Calefactory

The calefactory (also known as the pisalis or warming house) is always one of the rooms leading off and entered from the cloisters. It was very important to the medieval church or monastery—it was the room that housed the only communal fire, and was used by the monks to warm themselves after long days working or studying in the unheated cloisters. In fact, this room was one of the few rooms to be heated at all, along with the kitchen and the infirmary and possibly the guest house.

Towards the latter end of the medieval period it began to lose its importance as fireplaces became common fixtures throughout the domestic areas of the church.