The Churches of Coventry - A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains by Frederick W. Woodhouse
page 37 of 107 (34%)
page 37 of 107 (34%)
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while the arch rising from the fourth shaft is of round-headed trefoil
form. The ceiling is vaulted with diagonal and intermediate ribs, and has the appearance of having been added rather later. A doorway on its east side led to the Cappers' Chapel and there is a chamber over the porch for centuries appropriated to the meetings of the Cappers' Company. The present chapel and chamber are contemporary with the nave. [Illustration: SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY.] The external wall of the Dyers' Chapel (now the Baptistery) is canted so as not to block the Lane, St. Mary Hall having been already built. Passing east, the road dips gradually and gives this end of the church a more imposing elevation. After the Cappers'Chapel, there is only a single aisle forming the Mercers' Chapel and extending as far as the Presbytery. A door here, made in 1750, is opposite to the Drapers' Hall. The apse is now encircled with a series of sacristies divided into five chambers and spanned by flying buttresses. The first two bays on the south were built at the last restoration the vestry then removed not being part of the original design. Beneath them on the ground level is the engine-room pertaining to the organ. Though sometimes spoken of as an Ambulatory its position on a lower level, its original want of connection with the south side and above all the need for sacristies in so large a church dispose of the idea. Some have thought that the apsidal Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral built about fifty years earlier suggested an apsidal termination in the design of Coventry, but a certain difficulty in the way of the designer may have led him to adopt this solution. The normal |
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