is position was proved to
be archaeologically correct when Sir G. Scott lowered the floor of this
part of the church. The reredos, one of the fittings provided by Dr. and
Mrs. Griffith, and designed by Scott, projects beyond the altar-table on
each side in a way that is unusual and not altogether pleasing. It is of
Caen stone, and contains a representation of the Last Supper in rather
high relief, within a three-gabled canopy. The dark marble columns
supporting the central gable are beautifully veined.

The altar seems to have kept its old position until 1634, when Laud,
greatly shocked, gave orders to "place the communion-table at the end of
the choir in a decent manner, and make a fair rail to go across the
aisle as in other cathedral churches." The dean and chapter protested
slightly, pointing out that, if placed quite at the end it would be
almost out of hearing of the congregation, and suggested as an
alternative the erection of a screen behind it where it then stood. In
1642 some soldiers of the Parliament visited the cathedral, moved the
altar, broke up the steps on which it was raised, and tore down its
rails, leaving the wood as firing for the poor. Repairs must have been
needed here, therefore, when the Restoration came. Later, by a chapter
act of the 2nd June, 1707, the clerk was empowered to sign an agreement
with a Mr. Coppinger for a new altar-piece, which seems to have been
still in existence in 1788, and to be the one then described as of
Norway oak, plain and neat, by the Rev. S. Denne. A resolution had been
passed a little before, on the 6th December, 1706, that "the piece of
rich silk and silver brocade given by the Bishop of Rochester should be
put up." If applied to the new altar-piece this did not last long, for
in 1752 a large piece of rich velvet, in a frame elegantly carved and
gilt, was purchased with L50 given by Archbishop Herring, a former dean,
to take the place of the central panel of plain wainscot. This was
itself removed in 1788, when a picture by Sir Benjamin West, P.R.A.,
"The Angels appearing to the Shepherds," was inserted in its stead. This
picture was presented anonymously, but the name of the donor, J.
Wilcocks, Esq., a son of the bishop, transpired after his death. When
Mr. Cottingham removed the old "Corinthian" altar-piece, West's work
was, in 1826, lent to St. Mary's church, Chatham, on the condition that
it should be returned when no longer needed. Archdeacon Laws was then
r