On the Lady Chapel in Chester Cathedral

Transcribed from the 1859 Courant Office edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
A PAPER READ BEFORE The Architectural, Archæological, and Historic Society of Chester.
BY THE REV. CANON BLOMFIELD.
CHESTER: PRINTED AT THE COURANT OFFICE, NORTHGATE STREET. 1859.
The Lady Chapel of the Cathedral of Chester has long been known to antiquarian architects as an interesting and valuable specimen of the Early English style, but it has scarcely ever been examined in detail by them, and to the general observer has presented no features of special interest. The keen and accurate judgment of Rickman discovered the general beauty of its proportions; but the destruction of all the original windows, and other disfigurements of the building, which took place when the side aisles were added in the 15th century, have served so far to obscure its beauties, that it has been supposed to possess little or nothing worthy of observation.
It is now undergoing restoration, as far as circumstances admit of it; and the chromatic decoration of the interior has been entrusted to the care of Mr. Octavius Hudson, whose works at Salisbury and elsewhere have established him as an artist of the first rank in this special department. The beauty and high finish of his work have attracted general admiration, and awakened a new interest in the structure and composition of the Lady Chapel itself. On this account I am induced to think that some remarks upon the history of Lady Chapels in general, and of our own in particular, will not be inappropriate to the purposes of the Chester Archæological Society.
I think it fair to state in my own defence, if the information which I am able to give shall appear to be meagre and imperfect, that, when I entered upon the subject I had hoped to meet with some materials elucidating the origin, uses, and characteristics of Lady Chapels, which I have failed to discover. I have not been able to find that the subject has been specially investigated, or that the history of Lady Chapels, as separate from that of Cathedrals, has ever been traced up to its source. I believe it to be a yet unexplored mine of antiquarian lore, and one well worthy of the labour of the ecclesiastical archæologist. But, for myself, having neither leisure nor opportunity to explore it thoroughly, I must be content to give such few and simple elements of the history as I have been able to glean out of the few books within reach.