The south transept has no aisles, for the western aisle was cut off by the cloisters and the eastern aisle became St. Lucy’s Chapel, in the second bay. Though there are many old royalist tombs the chief interest here is the beautiful Window of three lights, the Flamboyant tracery of which frames the most splendid glass in the whole cathedral. It dates from about 1330.
“In the uppermost compartment of the tracery is a figure of our Lord seated in glory; below there are angels with censers, and next two Augustinian monks in blue and white robes, kneeling with outstretched arms; then come coats-of-arms, and various grotesque beasts, all most richly coloured in ruby and blue and green and gold. Below, in the principal spaces, are (1) St. Martin on horseback giving his coat to the beggar; (2) the martyrdom of St. Thomas à Becket: St. Thomas’ head has been knocked out by some fanatic, and replaced with white glass; the armour and shields of the knights should be noticed; (3) St. Augustine, who holds a pastoral staff, is teaching his monks and others. In the next four spaces are:—The head of a king; St. Cuthbert, carrying the head of St. Oswald, and wearing a green chasuble; St. Blaise, in a mulberry-coloured chasuble; the head of a queen. The glass in the three main lights was destroyed, and then replaced by some of Seventeenth Century work, but this too is now gone, all except a portion of the upper part which shows that the design was architectural in character and the colour that of fog-smitten stone-work.”—(P. D.)
The South-Choir-Aisle is of earlier date than the nave and transept aisles. Scott rebuilt the southern windows in the Norman style. Heads of men and monkeys decorate the corbels that support the vault. The original half-flower moulding adorns the Decorated east window (restored) which contains one of Burne-Jones’s famous designs. It is a memorial to Edith Liddell (1876), whose portrait appears in the central figure as St. Catherine. In the tracery above angels are playing musical instruments and in the panels below are scenes from the life and death of St. Catherine.
The third window in the wall near St. Lucy’s Chapel is of great interest. It is the only one of the original Romanesque windows that remains. The old glass shows a portrait of Bishop King, Abbot of Oseney and first Bishop of Oxford. He died in 1557 and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral.
“This window, with some others, was taken down during the Civil War, buried for safety by a member of the family, and put up again at the Restoration. The Bishop is represented standing vested in a jewelled cope of cloth of gold, and mitre, a pastoral staff in his gloved hand. In the background, among the trees, is a picture of Oseney Abbey in its already ruined condition (c. 1630), drawn without much feeling for its architecture, but of great value as almost the only picture of the place we possess. The western tower was the first home of what are now the Christ Church bells. Three coats-of-arms (being those of the Bishop, impaled with the Abbey of Oseney and the See of Oxford) complete the richness of what is a very good example of Seventeenth Century painted glass, in the strict sense of the word.”—(P. D.)
South of the South Transept the slype, a vaulted passage including part of the transept, leads into the Cloisters.
South of the slype lies the Chapter-House, deserving a visit because it is a fine example of Early English. The monks’ heads carved on the corbels, the bosses of the roof, and the arcade of five arches at the east end are the chief features of the interior.
Oxford: Latin Chapel