The altar stands against the east wall of the presbytery. The Reredos is a restoration of the original Decorated one. The Sedilia and a Piscina are placed on the south side.
Sir Gilbert Scott considered them Late Decorated work, but they have rather the appearance of Late Perpendicular.
Some historians think that the shrine of St. Wilfrid stood in the east end of the north-choir-aisle. The remains were kept in a superb coffer, which was carried in processions.
Passing down the south-choir-aisle from the east we first come to the vestry; then to the Chapter-House; and then to the Mallory Chapel. A round-headed door in the west wall of the Chapter-House opens upon a stairway that leads into another Crypt that belonged to Norman times.
The Chapter-House is of the Twelfth Century. Above it is a Lady-Chapel, called here the Lady-Loft. It is unusual to find a Lady-Chapel on the south side of the Choir and on an upper floor. It dates from about the middle of the Fifteenth Century. It is now used as a Library.
YORK MINSTER
Dedication: St. Peter. Served by Secular Canons.
Special features: West Front; Choir; Chapter-House; Windows.
York, “the King of Cathedrals,” is one of the noblest and best examples of Gothic architecture. In form and proportion, in detail of ornament, in exterior and interior, the famous Minster takes rank with the greatest ecclesiastical buildings. Not only is it enormous—a forest of architecture—but it contains, perhaps, more ancient stained glass than any other building in the world.
“Other English cathedrals are more finely placed, several are richer in ornament, one or two have a more delicately varied outline. None are so stately and so magnificent; and there is hardly a church in Europe that appears so vast as the Minster, viewed from the north.