The South Aisle was built in the late 15th century after the completion of works instigated by woolman John Fortey to raise and widen the Nave. After his death, the work was completed with the benefit of a legacy of £300. The South Porch must have been a later, but nearly contemporary, construction.
Directly in front of you is a stone reredos that retains a good deal of the original colouring. The outline of statues and the brackets on which they stood can clearly be seen. This may once have been a chantry - an altar at which a priest, funded by an endowment, was paid to say masses for the soul of a deceased person. All chantries were abolished in 1547 as not being in keeping with the newProtestant faith, and the wealth tied up to them went to the Crown.
The altar is now dedicated to St Peter and St Lawrence, attested to by the green frontal depicting an inverted cross and a gridiron. St Peter, considering himself unworthy to die in the same way as Jesus, chose to be crucified head down. The gridiron is a reference to St Lawrence's martyrdom; it also appears in a painted glass panel in the adjoining window.
To the right is a piscina or basin, where the holy vessels were washed after the celebration of the Mass, together with a small aumbry, a lockablecupboard used to store holy relics and sometimesthe reserved Holy Sacrament. Both are fortunate survivors of the Reformation.