This is a long parallelogram, narrowing toward the lower end, and is entirely of Purbeck marble. It has two divisions; the lower closed, like an altar-tomb, the upper a flat canopy, supported on small open arches. Upon this rested the actual shrine, containing the relics of the saint. Cantilupe was Provincial Grand Master of the Knights Templars in England; and round the lower division of the pedestal are fifteen figures of Templars in various attitudes, placed in the recesses of a foliated arcade. All are fully armed, in chain-mail, with surcoat, shield, and sword. All are seated, and tread on various monsters, among which are dragons, and swine muzzled. The spandrels in this arcade, and the spandrels between the arches in the upper division, are filled with leafage of the most beautiful and varied character. It is the leafage of the first Decorated period, retaining some of the stiff arrangement of the Early English, but directly copied from nature. In the lower spandrels it is arranged in sprays; in the upper it is often laid in rows of leaves, among which occur oak, maple, and trefoil. The whole of this work will repay the most careful examination. (It should be compared with the foliage of the capitals of the shafts surrounding the central pier of the aisle, which is far more stiff and conventional.) On the top of the lower division of the pedestal was a brass of the Bishop, of which the matrix alone remains.
The position of the shrine in this transept may be compared with that of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and with that of St. Richard de la Wych at Chichester. All had an altar immediately adjoining the shrine, which was dedicated to the saint, and at which the offerings of pilgrims were made. In these cases, however, the usual position of a great shrine--at the back of the high altar--was, for some special reason, departed from. At Hereford, this position of highest honour was probably occupied by the shrine of St. Ethelbert; and the shrine of St. Thomas Cantilupe must have taken an inferior place, had it been fixed near that. This was avoided by the dedication of the entire transept to the sainted Bishop. In the same manner, the south transept at Chichester seems to have been occupied by the shrine of St. Richard de la Wych; in whose honour the great south window was probably inserted.