service. The western
end of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen,
which of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has
been put in its place, though one would be a great improvement.
Projecting from the easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel
of the Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is
now used as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried
the hated Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt;
Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and
Thomas, Lord Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets
of St. Albans, after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell
fighting for the Red Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of
Wheathampstead, who at this time was an adherent of that party, though
he became a Yorkist after Queen Margaret had allowed her troops to
plunder the Abbey when, in the second battle of St. Albans, she was
victorious over the Earl of Warwick.

A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for
use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.

Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the
part inside the glass so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the
part outside for the sake of strength. All the painted glass is modern,
the gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden
vaulting which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone
vault over the chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of
the previous roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with
the exception of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar,
differing from each other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as
a model the one with the cinque-foiled head, considering that the better
of the two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel.
He rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower
than before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The
carving, chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents
various vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen
being for the most part such as grow in the neighbourhood--convolvulus,
primrose, buttercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy,
sycamore, pansy, polypody, and others.

Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with m