§ 28.

The precinct of a religious house was separated from the outer world by an enclosing wall or dyke, on the line of which a gatehouse gave admission to the outer court (curia). Here were placed various offices and storehouses, and such buildings as the almonry and guest-house, in which the monastery came into necessary contact with secular affairs. The church and cloister, devoted to the religious life, occupied approximately the middle of the precinct, the cloister and its surrounding buildings being generally placed on the south side of the nave of the church. At the east end of the church was the graveyard; while outside the cloister was a collection of buildings, sometimes arranged round a court or smaller cloister, of which the chief was the infirmary. In dealing with these divisions, the church and cloister, the centre of the daily life of the monastery, must be taken first. It is necessary to remember that while the relative position of curia, cloister and infirmary buildings was almost always the same, their actual position varied according to the site of the monastery. The natural place for the curia was on the west side of the church and cloister, and in Cistercian monasteries, where the site was unencumbered by other buildings, it is usually found in this position. On the other hand, as at Durham and Worcester, where the site was longer from north to south than from east to west, the curia was on the south side of the cloister. Again, where a monastery was founded on the north side of a town, as at Canterbury, Chester and Gloucester, it was convenient that the cloister should be on the north side of the church, where seclusion and quiet were possible. Occasionally, as at Tintern, where a river ran north of the abbey, the cloister was placed on that side for purposes of drainage; while in a few instances a river on the west side of the cloister was the cause of important variations in the plan of the buildings. In one exceptional case, at Rochester, the confined nature of the site led to the building of the cloister on the south side of the eastern arm of the church.