The South Gate Inn

---

Property: Ground Floor & Cellar

Location Refs: Home Page | Occupants | Business | Property: Second & Third Floor

---

Plans of Property

Plan Showing:

• Outline with room numbers (GIF: 471 x 687 x 16 col, 158.4 kb)
• Ground & Cellar levels (GIF: 935 x 680 x 16 col, 310.9 kb)
• Second & Third floors (GIF: 973 x 642 x 16 col, 306.5 kb)

Main Entrance from South Gate St

From South Gate street the Inn's principle entrance is through double iron-bound doors. These doors are recessed in a wide stone facade, to either side of the door are four foot wide leaded-glass windows.

Courtyard

The western side of the courtyard is cobbled over with a small pump-well next to the kitchen door and large wooden refuse and compost bins filling the area to the north (the refuse is carted away whenever the bins start to over flow). The eastern side of the courtyard is given over to raised beds for the growing of vegetables.

Room 1: Entrance Hall

The entrance hall is lined by wood panelling darkened by age, with a good quality wood block floor. The hall is illuminated by lanterns placed on either side of the main entrance to the north-east. The large windows on the north-east wall form niches into which two bench seats have been placed. Double doors lead to the north-east to the public common room and to the south-west to the dining hall. As you enter, towards the left is a serving hatch let into the wall of the Steward's office. Arrangements for the hire of rooms can be made here.

Atheld is frequently to be found here.

Room 2: Dinning Hall

21'8" by 29'6"

The room is quite large with a seemingly low beamed roof, the walls are whitewashed and the floor is of cream stone flags, which are scrubbed daily. Four large dining tables take up most of the floor space of the room. The tables are covered by linen clothes and are normally set for six places with pewter plates and dishes. The room is illuminated by candle sticks placed on the tables and oil-lanterns around the walls. A large open fireplace displays highly polished tools and brasses. in one corner of the room. The dinning room is entered through double doors from the entrance hall or from a single door to the kitchen to the south-east. A stair case leads up to the dormatory and hence to the rest of the guest's accommodation. The stout, iron-bound, door in the south corner of the room leads out in to Trident Alley: this door is normally kept locked shut.

Food is served by Elthena, Jilnea, Belami and sometimes Larael.

Room 3: Kitchen

21'8" by 18'1"

The flag floor of the Dinning Hall continues through to the kitchen. what walls that are visible are whitewashed, but much blackened by smoke. The south-east end of the room is filled by a large inglenook fireplace, bread oven, wood-store and butler's sink. A pantry (7'5" by 7'5") occupies the north-west corner of the room. The final furnishings are a large kitchen table and dresser. The kitchen serves the Dining room via a door in the west wall.

The pantry is filled with cheeses, jars and pots of pickles, honey and fruit, flour, with hams, bacon, and pot-herbs hanging from the ceiling. A barrel of apples fills one corner, whilst the (locked) chest is filled with spices and exotic herbs. Further stores are kept in the cellar. The door on the north-east wall leads out into the courtyard.

The kitchen is occupied for most of the day, with the baking of bread, roasting of meats and the simmering of soups. Elthena the cook, and Jilnea the Snr Housemaid can often be found here, sometimes accompanied by Hektor.

Room 4: Jerend's Office

14'3" by 9'8"

Jerend's office can only be entered from Serend's office, it is lined to ceiling height by wood panelling darkened by age, with a good quality wood block floor. The room is poorly illuminated by the open fire and by a oil lantern placed over the desk. The furnishing of the room consists of a small work desk, two sets of shelves, a small chest and a chair, used to interview staff. The chest, which is kept locked, contains a small amount of coin (normally 20-40 pennies and 3-6 schillings), the master account book for the Inn and the copy records of guild membership of the Inn's staff. The shelves are covered in oddments such as broken quills, ink, tradesmen's bills, spare candles, flasks of oil, guild stamped pint measures, cork-screws and various 'valuable' items of lost property left behind by guests. The door into Jerend's office is normally secured by a lock of complex design.

Jerend spend a fair amount of time working in the office during the day.

Room 5: Serend's Office (16'6" by 9'8")

Serend's office is lined gloomy with smoke darkened walls, and wooden floor and panelling to dado height. The sole illumination is from a lamp on Serend's desk and the small open fireplace. A serving hatch is let through the north-west wall to the entrance hall, which allows guests to booking etc., without entering the office. To the south of the hatch is a small cupboard with contains the keys to the private rooms and a message rack. Two large ceiling high cupboards, on the south-east wall are constructed from stout wood and securely fastened. Guests may leave values (at their own risk) here, normally these consist of items such as bulky weapons, saddles and such-like. Patrons are expected to deposit their keys with Serend before leaving the Inn.

Serend, the Steward, can normally be found here during the afternoon and early evening. The door in the south-west leads through into Jerend's office.

Room 6: Public Common Room (29'4" by 47'1")

The vast public common room takes up the whole of the ground floor of the north wing. It is entered by double doors from the Inn's entrance hall or from double doors from Merchant's Round, and staff can enter from the staff entrance hall via a single door in the north-east wall. A wooden stair case in the north corner of the room leads up to a wooden gallery suspended twelve feet up in the southern corner of the room. Under the stair another flight leads down to the cellar, the door these stairs is kept locked at all times. There is no ceiling, the blackened hipped roof timbers reaching a ridge height of thirty-five feet. The walls of the common room are a pale beige where they can be scrubbed, smoke darkened to black at the roof. The floors are of rammed clay with sweet-rush covering. Illumination is provide by numerous small windows, lanterns hanging from the gallery floor and by the large open fireplace on the south-western wall.

The common room has six tables of varied sizes, seating a total of thirty-two patrons with a further eight seats on stools and a bench.

The southern corner of the common room is filled with a bar (10'8" by 21'8"). The bar is open to the north and north-east with a continuous counter top, its entrance is through a lifting section of this counter in the northern corner of the area. Over the counter top, at a height of about seven foot, shelving supports a mix of pottery and pewter, cups, tankards and jugs. Behind the bar stand a range of barrels of home brewed ale and beer, with shelves along the south-east wall providing bottles of wine and jars of spirits. A trap door leads down to the cellar, with a hoist suspended over it; normally a few empty barrels stand beside it, waiting to go down.

During the evening several members of staff can be found in the Common room: Othos tends the bar, whilst Belami and Hereld work the floor. Jerend can often be found behind the bar or circulating round the guests.

Room 7: Staff Entrance Hall

The accommodation of Jerend's family and staff is in a separate attached block, the main entrance is reached from Merchant's Round through a single stout door, another to the north-west leads in to the public common room, both doors are normally locked. Doors lead off the hall to the laundry, and the bedrooms of Belami, Larael and Hereld. A angled flight of stairs leads from the southern corner of the hall up to the second floor corridor.

Room 8: Laundry (10' by 15'6")

The laundry is finished as unplastered whitewashed masonry with bare floor boards. The room is noticeably hot and moist due to the presence of a large fire, around which hang a selection of linens and clothes. The room is illuminated by two large windows which face out on to Merchant's Round. The door in the north-eastern wall leads through to the staff entrance hall.

The room is shelved to the south and south-east, which hold the Inn's supply of clean linen; the north-western side of the room is dominated by a large wash tub and washing table. Water for the washing has to be brought in from courtyard pump, the long walk meaning the water is only changed every second day.

Larael, the laundry maid, spends much of her afternoons here washing the Inn's linen.

Room 9: Larael's Room (11'4 by 10')

Larael the laundry maid's room is quite sparsely furnished with a single bed, chest and small clothes press. The room has been washed with a pale pink ox-blood paint, whilst the floor is of rammed earth with sweet rushes. The single window in the room faces out over the Inn's corridor, unfortunately the cess pit of the upper floor garderobe is also immediately outside. The single door way leads into the staff entrance hall.

The linen press contains a selection of clothes (size F), mainly doublets and skirts in earthy and pastel colours. The chest is largely empty, containing only a few Halean amulets, scarves and a fish-knife. A single candle stick and flint stand beside on a small shelf beside the fire.

Room 10: Belami and Herelds's room. (11'4" by 17'1")

The barstaff's room is decorated in a yellow-ochre colour with rough wooded floor boards. The room is entered from the staff entrance hall. The room is furnished with two single beds, a pair of chests and a large clothes press. The room is illuminated by a window to the south-west which can be closed by a wooden shutter, and at night by the small fire and a lantern suspended between the two beds.

The bed in the southern corner of the room is Belami's, her chest contains a few personal possessions, her savings in a small leather pouch (about two dozen schillings), a small silver flute in a wooden case and music manuscripts. Hanging on the wall beside her bed is a lute and reed pipe.

Hereld's chest contains a few personal oddments and a large leather roll, which holds his collection of twenty-seven folding pen knives.

The clothes press holds their clothing (size F), mainly brightly coloured embroidered dresses and dark earthy coloured tunics and breeches.

Room 11: Cellar (35'6" by 47'1" OA)

The cellar is vast, musty and dark, consisting of rough hewn masonry walls, with regularly spaced columns holding up the vaulted ceiling, and a rough flagstone floor. The room is totally unilluminated by natural sources. The main entrance is from the public common room via the stone staircase in the northern corner of the area. Their are also two trapdoor set in the ceiling, one leads to the bar and is used to hoist barrels between the two areas, the second trap door is at the top of an inclined ramp, used for delivering barrels and sacks of grain from Merchant's Round, where the trap door opens out.

The south-eastern half of the cellars is filled with barrels, some standing singly, others on rack up to four deep. Most of the racked barrels contain Jerend's ales and beers, whilst the single barrels contain brought-in drinks (wine, spirits, cider) and various provisions such as butter, flour, orchard fruits and winter vegetables. The central part of the cellar contains boxes and crates, some of wine and others of provisions.

The north-western half of the cellar where Jerend and Othos brew their ales and beers. A large work bench, two mash tubs and four huge fermentation barrels (stacked two high) form the main working area. Just to the south is Jerend's work desk and a chest containing his brewing records. Stacked around the stair case are sacks of barley, rye and hops. Between the two halves of the cellar Jerend stores surplus and broken furniture, mainly chests, stools, chairs and buckled plates and tankards.

Copyright ©1996 Jonathan M. Davidson, 25/9/96