Moving into the North Chapel, ahead of you is a truncated staircase cut into the e ternal wall. There were probably additional timber steps at the base and the head, as the stairs were intended to give access to a gallery over the Chapel's rood screen. Before the Reformation in the 16th century, rood screens separated the chancel and chapels - the holiest parts of a church - from the nave and aisles. The edicts of the Reformation ordered that such screens shou Id be removed; ignored in some churches, the rule was rigorously enforced in the Gloucester diocese.
There is no documentary evidence that tells us about the early history of the North Chapel, so it is necessary to indulge in a little speculation. There was probably an altar in the chapel, but the dedication is unknown. The screen supporting the gallery probably extended across the width of the north aisle, allowing access to the chancel rood screen below the chancel arch. There was unlikely to have been a loft above the chapel, given the height of the window arches, and the fact that the roof timbers (original, and of best quality) and the bosses were decorated and intended to be seen. The chapel probably did not exist in its original form for more than 100 years before the strictures of the Reformation demanded its rearrangement.
For much of the 20th century, until the liturgical re-ordering of 1964, the organ was located in this space, with the choir stalls adjacent at the west end of the Chancel.