The next monument to notice is the effigy of Dean Berew or Beaurieu (died 1462) in the south wall of the vestibule. This is one of the best specimens of monumental sculpture in the cathedral. The face, which is well modelled, and the arrangement of the drapery at the feet, are especially noticeable. There are remains of colour over the whole monument. In the hollow of the arch-moulding are sixteen boars with rue leaves in their mouths, forming a "rebus" of the dean's name.
To the west of this monument is the effigy of a priest, supposed to be Canon de la Barr, 1386.
The Audley Chantry.—In the central bay on the south side of the wall is the Audley Chantry—a beautiful little chapel built by Bishop Edmund Audley (1492-1502), with an upper chamber to which access is obtained by a circular staircase at the south-west angle.
After Bishop Audley's translation to Salisbury in 1502 he erected a similar chantry in that cathedral wherein he was buried, so that the object of the Hereford Chantry as the place for his interment was of course never fulfilled.
The following is an extract taken from the calendar of an ancient missal:—"Secundum usum Herefordensem," which notes a number of "obiits" or commemorations of benefactors, chiefly between the times of Henry I. and Edward II. "X. Kal. Obitus Domini Edmundi Audeley, quondam Sarum Episcopi, qui dedit redditum XX. Solidorum distribuendorum Canonicis et Clericis in anniversario suo presentibus, quique capellam novam juxta Feretrum Sancti Thomae Confessoris e fundo construxit, et in eadem Cantariam perpetuam amortizavit, etc. Constituit necnon Feretrum argenteum in modum Ecclesiae fabricatum atque alia quam plurima huic Sacre Edi contulit beneficia."
The lower chamber is shut off from the Lady Chapel by a screen of painted stone with open-work panelling in two stages. The chapel is a pentagon in plan, and has two windows, while a third opens into the Lady Chapel through the screen. The ceiling is vaulted, and bears evidences of having in former times been elaborately painted.
There are five windows in the upper chamber, and the groined roof is distinctly good. The boss in the centre represents the Virgin crowned in glory. On other parts of the ceiling are the arms of Bishop Audley and those of the Deanery as well as a shield bearing the letters R.I. The upper part of the chantry, which is divided from the Lady Chapel by the top of the screen which serves as a kind of rail, may have been used as an oratory; but no remains of an altar have been found. On the door opening on the staircase is some good iron-work, and Bishop Audley's initials may be noticed on the lock.
Standing by the door of this chapel the visitor has a lovely view westward, two pillars rising in the roof and across the[pg 067] top of the reredos, to the right the Norman arches of the north transept, and further on still the nave.
The Lady Chapel was used for very many years as a library, and after 1862 as the church of the parish of St. John the Baptist, which surrounds the cathedral, and claimed to hold its service in some part of the building.
The Crypt is entered from the south side of the Lady Chapel where a porch opens to a staircase leading down. The porch is deeply in-set, and like the crypt itself and the Lady Chapel, Early English. Professor Willis points out that Hereford is the only English cathedral whose crypt is later in date than the eleventh century; the well-known examples at Canterbury, Rochester, Worcester, Winchester, and Gloucester all belonging to earlier times. A flight of twenty steps leads down to the crypt, which is now light and dry, although previous to Dean Merewether's excavations it was utterly neglected and nearly choked up with rubbish. There is another approach to it from the interior of the church.