The kitchen, buttery, and other offices connected with the cooking and storing of food, were naturally placed near to the refractory.
The Chapter House was situated on the eastern side of the Cloisters, being built near the Church. It was always a room of noble proportions and design, and here the Abbot and monks met daily to transact the solemn business of the Order. The latter sat along by the wall and the former in the east.
In a vestry or sacristy near it were kept, beside other things, the books of the house.
The Parlour was a room in which the monks did what talking was necessary, when strict silence had to be observed in the cloisters, and here sometimes they interviewed visitors. It was generally situated near the Chapter House.
The Common Room, also called the Calefactory or Warming House, was a room to which the monks resorted in winter to warm themselves at the common fire, and it was also used at times for the purposes of recreation.
Above the Chapter House and the other buildings on the eastern side was the Dormitory or Dorter of the monks, and it had one set of stairs leading to it from the Eastern Cloister, and another set leading down into the church.
Generally, too, on the eastern side was a passage leading to the Infirmary, which was placed some distance away from the other buildings, and near to it was the Misericorde, a room where monks, by permission of the Abbot, might eat meat, which was at other times forbidden.
By the Western Cloisters were the Cellar and the Fratry of the lay brethren or Conversi, and over these was placed their Dorter.
There was also, in addition to these, a Guest House, often of great size and very well appointed, where strangers were entertained. This was generally built in such a place where it would least interfere with the privacy of the monks; and there was also an Almonry, where food and clothing were distributed by the monks to the poor who came for relief.