feretory

Feretory, fer′e-tor-i, n. a shrine for relics carried in processions.

Edward I. himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulders the chest or feretory containing the precious relics to their new resting-place, and Anthony Beck, consecrated the same day Bishop of Durham, paid all the expenses.

The bones were enclosed in a splendid coffer with poles attached, and on solemn occasions this ‘feretory,’ besides being carried in procession, was sometimes placed under a tent in the fields.

Provision had evidently been made by him for keeping relics or treasures57 here, and, in his time, the back screen, as we now see it, and the reredos, were united together at the top, and covered with heavy stone slabs, so as to make a perfectly secure feretory.

Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted chiefly of panelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall of the feretory.