Above the high altar rises the splendid =Neville Screen=, erected about 1380 chiefly at the expense of John, Lord Neville of Raby. It runs along the entire choir, and forms _sedilia_ of four seats on either side. The screen was originally filled with 107 statues. The Virgin stood in the centre, and one side of her was St. Cuthbert, and on the other St. Oswald. “The prior of the day employed at his own expense seven masons for nearly a year to fix the screen, the execution of which is supposed to have been the fruit of the labours of French artists. The screen originally was much more elaborate than at present, being covered with rich colour and every niche filled with sculptured figures, but even now its present appearance is graceful.”--(T.) The Neville screen is pierced by two doors that lead directly to the =Shrine of St. Cuthbert= in the Chapel of the Nine Altars just behind it; for in this chapel repose the bones of the patron saint. Facing the great rose window there is an oblong platform (37 × 23 feet), about six feet higher than the floor. The shrine was placed here in 1104 and remained until 1540, when the body was taken from it and buried beneath this spot. The =Chapel of the Nine Altars= was so named because beneath the nine lancet windows formerly stood nine altars to the following saints: (1), St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalen; (2), St. John the Baptist and St. Margaret; (3), St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Catherine; (4), St. Oswald and St. Lawrence; (5), St. Cuthbert and St. Bede; (6), St. Martin; (7), St. Peter and St. Paul; (8), St. Aidan and St. Helen; (9), St. Michael the Archangel. “It is approached from the aisles by steps, the floor level being lower than that of the church proper. It is altogether a remarkable and interesting structure. With its lightness and loftiness contrasting grandly with the massive Norman nave and choir, its clustered columns of polished marble alternating with stone, its fine bold sculpture, its splendid vaulted roof and rich arcading, it forms a perfect example of the Early English style. Though regular and symmetrical in general design, the detail shows great variety, and even irregularity, a quality so often present in old work, and so much to its advantage. “The ‘New Work,’ as it was always called, was commenced in the year 1242. The eastern wall, with its rose and nine lancet windows, is the earliest part of the chapel, the north and south walls being later. The joining and blending of the work with the Norman of Carileph’s choir had evidently been accomplished when the chapel was almost completed. The eastern wall is of three bays, each bay having three lofty lancet windows. The bays are not of equal width, the centre one being regulated by the width of the nave of the church, and narrower than the north and south bays.