A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux.

John Britton

Date:: 1838

Credit: A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Upe the aliires of the castle the laydes thanne stode, And byhulde thys noble game, and whyche knyghts were god.’' Hob. Glouc. Chron. i. 192. Lydgate also mentions— Fresh alures with lustye high pinnacles.” Siege of Troy., cap. xi., v. Almariol. Armarium.) Almery. Armarium.) Almonry, Almery. Almonarium, low Lat.; aumonerief Vy. ailmosenhaiiSy Ger. A room or place whence alms were for- merly distributed to the poor. In monastic establishments it was generally a stone building near the church, on the north side of the quadrangle, and sometimes had a priest’s hall, and other apartments, annexed to it. To keep beggars from the refectory doors, the almonry was, in some abbeys, removed to the gate-house. — \_Fosbroke^s Brit, Mon. 4to, p. 336,] At Christ Church, Canterbury, certain scholars attached to the house constantly resided in the almonry. From the closet in which the alms were kept, it was frequently called the ambry. A place in Westminster, near the abbey church, is still known by that name; and in the Will of Agnes Vincent, of Canterbury, proved 1518, is a bequest to the children of the ambrye of Christ Church that bring my body to burial, to spend among them, ivt?.”—Nicolas’s Test. Vet. vol. II. p. 566. {See Armarium.) Alms-house. Gerontocomium and ptochotrophium, Lat.; maison de charite, Fr.; ailmosenhaus, Ger. A building appropriated for the reception of poor aged people, and endowed with revenues for their support. Previous to the Reformation, alms-houses were seldom established; bpt, after that event, it became a frequent practice for private persons to endow and bequeath large sums for that purpose.—[Nicolas’s Test. Vet. Index.^ They were sometimes erected in church- yards, as may be seen in many English parishes; and, when extensive, were provided with chapels and chaplains. There are many alms-houses in and near London, supported by the chartered companies of the city. Alnwyk (William), a native of Alnwyck, in Northumberland, was made Bishop of Norwich in 1426. He re-built the$