Cloister

First Appearance and Context

The Cloister is the heart of a Math: a roofed gallery encircling a rectangular garden that serves as a quiet center and a main thoroughfare. It comes into view when moving from workrooms into the Old Library and out onto the covered walkway, or when groups circulate between chalk halls and the Refectory. Paths and passages from the Cloister connect inward toward major complexes such as the Mynster.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Central circulation: Avout routinely traverse the Cloister between study, work, meals, and observances; benches along the arcade offer places to pause for conversation or light tasks.
• Quiet refuge and circuit: Avout sometimes walk laps around the Cloister to clear their heads; seating in the garden includes spots shielded from upper‑court sightlines, providing privacy for discreet conversations.
• Safe precinct: Hierarchs have indicated that less‑prepared pupils might be kept within the Cloister during openings rather than permitted to go extramuros, underscoring its role as a protected internal space.
• Apert waterworks nearby: During Apert, the aqueduct carrying water from the upstream pool runs beside the Seven Stairs, skirts the Cloister, and continues toward the river as part of the mechanism that opens the gates.
• Old Chapter house: At the Concent of Saunt Edhar, the Edharians’ Old Chapter house occupies a widened place in the Cloister gallery; it is used mainly for ceremonial gatherings and remains symbolically important to the Order.

Relationships

• Opens directly into key buildings including the Old Library and the Refectory.
• Forms the central court of a Math; from here, passages and stairs lead toward complexes such as the Mynster.
• Along its gallery at Saunt Edhar sits the Old Chapter house, associated with the Order of Saunt Edhar.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Layout and fabric: A roofed gallery surrounds a rectangular garden. The inner edge opens to weather between a row of columns; the outer edge is bounded by walls with doorways into adjacent halls. Stone floors worn smooth by generations, carved woodwork, and forged fittings reflect long craftsmanship.
• Garden: Grass, gravel paths, herb beds, shrubs, and occasional trees are cultivated according to the community’s Discipline. The arcade sometimes widens into functional bays with benches facing the garden.
• Scale and atmosphere: Often experienced as a small, tranquil, and enclosed court; some describe it as “too quiet” when seeking bustle elsewhere.
• Terminology: As noted in The Dictionary, the word’s senses in Orth have shifted across eras: from any closed space (Old Orth), to the math as a whole (Early Middle Orth), to a garden or court at the math’s heart (Late Middle Orth), and, in New Orth, any quiet, contemplative space.

Current Status/Location

Active and central in daily life. Besides serving as the main route among buildings, it provides discreet seating in the garden and access along the gallery to the Old Chapter house at Saunt Edhar.