27 
would be simply the resting place of some painting or for the 
image of a saint. There could be no altar in such a place and 
mass could not be said save at a consecrated altar. Thus in 
1317, the Rector of Weston in Gordano was excommunicated 
for so doing. (Bishop Drokensford's Register.—Hobhouse— 
p. 128.) This little shelter, not large enough to be a chapel, 
was too deeply recessed to be called a niche and would thus be 
better described as a housing, a word found in early writings ; or 
better still for our own information, to dissociate the idea of a 
‘chapel, an Oratory, a place for a passing prayer. Rack might 
have taken his notion from an earlier author, as Aubrey of 
Wiltshire, writing of Bradford says, here is a strong and hand- 
some bridge, in the midst of which is a little chapel “as at Bath 
“‘for masse.” A double meaning may be got here, first that the 
chapel was the same as that at Bath, and that, as mass was said 
at Bath therefore it was said at Bradford. The intention 
however we may feel sure was simply one of comparison. 
Bradford bridge is larger than was the one at Bath and although 
the present superstructure on Bradford bridge representing the 
chapel may not be quite on the same lines for size as the original 
chapel, the original was but a housing somewhat larger than that 
at Bath. 
Taking next Warner, whose History must have been in 
progress at the same time as Rack’s and even far advanced, as it 
was published in 1801 only three years later, on p. 210 writing 
of the Avon he says, “ at the southern end of the city this river 
is crossed by St. Lawrence Bridge. This was built in 1754. It 
occupies the site of a very ancient but incommodious bridge 
which was formerly covered with houses and adorned with a 
chapel dedicated to St. Lawrence.” Warner here in his desire to 
add to former accounts falls into further error, the result possibly 
of careless reading. First, to avoid confusion, it may be noted 
that St. Lawrence bridge was destroyed, not built, in 1754; the 
later bridges have no dedication. There were no houses on this 
