Io8 DALE ABBEY REPORT. 



the ribs lay on the floor, it is evident that it was demolished 

 by knocking out the keystones, and letting the whole fall. At 

 its east end is the base of the stone altar, in front of which 

 was discovered the original footpace of encaustic tiles ; these 

 were taken up for safety, after a careful sketch had been made 

 of their arrangement.' The altar had once been approached by 

 three steps, and the two lower are still in position. These, 

 when found, retained their "tread" of encaustic tiles, but it 

 was thought advisable to remove them for safety, as in the 

 other case, so that they may be relaid in concrete or cement. 

 It is curious that the first pavement of the chapel had been 

 taken up, and relaid on a level with the edge of the bottom 

 step, but, with the exception of a few large and peculiar 

 yellow tiles, the few which had been suffered to remain were 

 much crushed, apparently by the fall of the groining, and have 

 been removed to show the perfect ones beneath. The vaulting 

 ribs are of different design to those found in other parts of 

 the Abbey. Beyond a few fragments of window tracery, and 

 parts of what was probably a canopied tomb, no objects of 

 interest were found. This chapel was entered from the tran- 

 sept by a wide arch, which is not in the middle line. A 

 wooden screen has been set up here, as may be seen from 

 the holes cut for its insertion in the jambs. Between this 

 arch and the tower stood a small chantry altar, within a 

 parclose. May not the large chapel* and this small one be 

 the Lady Chapel and " lyttle chapel of our Lady " respectively ? 

 The South Transept was separated from the two southern 

 chapels by two arches, and against the central pier stood a 

 chantry altar, within a parclose ; query was not this the chapel 

 of S. Margaret?" At the north-west corner is part of a flight 

 of steps, but, as the area beyond has not been excavated, 

 we must await the solution of their use. Possibly they led to 

 the Dormitory. In the south-east angle is a doorway, descend- 

 ing by two or three steps into an oblong room, divided into 



Mr. J. Charles Cox thinks the larger one may be the Chapel of S. 

 Margaret, for which the rectorial tithes of Kirk Hallam were specially 

 appropriated. 



