ER.]

EXTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER.

The entrance doorway to the *Chapter-house* from the east walk still
remains, but is walled up. It consists of a pointed arch under a lofty,
richly ornamented pedimental moulding, having clustered shafts on the
sides, with foliated capitals. The archway is divided by a slender pillar
into two smaller openings. The once elegant chapter-room to which this
doorway communicated, whether or not they fell, as Britton asserts,
"beneath the fanatic frenzy of the Cromwellian soldiers," was certainly
neglected; and then, as long as any material could be got from it, treated
as a stone quarry by Bishop Bisse and his successors. This chapter-house
appears to have been a beautiful piece of design of the rich Decorated
period. It was decagonal in plan, with a projecting buttress at each
angle. Each side, except the one occupied by the entrance, was sub-divided
into five panels or seats. Remains of three sides only are left, and these
only as far as the window-sills.

Against the south wall of the cloisters, towards its east end, are some
remains of two Norman chapels, one above the other. The lower was
dedicated to St. Katherine and the upper to St. Mary Magdalene.

"The form, excepting a portico and choir (_i.e._ chancel) was an exact
square; four pillars in the middle, with arches every way, supported the
roof; the portico was composed of a succession of arches retiring inwards,
and had a grandeur in imitation of Roman works; two pillars on each side
consisted of single stones. There was a descent of a few steps to the
lower chapel, which had several pillars against the walls made of single
stones, and an octagonal cupola on the four middle pillars. The walls were
much painted, and the arched roof was turned with great skill, and
resembled the architecture which prevailed during the declension of the
Roman Empire (see Stukeley, Havergal, etc.).

Mentioning the existence of the doorway and two small windows in the
remaining north wall, the author of _The Picturesque Antiquities of
Hereford_ proceeds to say: "These are extremely interesting, as they
pertained to an edifice which once stood on the south side of this wall,
and is believed to have been the original church of St. Mary, the patron
saint of the cathedral before the translation of the body of St.
Ethelbert. It was the parish church of St. Mary, to which the residences
in the cathedral close belonge