[D. Weller.
THE JERUSALEM CHAMBER.
The Jerusalem Chamber is now used as the Chapter-House, because the actual Chapter-House still belongs to the Government, and not to the Abbey.
The College Hall, which was built by Abbot Litlington to be his refectory or dining-hall, is now used as the dining-hall for the Westminster scholars. It is a beautiful room, with long windows in the Early Perpendicular style, and a minstrels’ gallery at one end. The fireplace, or stove, is in the middle of the room, and gives it a very old-world look. The long tables in the hall are said to be made of chestnut wood from the wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada, and to have been given to the school by Queen Elizabeth.
The College Hall forms one side of the old courtyard of the “Abbot’s place” (or palace) as it was called, part of which house is now the Deanery.
Litlington’s successor, Abbot Colchester, is said to have joined in a conspiracy against Henry IV. This story was evidently accepted by Shakspeare, for in his play, King Richard II, he writes—
“The grand Conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience and sour melancholy,
Hath yielded up his body to the grave.”
There is, however, no good foundation for the story of Abbot Colchester’s conspiracy, and he lived on quietly until 1420.