Vaulting

This is Prior’s Kitchen in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral, in fact it is right opposite the main door to the Cathedral. It is a café using the vaulted undercroft of the medieval fratry, originally the monks’ dining hall. This part, underneath the fratry, would have originally been used for storage.

Carlisle Priory was founded in 1122 by King Henry I and it was the Priory Church that eventually became the Cathedral.

Although I walk through the Cathedral grounds and past this building almost every time I go into Carlisle, this is the first time I have been in the café. I was quite taken with the arches of the vaulting, built in the local red sandstone, as is the Cathedral and all the other buildings in the grounds.