The restoration of the choir, under Mr. Perkins, was begun in 1859. Much of the stone-work was in so ruinous a condition that it was necessary to replace it with new; but although the building has thus lost something of its interest in the eyes of archæologists, it should here be said that the repairs have been made with good judgment, and that no unnecessary destruction of ancient work has taken place. Wherever it was possible the old stone-work has been carefully cleaned, and is otherwise untouched. This is the case with nearly all the leafage of the capitals, which is unusually good and varied. The greater part of the figures in the tympana of the triforium arches, however, were unfortunately sculptured in the local stone, and had crumbled away so completely, partly from the effects of time and partly perhaps before the matchlocks of Cromwell’s troopers, that their subjects were hardly to be deciphered. They have been restored, in accordance, as far as could be ascertained, with the original design, by Boulton of Worcester, under the direction of Mr. Perkins. VIII. Evidences remain in the choir of earlier alterations and additions. The piers adjoining the north-east transept had been thrown greatly out of the perpendicular by the thrust of the arches. These piers have now been reconstructed with the old materials in a sound manner; and a wall pierced with quatrefoils, which had been built for their support, between the two easternmost piers on the north side, has been removed. The second pier from the organ, on the same side, also appears to have shewn signs of weakness, and has been re-cased and enlarged in Jacobean Gothic, with a curious base of masonry in the shape of a tulip. The _stone pulpit_, on the north side of the choir, was removed from the west end of the nave about the middle of last century. It is late Perpendicular work, with the emblems of the Evangelists placed on truncated shafts in the panels. The sculpture at the back of the pulpit apparently represents the Heavenly Jerusalem, with the Tree of Life in the centre. The ancient stalls were partly destroyed by the Puritan soldiery, the seats alone remaining. The present canopies date from the reign of Charles II., but are of no great interest. It is proposed to replace the present (modern) reredos by one of better design and character; and to erect a low stone screen, allowing a view into the transept beyond it, between the piers on the north side of the altar. In December, 1861, a leaden coffin, moulded to the shape of a body, which had been enclosed in an outer coffin of wood, was discovered beneath the flooring at the east end of the choir. It no doubt contained the embalmed body of WILLIAM, fourth MARQUIS and second DUKE OF HAMILTON, who was mortally wounded at the battle of Worcester in 1651, and was interred here,--since his body was not allowed to be conveyed to Scotland.