This was built of
Purbeck marble and consists of a basement 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in.
long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above which were four canopied niches at
each side and one at each end; these were richly painted and probably
contained other relics; in the spandrels were carved figures, at the
corners angels censing. At the west end was a representation of St.
Alban's martyrdom; on the south side in the centre was, and still is, a
figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in the next spandrel
to the east the figure of another king; on the east side a
representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other
figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred
abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round
the top of the pedestal ran a richly carved cornice; round the base
stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy
rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side,
which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night,
certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On
this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested.
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