Fig. 415.—Dryburgh Abbey. Carved Figure in Chapter House.
The chapter house is 48 feet in length by 23 feet in width, and retains its round barrel vault ([Fig. 414]), which is about 20 feet in height. It has three pointed windows in the east end (see [Fig. 411.]) and two similar windows in the side walls, where the chapter house projects beyond the general line of the buildings. In the interior a round arched arcade runs along the east side, supported on single shafts, and there are traces of a similar arcade having run round the side walls. There is an entrance doorway in the south wall, which is probably not original, and the approach to it has been modernised. The east gable wall over the chapter house still exists (see Fig. 411.) It has simple flat buttresses of a Norman type at the angles and between the windows, but the pointed arches indicate transition work.
Amongst the fragments of carved work preserved in the chapter house is that shown in Fig. 415. It represents the pascal lamb slain,
Fig. 416.—Dryburgh Abbey. South-West Angle of Cloisters.
and is surrounded by a wreath of foliage, above which are the letters I H S. The vine leaves flowing from the lamb may represent the branches springing from the true vine.
To the south of the chapter house is a large apartment, 50 feet in length by 23 feet wide. It has been vaulted at a late period, and the vaulting shafts still remain attached to the east, west, and south walls. Their details are of the third pointed period. There is a fireplace in the centre of the west wall, and an outer doorway at the south end of the same wall. The apartment was lighted by three plain round arched windows in the east wall, one of which has had tracery inserted in after times. At the north-west angle, opening from the level of the cloister, there is a round-headed doorway, and traces of a staircase, which doubtless served as the day access to the dormitory. The large apartment just described was probably the fratery or monks’ day room. This is the more likely from its having a fireplace, where the monks might warm themselves
