Definitions for lady chapel
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word lady chapel
a small chapel in a church; dedicated to the Virgin Mary
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most large medieval churches had such a chapel, as Roman Catholic and some Anglican ones still do, and middle-sized churches often had a side-altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Traditionally, a Lady chapel is the largest chapel of the cathedral. Generally the chapel was built eastward of the high altar and formed a projection from the main building, as in Winchester, Salisbury, Chester, Exeter, Wells, St Albans, Chichester, Peterborough and Norwich cathedrals, in the two latter cases now destroyed. The earliest English Lady chapel built was that in the Saxon cathedral of Canterbury; this was transferred in the rebuilding by Archbishop Lanfranc to the west end of the nave, and again shifted in 1450 to the chapel on the east side of the north transept. The Lady chapel at Ely Cathedral is a distinct building attached to the north transept, that was built before 1016. At Rochester the Lady chapel is west of the south transept. Probably the largest Lady chapel was built by Henry III in 1220 at Westminster Abbey. This Lady chapel was 30 feet wide, much in excess of any foreign example, and extended to the end of the site now occupied by Henry VII's Lady Chapel.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary attached to a church.
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