The Tracing Floor, Masons' Loft, York Minster
The masons had a loft on the upper floor of the L-shaped corridor leading from the north transept of the Minster to the chapter house. Here they stored templates for the complex mouldings of the stonework. This arm of the loft still has a tracing floor, a plaster surface on which the masons worked out some of the larger shapes they were designing. Although difficult to see the shaped inscribed on this surface are very closenin size and shape to the main arcade arches of St Michael le Belfrey, the parish church alongside the Minster built in the early 16th century by the masons employed at the Minster. Recently the chapter house roof has been dated to 1288, with some earlier timbers reused in it. The corridor leading to it is likely to be of the same date.
The Tracing Floor, Masons' Loft, York Minster
The masons had a loft on the upper floor of the L-shaped corridor leading from the north transept of the Minster to the chapter house. Here they stored templates for the complex mouldings of the stonework. This arm of the loft still has a tracing floor, a plaster surface on which the masons worked out some of the larger shapes they were designing. Although difficult to see the shaped inscribed on this surface are very closenin size and shape to the main arcade arches of St Michael le Belfrey, the parish church alongside the Minster built in the early 16th century by the masons employed at the Minster. Recently the chapter house roof has been dated to 1288, with some earlier timbers reused in it. The corridor leading to it is likely to be of the same date.