t passed into the hands of Sir Richard Rich, who
converted it into a dwelling-house, and in more modern times it was
occupied by a fringe manufacturer, as related in our historical sketch.
The building was recovered by purchase in 1885, and the reconstruction
begun, which was completed eleven years later. There are signs of an
earlier chapel on the site, which was considerably altered, or entirely
rebuilt, in the fourteenth century, as appeared from the architectural
remains of that period discovered within the fifteenth-century
fabric--itself in a frightful state of dilapidation--when the
restoration was taken in hand.

[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL
_E. Scamell. Photo._]

Though every care has been taken to preserve the old work, with a
strict adherence to the general design, the greater part of the chapel
is necessarily new. It is separated from the ambulatory by an elegant
screen of ironwork, surmounted by a crucifix of white metal, which has
been blackened into uniformity with the rest of the screen so that it
can hardly be distinguished in the dim light. This characteristic of the
church is preserved in the chapel by the omission of an east window. In
place of it the wall-space above the altar is laid out in an arcading of
five niches, with canopies and pedestals arranged in parallel lines,
providing for a double row of statues, not yet inserted. The lower part
of the wall is curtained, with a small canopy over the altar, containing
an oil painting of the Virgin and Child as an appropriate form of
reredos. There are three rather large windows on each side, of which
those on the south are entirely new, but the sills and jambs on the
north show a retention of fifteenth-century work. This appears again in
the walls on either side of the sanctuary, each of which contains an
arcaded recess of three divisions (the central glazed), those on the
south forming the sedilia. The sanctuary is paved with Roman tesserae
and coloured marbles, in agreement with the pavement beneath the High
Altar, but of a less elaborate pattern.[7]

[Illustration: THE CRYPT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]

#The Crypt# beneath the Lady Chapel has no internal connection with it,
but is entered by an outside door in the south wall. Like the rest of
the Priory buildings it has gone through many vicissitudes. Obviously
built at the same time as the chapel, it is supposed to have been used
originally as a receptacle for the bo