IX. AS TO AN OLDER LADY CHAPEL BEFORE MONINGTON'S TIME WITH A POLYGONAL APSE. SCRIPT. SCRIPT April 20, 1908. "The olde church had a chapell going east like to Edgar's, and the corners were cut off most like. The foundations ye mean remain." June 16, 1908. "There are two chapels, and ye must try to judge old and new. The scheme of Abbot Monington gave one, and under the church are remains yet older." EXISTING DATA. Nothing known, but there is a possible inference as regards a Lady Chapel beyond the original Quire before the Western Lady Chapel was incorporated. Phelps has preserved a reminiscence of this chapel, and he suggests a semicircular end, which might mean a polygon. The projection beyond the retro-quire would be about 12 feet, according to his diagram. Compare the Lady Chapel at Wells. Nothing known at the time. Phelps's plan of a Lady Chapel, copied by Warner, suggests two different states of this building, the original extending under the quire, and afterwards absorbed in Monington's new work. RESULT. IN JUNE, 1908, TRACES OF A SLANT WALL (FOOTING TRENCH) WERE FOUND CLOSE INSIDE THE EAST WALL OF THE RETRO-QUIRE AND A LITTLE SOUTH OF THE CENTRE (_recorded in a report from Rev. H. Barnwell, late Vicar of Glastonbury_ _written to F.B.B. shortly after the commencement of excavation_.) About 12 feet beyond the retro-quire, the levels of the ground and foundations rise considerably. At this point comes the west wall of the Edgar Chapel; and the same point probably marks the extreme eastward limit of the older Lady Chapel. THE EXISTENCE OF OLDER FOOTINGS UNDER THE QUIRE FLOOR WAS PROVED LATER. THEY WERE TOO MUCH PULLED ABOUT AND ALTERED TO ESTABLISH THEIR ORIGINAL FORM. X. AS TO THE LITTLE CRYPT UNDER THE STAIRS. SCRIPT April 20, 1908. "=Ye crypt was mere a chamber under the stairs, and it was at the west end of the chapel.=" June 16, 1908. "=The cript is fallen in, but the clay is not the old clay. Clear out the midst thereof.=" EXISTING DATA Nothing known at this date of chapel, crypt, or stair. The rise of ground at east might suggest a raised floor for the chapel exterior to retro-quire. Britton's plan of Abbey suggests that the two piers found _circa_ 1813 on the site of the middle chapel of the retro-quire were "probably part of a crypt," but there was nothing known to warrant such a suggestion, and facts were against it. RESULT THE NECESSITY OF A STAIRCASE TO BERE'S CHAPEL IS PROVED BY THE SUBSEQUENT DISCOVERY OF ITS SUPERIOR LEVEL--PROBABLY SOME SEVEN FEET ABOVE THE RETRO-QUIRE. AS THE GROUND RISES IMMEDIATELY EAST OF THE WEST WALL OF THE CHAPEL, IT ALMOST INEVITABLY FOLLOWS THAT A CRYPT WOULD BE CONFINED TO A SMALL SPACE BENEATH THE ANTECHAPEL OR STAIRWAY OF APPROACH. XI. AS TO THE DOUBLE HAND-RAIL. SCRIPT "And ye stairway was divided in ye midst by a grete rail of stone," etc. EXISTING DATA Nothing known at the time. RESULT