Dormitory Ruins, Priory of St Mary, Carlisle, Cumbria
These are the ruins of the dormitory (or dorter) for the former Priory of St Mary (now Carlisle Cathedral). It was built in the mid to late 1200s. Large blocks of red sandstone with ashlar dressings. This building originally extended in a north-south alignment from the south transept of the Cathedral and joined the Fratry at right angles, forming the east range of the Cloisters. The west wall survives in part at ground floor level and has a pointed-arched doorway that gave access, through the undercroft, as a lobby for the Chapter House opposite. The east wall has almost entirely gone, only the pointed-arched doorway into the Chapter House survives. Excavations (unpublished) in the 1950s revealed the ground level one metre below the present surface with medieval tiles in place in the Chapter House (now lifted). An engraving from a drawing by Thomas Hearne shows the ground floor intact in 1777.
