NICHE, BISHOP VAUGHAN’S CHAPEL.
Curiously enough, the backs of the windows, towards the ambulatory are different from the fronts (one of which we illustrate) and have merely four-centred arches.
BISHOP VAUGHAN’S CHAPEL.
At the north end of this chapel is the tomb of Archdeacon Hiot and that of Sir John Wogan, recently brought here for the sake of preservation. The former stood in the chapel of St. Nicholas. Bishop Vaughan’s own tomb is in front of the altar, the leger-stone once bearing a brass on which was engraved his effigy.[64]
Several Celtic stones bearing crosses, which were found at Pen Arthur, are at present in this chapel. The earliest—from the eighth to the eleventh century—Professor Westwood found doing duty as a gate-post on a farm. The holes show the marks where the hinges were. At the top, on the left, can be read Α Ω and (?) JHS. On the right is XPS, cut after the corner was broken away, and below is “Gurmarc.” On the back is another cross of a still earlier character. It is supposed to have commemorated some battle fought in the neighbourhood, and was found on the moor.
The South Chapel Aisle.—On coming through the east door of the south choir aisle we enter the Chapel of King Edward the Confessor, and we notice on the right a Decorated recess said to have contained the monument of a priest; but the great buttresses, which meet the eye looking east, are only temporary supports and in no sense form part of the original design. Opposite the Decorated recess is the tomb of a knight (8), but unfortunately this has been badly treated at the hands of the buttress builders. On the north side of the altar is a piscina with a pointed arch, cinquefoiled, and a projecting bracket of singularly bold design which seems to interrupt the Decorated string.[65] A curious groining boss, apparently in order to preserve it, is let into the wall to the west above the piscina. It is carven into the form of three beasts (asses or rabbits) with long ears. The peculiarity of the design, which is met with elsewhere, is that there are only three ears, yet each beast has its full complement.
The Ante-Chapel.—Briant (p. 57) says this chapel is known locally as the Chapel of the Seven Sisters, on account of the seven hideous heads which are said to be types of the beauty of South Wales. We can find no such record.
This narrow space, which intervenes between Bishop Vaughan’s Chapel and the Lady Chapel to the east, is separated from the aisles by pairs of very elegant Early English arches north and south, and Freeman is of opinion that they differ slightly in date. The capitals have a delicate nail-head moulding not to be found elsewhere in the cathedral. One of the arches on the southern side has a figure lying down doing duty for a corbel which was designed to carry the vaulting; it is, however, more curious than beautiful. A segmental relieving arch in rough ashlar embraces both arches. In this chapel was found the “Abraham” stone now placed in the south transept ([see p. 79]).
