Lady chapel

Most Roman Catholic and many Anglican cathedrals still have such chapels, while mid-sized churches have smaller side-altars dedicated to the Virgin.

[1][2] The occurrence of lady chapels varies by location and exist in most of the French cathedrals and churches where they form part of the chevet.

In Belgium they were not introduced before the 14th century; in some cases they are of the same size as the other chapels of the chevet, but in others (probably rebuilt at a later period) they became much more important features.

It was in lady chapels, towards the close of the Middle Ages, that innovations in church music were allowed, only the strict chant being heard in the choir.

[3] In late Old English the word 'lady' belonged to a declension of feminine nouns which were uninflected for the singular possessive, and the name (Our) Lady Chapel is a fossilized vestige.

It should be understood as (Our) Lady's Chapel[4] In the 12th-century legends surrounding King Lucius of Britain, the apostles Fagan and Duvian were said to have erected the Lady Chapel at Glastonbury as the oldest church in Britain;[5] the accounts are now held to have been pious forgeries.

The lady chapel of Ely Cathedral is a distinct building attached to the north transept, which was built before 1016.