Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 88 1973 page 133

This indicates that there was space for three chapels opening from the east side rather than two. Payne evidently found traces of these for in a letter to him from Bensted (16th November, 1897) the writer compared Boxley to Kirkstall and observed: 'The transepts were divided as I understand you to say Boxley is for three altars each.'⁶ On the west side, some excavations conducted by Sir John Best-Shaw and Mr. B. J. Wilson in 1959 and 1966 uncovered two thin walls, and these can now be interpreted as remains of the night stair by which the monks descended from the dormitory to the church for the night office.⁷We re-excavated the southern end, and other details are taken from notes of the earlier excavations by Mr. L. R. A. Grove, who has kindly made his record available to us. The narrow space between the east-west wall and the end of the transept was observed by the earlier excavators to have been entered by a door at its east end. Apparently the stair was a secondary feature as the north-south wall did not bond into the transept and was constructed with lighter-coloured mortar than that. of the main structure. Sir John informed us that a floor of plain tiles was encountered during the digging in this area. We also found many small glazed tiles from destroyed tile-mosaic floors. Two of the yew-trees planted to mark this transept are slightly misplaced on the east side. One further west stands significantly over the conjectural line of the wall separating two of the transept chapels.		THE NORTH TRANSEPT Much of its area lies in a field outside the garden, and by the courtesy of the farmer, Mr. J. Hamilton, we were able to engage in more extensive excavation here than elsewhere. As well as intercepting the three outer walls, two long cuttings were made north-south in the area of the northern chapel. On the inside of the north wall there remained part of the chamfered plinth of a respond forming one side of the opening into the adjoining chapel. Further south was the base of the pier between the entrances to the north and central chapels. Against the west side of this pier there remained in situ a row of small rectangular floor-tiles, each 4¾ ft by 1½ in. (cf. Fig. 5, nos. 5 and 6), laid alternately yellow and dark green with the longer side against the wall, their depth from the present surface being 3 ft. 9 in. In addition, two lozenge-shaped and three triangular tiles were set vertically against the base of the pier, evidently as part of a band continued originally across the riser of the step from the floor of the transept ⁶ Mr. M. I. Moad, Curator of the Eastgate Museum, Rochester, has kindly brought this evidence to my notice. There are several volumes of Payne's correspondence in the Museum. ⁷ Remains of the night stair are not to be confused on the plan (Fig. 1) with the adjoining modern steps leading up to the terrace.
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