Around Christ on his throne are three tiers of saints and on the bottom tier two biblical scenes from the life of Mary.
On the far left the angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her she will be with child and that he will be called Jesus and he will save his people. On the right Mary, pregnant with Jesus visits her cousin Elizabeth who also, miraculously, is pregnant in her old age with John the Baptist, who she feels leap with joy within her womb at Mary’s news.
As mentioned earlier the medieval guild saints are pictured on the lower tiers and saints are usually recognisable by how they are pictured, so between the two episodes of the life of Mary and below Jesus are:-
From the left: St Peter, holding the keys to the Kingdom given to him by Jesus upon his declaration that Jesus is the Messiah in Matthew 16:13-17 Thomas Becket and centrally the Virgin Mary & Child, the Abbey is named after St Thomas of Canterbury and Mary, St Alban holding a sword and the cross of St Alban, St Paul holding a sword, a reminder of his martyrdom. and his epistles, letters to the churches.
In the middle tier we have the medieval guild saints to the left and right of Jesus:-
St George, immediately recognisable slaying the dragon, St Margaret of Scotland and St John the Baptist holding a lamb, When John baptised Jesus in the River Jordan he said ‘Behold, the Lamb of God’ (John 1: 36).St John the Divine, holding, as legend has it, the cup of poison he was given to drink. The contents turned into a serpent when he blessed it, St Andrew, St Michael, the archangel, also slaying a dragonAbove these, on the tabernacle heads, and harder to see are St Felix, St Etheldreda, St Edmund, St Hugh, Mother Julian of Norwich, and St Fursey
