John of Gaunt's Cellar

John of Gaunt's Cellar. . You are standing at the south end of John of Gaunt's Cellar, outside a doorway, now bricked up. The cellar was an undercroft (basement) beneath the Castle's kitchen block which was set at some distance from the Great Hall because of the risk of fire. There was a doorway at the north end of the undercroft with stops upwards, leading to a service door in the wall of the Great Hall, where the Lord and his family ate and entertained., The alignment of the undercoft, at an angle to the Great Hall, shows it was built to respect the ditch which encircled the motte. This means that its first phase could be as old as the Great Hall (1150). Around 1400 the undercroft was reconstructed, a barrel vault was added (the present roof), the north end was extended and the southern frontage rebuilt., The Castle kitchen would have included a fireplace with cooking equipment. Nearby were the buttery, wine cellar, pantry with bins for storing bread, also a brewhouse, bakehouse, a cullery, a store where ewers and pitchers for washing hands at meals were kept, the saucery (condiments), spicery and chandlery (candles). Barrel rust marks found in the undercroft are associated with its use for wine, beer, dry goods and other _____., Not a dungeon , John of Gaunt's cellar was never a medieval dungeon as suggested in Victorian times. However, elaborate, deeply cut graffiti carved in 1798 may show use of the cellar as a prison during the Napoleonic wars (1793-1815). Civilians were arrested due to fears of revolution and prisoners of war had to be housed., John of Gaunt and Leicester , Duke Henry who founded the Newarke College died in 1361 and succeeded by his daughters, first Maud then Blanche. Maud died in 1362, and John of Gaunt gained the Lordship of Leicester through his marriage to Blanche, John was the third son of Edward the Third. He ruled England for a while as the protector of the young Richard the Second. Geoffrey Chaucer nationally important poet and author of the Canterbury Tales was part of John of Gaunt's circle in Leicester.