A minstrels' gallery is a form of

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

, often inside the great hall of a castle or

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, and used to allow musicians (originally

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

s) to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below.

Notable examples

*A rare example of a minstrels' gallery in a sacred setting can be found in Exeter Cathedral. It is not clear why the term "musicians' gallery" has not been used here, as minstrels were always

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

performers and would therefore have been forbidden from performing in a liturgical context. *A fine example of a minstrels' gallery can also be seen in the Great Hall of Durham Castle,

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

, which was once used for entertainment by the Prince Bishops and is now occasionally used during College Feasts. * A restored oak minstrels' gallery is visible in Desmond Hall and Castle, Ireland (15th century).

References

External links

Minstrels' Galleries in British Castles
Architectural elements {{architecturalelement-stub