Note 230 — Chapter VIII · THE DWELLING-HOUSE IN THE CASTLE

The word “solar” or “soller” (solarium = a terrace exposed to the sun) was used indiscriminately of any room, gallery, or loft above the ground-level of a building: e.g., the loft or gallery above a chancel-screen was commonly known as a “solar,” and the same word should be applied to the chamber, inaccurately called a “parvise,” on the first floor of a church porch. The word, however, is sometimes applied to a well-lighted parlour facing south, without respect to the floor on which it stands, e.g., the abbot’s solar at Haughmond (Archæol. Journal, lxvi. 307) and at Jervaulx (Yorks. Archæol. Journal, xxi. 337).