This is the space where monks would eat. Even at mealtimes idle chatter was discouraged so food was accompanied by Bible readings. Most of the diet was vegetable and cereal-based, with occasional fish. Meat was only permitted in the misericord, a small room that no longer exists, or possibly to feed the sick in the neighbouring Infirmary, now long gone.
The new roof was installed in 1993 to create an indoor space which could fit 100 people. It has been used for classes, plays concerts, dinners, wedding receptions, etc. The glass was all installed after that: two windows commissioned from Martin Donlin, one of Noah’s Ark moved from St Peter’s, Cleveland Street, when that church was demolished, and a window dedicated to Cyril Scott, a composer born in Oxton and much admired by Debussy and Stravinsky. It was commissioned by the Friends of the Williamson Art Gallery & Wirral Museums and hand-painted by David Hillhouse, who sadly left it unfinished when he died in 2013. It has a portrait of Scott with the front page of his Sonatina for guitar, written for Segovia, and a very detailed painting of a classical guitar.
