The application to the Lady Chapel of the present name, the "Drapers' Chapel," is probably subsequent to 1518, when John Haddon, a draper, provided by will for the support of a priest, "to singe in the Chapell of our Ladye in the Church of Saint Mychell." But long ere this, by an instrument dated from St. John Lateran, A.D. 1300, eighth year of Pope Boniface, Indulgences for forty days were granted for all persons coming to confess before her altar in St. Michael's Church on the Nativity, Conception, Annunciation and Assumption of the glorious Virgin Mary. Also 700 Indulgences for 720 days were granted for building "the Chapple and Charnell house of St. Michaell, Coventry." The Drapers' Company was responsible for other things than the priest's stipend as this extract from their Rules shows: "1534. Ev'y mastur shall pay toward ye makyng clene of oure Lady Chapell in saynt Mychell's churche and strawyng ye setus [seats] wt rusches in somer and pease strawe in wyntur, everyone yerely 2d."
The piers at the chancel entrance contain the staircases leading to the roofs and formerly to the rood loft. The screen on the west side of the chapel was put together from fragments brought together from various parts of the church. Against it, and on the south side, are fifteen of the ancient stalls. Several admirable ends and elbows remain, and some of the twelve ancient Misereres are of special interest. Three represent scenes from the popular mediæval allegory of "the Dance of Death."
The centre groups are: (1) a death bed, (2) a kneeling man being deprived of his shirt and a cripple waiting to receive it (?), and (3) a very well-expressed burial scene. The side groups in each show Death leading by the hand personages of various ranks, including a pope. Of the others, Satan in chains, the General Resurrection, and a delicately executed Tree of Jesse are the best.
Several monuments formerly in this chapel are now elsewhere in the church. A memorial to the Hon. F.W. Hood, killed in battle in 1814, is by Chantrey. On the north wall is a brass plate bearing the following inscription:
Here lyeth Mr Thomas Bond, Draper, sometime Mayor of this Cittie and founder of the Hospitall of Bablake, who gave divers lands and tenements for the maintenance of ten poore men so long as the world shall endure and a woman to looke to them with many other good guifts; and died the XVIII day of March in the yeare of our Lord God MDVI.
The Communion Table is a fine example of early seventeenth century work, and outside the screen is a very beautiful oak chest, believed to date from the time of Henry VII. From the Lady Chapel we pass into that of St. Laurence. Its two windows are filled with glass to the memory of past mayors. The dates, 1860 and 1862, sufficiently suggest their artistic merit. Several old monuments are upon the north wall, one of 1648 with an extravagant inscription to Thomas Purefoy, a boy of nine; another to Mrs. Bathona Frodsham, a daughter of the John Hales who bought so much monastic property, and founded the Grammar School. The tomb of his first wife, Frideswede, near which he was buried, may be seen in the Dugdale view near the north porch.
The outer north aisle contained the Girdlers' Chapel. The arcade which divides the aisles shows the consummation of the process which converted columns into piers by the omission of capitals and bases and the continuation of the mouldings from pier into arch.
The altar was below the eastern window, the piscina (restored) stands on the south side.
The Company has been long extinct and no documents exist. We know, however, that Haye's Chantry was founded by a Girdler in 1390, for a Mass to be sung daily at All Saints' altar, and may therefore conclude that it was in this chapel.
In the two western bays of the same aisle was St. Andrew's Chapel, supported and probably founded by the Smiths' Company. The first notice of its existence occurs in 1449, but as this part was not built until 1500 it was perhaps originally in the adjoining aisle. The window tracery is modern. The panelling within the internal arches and between the windows should be noted. The floor near the wall is partly paved with much worn ancient tiles.