It was not every bishop who could build two chantries; but Bishop Audley (1492-1502) built himself a charming Tudor chapel, two stories high, projecting from the south side of the Lady Chapel, a circular staircase giving access to the upper room. He intended it for his tomb; but as he was translated to Salisbury in 1502, he had the trouble of building another one there, in which he was buried.
“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 pentagonal in plan, and has two windows, while a third opens into the Lady-chapel through the screen. The ceiling is vaulted, and bears evidence 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 top of the reredos; to the right, the Norman arches of the north transept and further on still the nave.”—(A. H. F.)
From the south side of the Lady-Chapel we enter the Crypt by steps leading down from an Early English porch. It is 50 feet long, and consists of a nave and aisles. Because the crypt was used as a charnel-house, it is called Golgotha. It is lighted by plain lancets.
There are only a few fragments of old glass in the windows, some of the best (early Fourteenth Century) is in one of the lancets on the south side of the Lady-Chapel. The subjects are Christ surrounded by symbols of the Four Evangelists; Lamb and flag; Angel and Marys at the Sepulchre; Crucifixion; Christ carrying the Cross.
A window in the north-east transept contains Fourteenth Century glass, restored by Warrington in 1864: St. Katherine; St. Michael; St. Gregory; and St. Thomas of Canterbury. In the south-east transept a similar window exhibits St. Mary Magdalene; St. Ethelbert; St. Augustine; and St. George. The many memorial windows do not call
Hereford: Choir