In this state it continued till the commencement of the present century,
when the exterior was repaired by George the Third, and a vault,
seventy feet in length, twenty-eight in width, and fourteen in depth,
constructed within it, for the reception of the royal family. Catacombs,
formed of massive octangular pillars, and supporting ranges of shelves,
line the walls on either side.
At the eastern extremity there are five niches, and in the middle twelve
low tombs. A subterranean passage leads from the vault beneath the
choir of Saint George's altar to the sepulchre. Within it are deposited
the bodies of George the Third and Queen Charlotte, the Princesses
Amelia and Charlotte, the Dukes of Kent and York, and the last two
sovereigns, George the Fourth and William the Fourth.
But to return to the reign of Edward the Fourth, from which the desire to
bring down the history of Saint George's Chapel to the present time has
led to the foregoing digression. About the same time that the chapel
was built, habitations for the dean and canons were erected on the
north-east of the fane, while another range of dwellings for the minor
canons was built at its west end, disposed in the form of a fetterlock,
one of the badges of Edward the Fourth, and since called the Horse-
shoe Cloisters.
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