The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, vol. 4

Allen, Thomas

1827

Chapel of St. Benedict.

 

The chapel of St. Benedict was without doubt, dedicated to the abbot of that name, who was styled the Great, founder of the holy order of Benedictines, and whose anniversary was held on the ; and not to St. Benedict, abbot of Ware, who had an anniversary on the .

This chapel has no door: a screen of monuments and their railings enclose it from the south transept and the aisle.

Mr. Malcolm gives the following account of his researches in this chapel:--

I

first

visited the east side, in order to know whether any thing was left of the altar, where it was the custom to grant indulgences of

two

years and

forty

days to those who heard mass. I found an altar, but it is to the tomb of Frances, countess of Hertford, whom effigy lies precisely where the candlesticks and host formerly stood. The lay died

May 14, 1598

, aged

forty-four

years; and probably this tomb was erected within

two

years after, when the

two

steps to the altar were made to serve as basements to it. The platform is strewed with dust; but I scraped and washed till I found that great part of the original glazed-tile pavement is still in being, but entirely deranged, and without a symptom of regularity in their disposition. The steps are of coarse marble, but were probably covered with carpeting in times of ceremony. On the south wall, near the altar, is a plain long stone bracket; what its use may

have been I know not, but it probably supported small moveable statues of the saint; or possibly his scapula, which was among the numerous relics belonging to the church, might at times have rested on it.

The oldest tomb in this chapel is that of

 
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 Title Page
 Dedication
CHAPTER I: Site, local divisions, and government of the City of Westminster; history of the Abbey; Coronation Ceremonies; and lists of the Abbots and Deans
CHAPTER II: Westminster Abbey, and Description of the Tombs and Monuments
CHAPTER III: History and Topography of St. Margaret's Parish
CHAPTER IV: History and Topography of St. John's Parish, Westminster
CHAPTER V: History and Topography of the parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, Westminster
CHAPTER VI: History and Topogrpahy of the parish of St. James, Westminster
CHAPTER VII: History and Topography of the Parish of St. Anne, Westminster
CHAPTER VIII: History and Topography of the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden
CHAPTER IX: History and Topography of the Parish of St. Mary-le-strand
CHAPTER X: History and Topogrpahy of the parish of St. Clement Danes
CHAPTER XI: History and Topography of the parish of st. George, Hanover Square
CHAPTER XII: History and Topography of the Precinct of the Savoy
CHAPTER XIII: History and Topography of the Inns of Court
CHAPTER XIV: History and Topography of the Precincts of the Charter-house and Ely Place, and the Liberty of the Rolls
 CHAPTER XV: Historical Notices of the Borough of Southwark
CHAPTER XVI: History and Topography of the Parish of St. Olave, Southwark
CHAPTER XVII: History and Topography of the parish of St. John, Southwark
CHAPTER XVIII: History and Topography of the parish of St. Thomas, Southwark
CHAPTER XIX: History and Topogrpahy of the parish of St. George's, Southwark
CHAPTER XX: History and Topography of St. Saviour's Parish
CHAPTER XXI: History and Topography of the parist of Christ-church in the County of Surrey
 CHAPTER XXII: A List of the Principal Books, &c that have been published in Illustration of the Antiquities, History, Topography, and other subjects treated of in this Work
 Addenda et Corrigienda
 Postscript