pse, and at the same time divided by a row of pillars along the
middle--is somewhat unusual. The present apse is of uncertain date. Part
of it may be Norman. Its window indeed is of early Norman type: yet its
wall seems of softer stone than the rest of the crypt,[107] and the
string which runs along the east wall of the latter and round the
responds of the cross-arch is there broken off: moreover, the cross-arch
itself is clearly not of the same date or construction with the two ribs
of the apse-roof, which ribs may possibly be of the same date as the
groin-ribs; and lastly, it will be remembered that the shafts on the
exterior had something of the appearance of Archbishop Roger's work. The
floor of the apse is raised on two steps, but there is no trace of an
altar.

It will be noticed that at the south-east corner there is no apsidal
chamber to correspond to that in the storey above. There is, however, an
unsavoury hole from which have been extracted a number of skulls.
Indeed, this crypt formerly contained huge piles of bones, which had
probably been brought here by the sixteenth century builders from the
foundations of their new nave-aisles,[108] and which were removed in
1865 to a pit in the graveyard. Among the stone relics which have found
a resting-place here, the most interesting are a sarcophagus, the head
of a cross of Saxon character, and a group of coffin-lids near the north
wall. Most of these last are perhaps of the thirteenth century.[109] At
the west end of the crypt is preserved Blore's reredos.

=The Chapter-house= is 22 feet wide from wall to wall and 35 feet long,
but it was evidently once open to the vestry, and the dividing wall,
which with its bench-table is of limestone, was erected in the Decorated
or in the Perpendicular period. In both rooms, as also in the storey
above, the original floor was perhaps of stone or tiles, but if so, it
has been covered or superseded by wooden planking.

The Chapter-house is marked as such by the stone benches which are
carried in two tiers along the north and south walls. On the north side
the upper tier is interrupted by the piers of an arcading of plainly
chamfered round arches, the central bay of which contains a fine
mediaeval cupboard with iron scroll-work. The doorway into the choir is
very curiously treated on this side. It is surmounted first by a lintel,
the stones above which are wedges forming a 'flat arch,' and then by a
round arch so high as to ru