They describe a messuage, and an acre of arable land. The former lies between the cemetery of the brethren on the north, and the property of Adam Thurston, John Rikeling, and Bernard de Sawtre on the south, abutting on the street to the east and on Wynwick's croft to the west. The croft is described as an acre of arable land in Trumpington Street, between the croft of the Prior of S. Edmund and the land that formerly belonged to the Brethren of the Penitences. The Prior's croft is clearly Volye Crofte, before described, and we therefore know the southern boundary of this property. Unfortunately we do not know the extent of the messuages abutting on the street, but

1 [Ibid. A. 7.]

2 [Ibid. A. 4. Before this could be taken possession of, the brethren were obliged to obtain permission from the Hospital of S. John. Robert de Huntingdon, the then Master, gave them leave "ampliare locum suum in parochia sancti petri quoad duo mesuagia Symonis karettarii et Stephani Bercarii." Ibid. A. 19.]

3 [One of the conveyances (Ibid. A. 17) gives the dimensions of the house to which it refers as 22 feet wide, with a "croft behind" it, and the next house as 44 feet wide. I cannot find out to what house this refers, but it is valuable as indicating the dimensions we ought to assign to most of these pieces.]

4 [Ibid. B. 15, 18, 20. It is described as "in suburbio Cantebrigie". edificiis desuper existentibus, curiis, vivariis, et aliis pertinenciis."]

...

66 cum

5 [Ibid. B. 12, 13, 19, 25. The acre of land was bought of John Aylsham and Sabina his wife (B. 19) to whom it had been sold by Eustace Seled (A. 23). This property has been already mentioned as lying to the south of the western portion of the Friary.]

assuming them to resemble those near them and to be of small depth, we can lay down an acre of ground west of them, and determine the southern boundary of the Friary with tolerable accuracy. We cannot be equally certain about the northern boundary, as we know, from the letters patent of Henry the Third, that there are some pieces of ground unaccounted for, and the deeds of Richard de Aylsham's property have been lost.

On the whole, however, we may say that the southern third of the site within the stone wall before mentioned was occupied by Wynwick's land, answering to about half the present "Grove" and two-thirds of the site of the Fitzwilliam Museum. We do not know when it became the property of Peterhouse. Two persons of the name of Robert de Wynwick are mentioned in the deeds, of whom the younger (nephew to the elder) was afterwards Master of the College (1330-38). It is therefore not improbable that he conveyed the land in question to his College during this period; but the deed has unfortunately disappeared.

North of this was the Friary, bounded by the street on the east, by Coe Fen on the west, and extending northwards perhaps as far as the Hostels and the ground of the scholars. The history of the ground occupied by the College buildings has been already discussed.]

CHAPTER II.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGS DERIVED FROM THE BURSARS'

ROLLS.

[IN the record of the uses to which the legacy of Hugh de Balsham was put, mention has been made of the construction of a Hall (Aula).] By this word I understand Refectory and not College, for the latter, as we shall see below, was not advanced for many years afterwards; and we find the scholars in 1395 setting forth in their petition to Bishop Fordham for

the appropriation of the church of Hinton that the College was not yet sufficiently endowed, nor their buildings finished, or sufficiently furnished with the offices required, and that the revenues were so very lean and small as not to suffice for the maintenance of a master and fourteen scholars required by the ordinances of his predecessors'.

The principal materials for tracing the architectural history of the College are a valuable collection of Bursars' rolls of accounts, of which the earliest are for 1374-5, 1388-93 and 1396-7. For the fifteenth century there remains a broken series of thirty-one, and those for the subsequent centuries are nearly complete. From these we obtain most authentic information concerning the building operations, although, as usual in this class of documents, it is often difficult to ascertain to what part of the edifice the operations of each year belong, and the loss of the rolls of intermediate years necessarily obscures the history. However, the roll of 1374-5 contains an account for the mere ordinary repairs of the House', viz. for tiling the Hall and other chambers; for "powntyng" the chambers;

..

1 Bishop Fordham, in his charter of appropriation of Hinton, dated March 20, 1395-6, rehearses the petition. "quodque dicte nostre domus seu Collegii fructus redditus et prouentus adeo sunt tenues modici et exiles quod ad sustentacionem unius Magistri seu Custodis ac quatuordecim Scolarium qui in dicta domo seu Collegio secundum ordinationes predecessorum nostrorum . . . esse deberent. . . non sufficiunt hiis diebus." [Hinton, commonly called Cherry-Hinton, is 3 miles S. E. of Cambridge. The vicarage was formally appropriated to the College by Simon Langham, Bishop of Ely (1362—1376), but as no appropriation can take effect until a vacancy happens, and as this did not occur in the lifetime of the Bishop, his successors defeated the College by instituting Vicars of their own before the College could assert their rights. Bishop Fordham, however, put the College effectually into possession, and they presented their first vicar on 18 Jan. 1401. The appropriation was confirmed by a Bull

of Pope Gregory XII. dated May, 1408. See the Old Register, page 67 seq.]

2 [The first two of these extend from Michaelmas in one year to Michaelmas in the next: the third from All Saints Day 1396 to Easter 1397. The following rolls have been preserved for the fifteenth century. They all extend from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. 1403-4. 1411-12. 1414-16. 1417-18. 1424-6. 1430-1. 1438-9. 1441-2 (mutilated). 1445-6. 1447-8. 1450? 1455-59. 1460-65. 1466—7. 1469–71. 1472—3. 1474-5. 1488-9. 1491—2. 1493—4. 1499— 1500. Total 31.]

3 [This Roll has been copied, with a translation, by Mr Riley, First Report of Historical MSS. Commission, 79.]

The heading of this part of the account is "In reparacione Domorum, viz. aule, et aliarum camerarum tegulatione ix li. iiij sol. iij d." among which payments we find

and so on, which shews at least that they had a Hall and chambers at this time.

[From the roll for 1403–4, we learn the existence of a "capella," probably a private oratory, annexed to the Master's Chamber1. In the next, that for 1411-12, we find the roofing of the kitchen recorded, and the building of a wall called "le Newwall" outside the College, probably on the west side. In the next three, those for 1414-15, 1415-16, 1417-18, repairs only are set down.] There is then an interval until 1424—5, when we find ourselves in the midst of a new building, to which a separate heading is allotted—“Expense nove fabrice in collegio hoc anno." This heading is continued in the roll for the next year 1425-6, and in that for 1430-1; but the items are only payments to masons, slaters and smiths for daywork; for carriage of stone, timber from Thakstead, mantelpieces, windows, and the like, with no indication of the purpose of the edifice, which was probably a range of chambers.

In 1431, an indenture occurs between the College and John Wassyngle, of Hinton, a mason whose name occurs repeatedly in these accounts, for building a Library. This indenture, dated Feb. 12, 9 Hen. VI. (1431), is between John Holbrook Master of the College and the fellows of the same on the one part, and John Wassyngle of Hynton of the other part. The said John Wassyngle engages to build in the ground and above the ground the walls, doors, and windows of a

"Itm. Sclaters pro powntyng de aula xiij so liiij d. ob.” The heading of the Roll is "Compotum Magistri Willelmi Irby incipiendo a festo Sancti Michaelis Anno Domini M°CCCLXXIIIJ. usque ad annum revolutum de bonis omnibus domus sancti petri medio tempore receptis."

1["Et in stipendio Carpentarii emendantis tectum Capelle annexe Camere magistri."]

2 [The mention of wooden poles, "pali," clay and straw shews that it was of mud, supported on a wooden frame. The labourers sometimes slept in College, "Et pro lectis conductis eisdem operariis per diversas noctes per tempus operum predictorum ijs. jd."]

3 In the roll for 1425-6 a payment of twopence is made to poor scholars (sizars) for carrying wood. "De ijd. solutis pauperibus scolaribus portantibus lignum." [A similar entry in the accounts of Queens' College for 1495-6 is quoted by Mr Searle (History, 127), "Item duobus pauperibus scolaribus laborantibus circa pontem, ijd.”] The entire cost of the work was £110. 25. 34d. in the first year, and £24. 125. 74d. in the second.

certain Library within the aforesaid College, as follows: before the last day of the succeeding April he shall have ready all the doors necessary for the said work, and ten windows (counting two small ones as one) of good hard stone from the lower bed of the quarry of Philip Grove, completely prepared for setting; the walls shall be commenced before the same day of April, and raised to the height of ten feet above the ground before the next following feast of S. Peter ad Vincula (Aug. 1). All other windows whatever necessary for the said work shall be wrought and ready for setting before the second Easter after the date of these presents (Ap. 20, 1432), and the walls completely built to the same height as the other walls of the new buildings of the College before the Feast of S. Michael the Archangel next following. He is bound in forty pounds to the fulfilment of his contract, and the payments he is to receive are thus enumerated. For the great door, 5s. 6d.: for every small door, 35.: for every large window, 5s.: for every small window, 2s. 6d., including the shaping and setting: for every complete week during which he himself shall labour within the College on this work he is to receive 3s. 4d., and for every incomplete week at the same rate according to the number of days: also a gown if he behave well1.

No dimensions are given, but the specification that the walls are to be completely built to the same height as the other walls of the new buildings of the College, shews that the Library was part of a set of new buildings then in progress. Its position is known to have been on the west side of the quadrangle, where its roof and stone staircase may still be traced.

In the roll for 1438-9, the next that has been preserved, we find the heading "Expense librarie et noue fabrice." [The walls had been built in the intervening years, and they were now making the roof and windows, and laying the floors.] Carpenters are working at "plancheryng" and "schulderyng de le gystes," that is, cutting the shoulders of the joists: [and a number of trees had been felled in the College garden to provide planks for the floor]. Ten shillings are paid to Reginald

1

1 [This curious document, copied from the original in the Treasury of Peterhouse, "Collegium" A. 11, is printed in the Appendix, No. 11.]