Chapterhouse Key:
by Brant GuilloryAlso the picture of the knights chapterhouse,
Unless otherwise stated, all construction is stone exterior walls, with wooden interior walls. The interior sides of all stone walls are panelled with wood, as well. All ceilings are 8 feet high. The ceiling above the loft in the main room peak at 6 1/2 feet and slope down at a 30 degree angle to the edge of the building. All ceilings are 1 foot thick oak planks.
Gate - 3-foot thick, iron-banded oak. 11 feet high. Trapdoor peephole on the left gate. Needs two people to open from the outside (if it's unlocked). There is a rope-and-pulley set-up in the wall of the guardhouse to allow one man to open and close it from the inside.
Courtyard - Stone "grid" that forms hard surface while allowing the grass to grow through them. I know it's tough to describe, but I've seen it at numerous ritzy hotels and it looks great.
Garden - Small, fenced-off vegetable garden tended by pages for the cook.
Guard Room - One knight keeps watch on the gate at all times from here.
Library/ Reading Room - Books being very prized, the guard room also doubles to control access to this valuable part of the Chapterhouse.
Guests' Common Room - The guard room also controls access to the guests' quarters, and keeps them from wandering about after hours. A locked trapdoor accesses the roof, where their is a 5 1/2 foot high wall with arrow loops for defending the chapterhouse.
Tack Room - All the relevant supplies to care for the horses belonging to the full-time staff and garrison, as well as a few extras for their travelling brethren.
Stables - Covered facilities for 14 horses. The roof also has a 5 1/2 foot battlement that is crenulated and doubles as a fighting platform for the guards.
Proctor - Religious leader of the chapterhouse. Services held in the courtyard whenever weather permits, otherwise in the Dining Room.
Housekeeper's Room - The housekeeper maintains the garrison's rooms, and also does laundry and some late night/ early morning cooking. The staff cook lives off the premises.
Senior Knight's Suite - The senior knight of the garrison has his own suite.
Junior Knights' Rooms - The junior knights of the garrison stay here. They are responsible for the training of the squires and the day-to-day operation of the household.
Visiting Knights' Rooms - Sparsely furnished with only a bed and an under-bed chest, these rooms are used by members of the order visiting for business. At any given time, two or three of these rooms may be occupied by squires in the service of the garrison. These squires will usually have a few more furnishings. Sometimes, there are more knights assigned to the garrison than there are permanent rooms. When this happens they simply stay in one of these until another becomes available.
Dining Room - Seating for 16. Doubles as the chapel in bad weather and the meeting hall whenever needed.
Kitchen/ Pantry - Stocked with about 1 week of supplies in order to handle local market crisis. The cook bakes his own bread in the kitchen.
Well Room - the chapterhouse has its own well sunk into the ground so it will never be cut off from water.
Bath - One of the few small luxuries the knights allow themselves are their baths.
Armoury - Enough weaponry here to outfit a 30-man company of men-at-arms
Archknight's Room - The Chapterhouse is the home to one of the order's Archknights. Although he is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the household, he does stay involved in the current happenings. A trap door in his roof leads to a parapet where the knights have 3 heavy crossbows mounted into swivels on the roof. They each have a 180 degree field of fire, allowing them to bring two crossbows to bear on any one target. The battlement is only 5 feet high here and is not crenulated.
The north wall between the tower and the Kitchen is only 5 feet wide, and has a ladder near the garden leading up to the walkway on top. Rather than a stone battlement, this wall has a 5 foot battlement of sharpened wooden logs.
The roof of the main building is
peaked, but there are two lofts on the overhead with arrow loops
facing out of the chapterhouse for defence. The ladders to the loft
are the Dining and Laundry rooms. On the west side of the loft are
pallets and chests where any young pages live. The chapterhouse
will normally have 5-7 pages staying here; they help the cook and
housekeeper maintain the chapterhouse, and look after the horses in
the stable.