Above the gate are two sets of rooms. The upper set has been used from the beginning as the Treasury or Muniment Room of the College; the set immediately above the arch is now an ordinary set of rooms. In this set resided, during his college career, Lord Thomas Howard, a son of the fourth Duke of Norfolk, afterwards himself first Earl of Suffolk and Baron Howard de Walden. He fought against the Armada in 1588, and commanded the expedition to the Azores in 1591; the fame of Sir Richard Grenville of the _Revenge_ has somewhat eclipsed that of his leader in the latter case; the reader may recall Tennyson's _Ballad of the Fleet_.
[Illustration: BAG OF FLOWERS OVER ENTRANCE GATEWAY]
To the left of the gate it will be observed that five windows on the first floor are of larger size than the rest; this was the original position of the Library; the books were removed in 1616 to a room over the Kitchen, and later to the present Library. According to tradition Henry Kirke White, the poet, occupied, and died in, the rooms on the ground-floor next the tower; he lies buried in the old churchyard of All Saints', across the street.
Entering the gate the Hall and Kitchen face us, and preserve much of their original appearance. But right and left the changes have been great. The old Chapel was swept away in 1869--its foundations are marked out by cement; at this time the Hall was lengthened, and a second oriel window added. The range of buildings on the south was raised and faced with stone about 1775, when the craze for Italianising buildings was fashionable; it was then intended to treat the rest of the Court in like manner, but fortunately the scheme was not carried out.
If we walk along the south side of the Court we may notice on the underside of the lintel of G staircase the words, "Stag, Nov. 15, 1777." It seems that on that date a stag, pursued by the hunt, took refuge in the College, and on this staircase; the members of the College had just finished dinner when the stag and his pursuers entered. On the next staircase, F, there is a passage leading to the lane with the Kitchen Offices, this passage is sometimes known as "The Staincoat"; the passage leading from the Screens into the Kitchen is still sometimes called "The Staincoat," or "The Stankard." These curious names really mean the same thing. It appears that in times past a pole was kept, probably for carrying casks of beer, but on which the undergraduates seem also to have hoisted those of their number, or even servants, who had offended against the rules and customs of the College; this pole was called the Stang, and the place or passage in which it was kept the Stangate Hole, with the above variations or corruptions.