Bishop Nicholson's tomb, which was formerly in the south chapel, where it blocked up the east window, is at present in pieces in this upper chapel. It is to be re-erected in another place.
There are some interesting scribblings on the walls of this chapel. On the shelf for books is a representation of a Cromwellian soldier with a dog, apparently in pursuit of a deer. There are also scribblings with devices, dating to 1630-1634. One love-sick swain described an equilateral triangle with a † rising from the vertex, and then inscribed the initials of his fiancée and also his own.
The South Chapel contains an altar tomb to Thomas Fitzwilliams, who died 1579, and there is a wooden tablet, painted with an inscription to tell that it was repaired in 1648.
A window has been put up in memory of S. Sebastian Wesley, a former organist of the cathedral, who died in 1876.
In the south chapel there are scribbles, dating back to 1588 and 1604. Both of these chapels have shelves for books, but it is probable that one was for a small choir and the other for an organ.
The Lady Chapel is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said, at the time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest. A great part of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously ornamented. Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of the panellings and in the carving upon the walls.
The Reredos, judging from the traces that are left, must have been a gorgeous sight, and literally a blaze of colour. Appliqué work has been lavishly employed in its decoration. Anyone who is privileged to examine it very closely will note the writing on the stonework, which has been laid bare in the niches by the ruthless removal of the figures. At present what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys of the Severn Lands, calls its "pathetic scarred beauty," is temporarily veiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though a ruin, has a charm all its own, and it is better to leave it frankly as it is now than to partly hide it. There are some, no doubt, who would restore it, but it is to be hoped that funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration has effectually marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given us a flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better; but every one with a particle of feeling must feel that restoration and decoration of the Lady Chapel reredos would be a crime.
Bishop Benson covered the reredos with stucco, and put up a huge gold sun in front of it. Portions of this are now at Minsterworth. An engraving of it may be seen in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary," published in 1796, and this plate also shows the long rows of pews removed from the choir by the same bishop.