“being alarmed with the news that Queen Mary had set up the abbeys again (and fearing how large a reach such a precedent might have) upon a Sunday (belike the better day, the better deed) called together the carpenters and masons of that county, and plucked down in one day (church-work is a cripple in going up, but rides post in coming down) a most beautiful church belonging thereto, saying ‘he would destroy the nest, for fear the birds should build therein again.’”
The Priory differed in no marked way from the usual plan of conventual building—a square cloister, surrounded on all its sides by buildings. Owing to the river being on the north, the cloister was on the north of its church, instead of the south; the Refectory, or Fratry, on the north side, the church on the south; the chapter house and calefactorium, with dormitory over them, on the east side; the kitchens, buttery, and cellars, with guest hall over them, on the west side. Admission to the Priory precincts, which were bounded by the existing walls, was obtained through a gate-house, the outer arch of which forms the present entrance. The Trent formed a boundary on the north. The stream which flows down the village entered the precincts at the south-eastern corner of the boundary wall through an arch, still in situ, and supplied the fish-ponds, mill, and Priory with water for domestic, sanitary, and other purposes.
The Priory church consisted of nave, with north and south aisles, central tower, north and south transepts, choir, with aisles, a south chapel, and a presbytery to the east of the choir. In the inventory the following chapels are named: St. John, Our Lady of Pity, St. Thomas, St. Syth (St. Osyth), Our Lady, and St. Nicholas. Many beautiful fragments of painted canopies, tabernacle work, etc., were found among the débris when digging foundations for the Pears School in 1885; no doubt many of the shrines, such as those of SS. Guthlac and Wystan, had been robbed of their relics and ornaments long before the Priory was destroyed in the year 1553.
Repton: The Priory Gateway and School.
Leaving the church, we enter, through a door at the east end of the north aisle, the cloister. Passing along the eastern side we come to the Chapter House, with slype, or passage, through which the bodies of the canons were conveyed for interment in the cemetery outside. The slype is still intact, with plain barrel vault, without ribs, springing from a chamfered string course; adjoining the slype was the calefactorium, or warming house.
Over the Chapter House, slype, and calefactorium was the dormitory, with its cells or cubicles.
The Fratry or Refectory occupied the north side, with rooms underneath used for various purposes, and a passage leading to the infirmary, an isolated building, now known as the Hall.
On the west side were the Prior’s Chamber and five others, devoted to guests who visited the Priory. Underneath was the cellarium, which included “the Kychenn,” “larder,” and “bruehouse.” The cellar was a long room 89 feet by 26 feet, divided by a row of six massive Norman columns, four of which are still in situ. Besides these, there were three other houses mentioned: “the yelyng house,” i.e., brewing house; the “boultyng house,” where the meal was sifted; and the “kyll house,” by which term is possibly meant the slaughter house, but more probably the kiln house.
The following is a more perfect and fuller list of the priors of Repton than has hitherto appeared:—