Apse chapel

The eastern chevet of Westminster Abbey, surrounded by five apsidal chapels, is the only complete example of this feature in England.

[2] Each apsidal chapel could be treated as a sanctuary, to be entered only by the officiating, priest and his attendants, and the ambulatory served as the necessary nave for the worshippers.

Apse chapels are often found in the cathedrals of the Benedictine foundations, and occasionally in those of the Cluniac reform.

[4] Radiating chapels are almost entirely a continental plan and most frequently found in French and Gothic structures.

In continental churches the central apse chapel was often the Lady-chapel, which in England was generally placed at the side.