tone drain, wherein the priest
washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
aumbry.

On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:--

"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."

"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
xiii's x'd."

As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
Frideswide at Oxford; and others were p