Map Key
Even if you are familiar with the Hârnic interior mapping style, this key should still be of use, as it provides definitions of the visual elements that are unique to Aedificium interior scale maps. New symbols are included for ashlar surfaces, bell assemblies, and roofing made of thatch, wooden tiles, clay tiles, slate, and lead sheets.
Wallingwells Priory
(3
page map)
Wallingwells Priory, a Benedictine nunnery, was founded in the 1140s by the Chevercourt family, lords of Carlton in Lindrick, on lands that had previously constituted the family's park [1]. At first housed in temporary wattle and daub structures, the community completed its fine stone church, minus its tower, within two decades, and followed this with the construction of the east range soon thereafter. It took another decade before the bell tower was finally built up to its present height and given a roof. Ten years ago, the structure bounding the cloister to the west, and the arcades and roofing of the claustral walkways, were completed. The southern range has yet to be rebuilt in stone owing to a lack of funds [2].
Wallingwells is home to 12 nuns and their prioress [3]. Most of the women are scions of the local noble families, including the Chevercourts, Tortmains, Hereys, Lovetots, and Fossards. The nuns have been relatively ambitious in their attempts to secure gifts from donors, and in their building programs; they are determined to enhance their status and avoid the impoverished fate of many of the smaller nunneries.
The church is a masonry structure, with wooden beams supporting its lead roofing. It features a bell tower over the choir, but like many nunnery churches, it lacks transepts. Only the apsidal chancel is vaulted. The church features a single aisle to its north side; the circular staircase at the eastern end gives access to the space between the chancel's vaulting and roof, and to the tower. The chaplain of Wallingwells lives in Carlton in Lindrick, where he serves as parish priest; he enters the church through the southeastern doorway, and is provided with a vestry accessible only from the outside of the cloister.
The cloister itself features stone arcades and lead roofing. The northern alley contains desks facing south in order to take advantage of the light; it serves as the nuns' study.
The ground floor of the stone-built eastern range contains, from north to south: the night stairs leading from the upper floor to the choir of the church; the treasury and book room; the chapter house; the parlor; the day stairs; the novices' quarters and day room; the nuns' day room; and a passage allowing access to the stream diverted to run under the claustral complex, along with a punishment cell. The upper floor is given over mostly to the common dormitory, with storage areas located to the north and south. The southernmost room contains garderobes that empty into the water below.
The southern range is a wattle and daub structure roofed in thatching. Its ground level is devoted to the storage of foodstuffs and other materials, while the first floor serves as the refectory. The kitchen is located in a separate building to the south of the map, accessible via the stairway crossing the stream.
The western range's vaulted undercroft is used for storage. The upper floor features, from north to south, three guest rooms, the middle one being used to house lay children who are schooled here, and the prioress's quarters.
A discussion of features common to the claustral complexes of most orders is available here, and additional information specific to Benedictine monasteries may be found here.
