This would mean the ritual choir as then existing, and
would fix the place of his interment approximately at the spot
where there is now a large monumental slab, from which
the brass has been removed ; and this has always been
traditionally said to be the actual stone placed over his body.
The brass represented an ecclesiastic with mitre and pastoral
staff, The objection to this having been Walsingham*s
memorial, that these emblems could not have been correctly
placed upon it, has been thus met: "On the other hand it
is contended that although Alan died a Prior of the Convent,
he had been elected Bishop by the Monks, though his election
was overruled by the Pope, and that seeing to his successor
Prior Powcher the Pope gave permission that he and all future
Priors of Ely should wear the mitre and carry the crozier, it
is possible that the Monks had anticipated somewhat the
Pope's edict, and had represented their beloved Prelate with
episcopal mitre on his head and crozier in his hand.*'* He well
deserved the description in the epitaph, " Flos operatorum "
(** The Flower of Craftsmen ''). The rich woodwork in the choir
— the stalls with their beautiful canopies — is also certainly
Walsingham's work.
Besides the great operations of this century there were
various alterations and additions made in the cathedral of
which the date is not recorded. The triforium in the presbytery

* The largest of these bells, weighing 6,280 pounds, was called by
Walsingham's name.
* Bentham, pp. 221, 222.
* ** Handbook," ed. Stubbs, 20th ed., p. 29.
* Ibid., p. 83. The full epitaph is given on p. 84.
26 ELY CATHEDRAL.
