eenth-century men afterwards recased the cathedral. The inserted
windows of this date in the crypt seem to confirm this view."

On the site of this chapel must have stood the chapel and altar (or at
any rate the altar) dedicated to St. Petronilla, as Ralph and Olympias
gave rentals to provide lights to burn thereat during mass for ever.

The vestibule or entrance to the Lady Chapel is a beautiful piece of
work, and is another instance of the genius of the builders shown in
making use of existing work. Special interest attaches to this chapel as
a whole, as it was the last addition to the fabric by the monks before
the Dissolution.

Firstly the walls of the vestibule should be noticed: the lower portions
of the west wall are parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, and are
pierced by the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows;
and the west end of the chapel is contracted in breadth, as it is also
in height, so as to minimise the loss of light to the great window of
the choir. The shape of the chapel will be easily understood from the
plan (p. 61).

The lierne vaulting of the vestibule is very delicate (the ribs, it will
be noted, are run differently in the four quarters of the roof), and the
pendants form a cross. These latter, at the present time, look new, but
they have only been freed from the whitewash that was thick upon them.
One pendant has been renewed at the end. Over the vestibule is the small
chapel which is entered from the Whispering Gallery (_vide_ page 77).

The open tracery of the west end over the supporting arch is
particularly graceful, especially the way in which the open lights are
arranged in the central portion. The Lady Chapel is 91 feet 6 inches
long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet 6 inches high, and consists of
four compartments or bays, which, as the wall of the chapel is so low,
are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass. All the wall below the
windows is arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. The
wall between the windows is panelled with delicate tracery like that in
the windows, and in its three chief tiers contains brackets for figures,
with richly-carved canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like the
walls) show traces of colour.

[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]

Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest
Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof is
w