William and Alice de la Pole’s God’s House at Ewelme[i] – Domestic Buildings & School
This fourth and last part of the series about God’s House in Ewelme will look at the domestic buildings and the school.
The domestic quarters
At the western end of St Mary’s church is an impressive wooden door. This leads down some steps to a covered passage connecting the church and the almshouse quadrangle. In each of the external walls of the passage there is an archway, opposite of each other. Originally, they probably had wooden doors, which could be opened on feast days to allow processions to walk around the church. Normally they would be kept closed to allow the almsmen to get to church without getting wet and being blown away by the wind. The passage is built in brick with stone details and can be linked architecturally to the later building period of the church.
Passage to the alsmhouse from the church
Dottie Tales 