Since the suppression both chantries have been stripped of almost all their glory. The beautiful statuary in the Lady Chapel has disappeared, the decorated walls were covered with plaster, the west window blocked up, three of the elegant south windows were partly bricked up, and the fourth was converted into a door-way. The building was entirely separated from the Church by a wall of lath and plaster, and the west front obscured by the erection of an unsightly porch, which also concealed from view the grand south Norman entrance to the Abbey Church. The exterior walls were covered with cement, in imitation of classic rustic work. The Chapel has been used during the last three centuries [p 99] for various purposes, some of which were degrading in the extreme to its sacred character. It has been used as a vestry, parochial schoolroom and lending library, also for public meetings and petty sessions, and, in its darkest days, as a store-room. The crypt has also passed through many changes, and has been stripped of its original splendour. It retained much of its beauty for a century after the suppression, as Dr. Fuller writes during his incumbency:—“To the south side of the Church is joined a chapel, formerly our Lady’s, now a school-house, and under it an arched charnel-house, the fairest that I ever saw.”[20] This beautiful chantry, which is partly underground, has been used since as a sepulchre for the dead, a prison cell for the living,[21] a receptacle for human bones, a coal cellar and heating chamber.
The Lady Chapel resumed its sacred character in 1876, after it had been carefully restored by Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Bart., K.C.M.G.[22] whose seat, Warlies Park, is situated in the parish. The modern porch was removed from the west end, the large arch in the south wall of the [p 100] Church re-opened, and the five elegant windows were made good. A splendidly carved memorial screen has since been erected under the arch by the parishioners, and some beautifully carved altar rails set up at the east end. The arms of the Abbey and Parish of Waltham Holy Cross are represented on the screen, namely, two angels exalting the Cross. The appearance of the interior is, however, still mean and bare, when compared with its former magnificence, although so much has been done to rescue from a state of degradation and neglect, this interesting relic of mediæval times, “ye Chappell of oure Ladye.”
[6]. Durandus Symbol. lxxxviii.
[7]. “Gough’s History of Croyland. 1783.”
[8]. Holinshed.
[9]. W. H. St. John Hope, F.S.A.
[10]. Harl. MS. 6974, fol. 106.
[11]. Gentleman’s Magazine, April, 1860, and May, 1864.
[12]. The Builder, April 2, 1898.