Guest Quarters of the Monastery

The Guest Quarters of the Monastery, now part of King's School, date back to around 1180 and extend south from the Queen's Hall (Headmaster's House), backing onto The Gallery. The complex comprises two ranges, two storeys high with attics. The north range, of eight bays, was originally likely a granary. Around the 14th century, it was altered to become guest quarters, with an upper storey added to the northern half. Constructed of Carr stone rubble with Barnack stone dressings, the front is divided by flat pilasters, some topped with original gargoyles. The western side features a trefoil arched corbel table. Below, a fine vaulted undercroft is present, supported by a central row of octagonal pillars without capitals. The first-storey windows on the west side are 14th-century trefoil-headed lancets, and the undercroft is lit by paired trefoil-headed windows. A stone stringcourse runs above the undercroft windows. The east side has 19th and 20th-century windows, and a late Norman doorway featuring a semi-circular arch above a segmental arch and two orders of columns with waterleaf capitals. The south range, built in the 14th century shortly after the north range, is divided into five bays by buttresses with two offsets and weathered tops. It is built of Carr stone rubble with Northamptonshire stone dressings, incorporating a parapet, stringcourse and plinth. The windows are single lights with double-chamfered reveals, cusped heads and hood moulds. An undercroft with a brick vault is present. On the east side, a 14th-century external covered staircase wing projects at the north end. The roofs are tiled with original heavy trussed rafters running over both ranges.