The Lyfe of Adam and the Lost Saints
During the restoration in the 1950's the south wall of the nave was found to be in a worse state of preservation than the north wall which can be observed from Puddephat's photographs (DR 409/6/3/-41). However, Puddephat was able to identify small pieces of text on the wall which he attributed to 'The Lyfe of Adam' an addition to the original Golden Legend by William Caxton and surmised (DR 399/3a) that those wall paintings were illustrated scenes from Cain and Abel, Creation and the Lameth. It would have been an impossible task to attempt to recreate the south wall of the nave as the evidence was so limited. However whilst studying the works of Caxton and Puddephat a theory was developed that may answer the question of what was originally on the south wall of the nave. It is presented here merely as informed conjecture and therefore no attempt to recreate the south wall was made, but it is hoped that this could be used as a testable hypothesis for future research perhaps in the area of X-Ray photography on the south wall of the nave
The similarities between the images depicted in Caxton's illustrated and translated Golden Legend can not be explained as mere coincidence. Many of the images are almost identical which may indicate that the persons responsible for originally painting the walls were in fact working from a copy of the manuscript. One of the few remaining original copies of Caxton's original translation, complete with the addition of 'The Lyfe of Adam' is housed Glasgow University and this showed that the 'Lyfe of Adam' only contained one illustration that of Adam and Eve. It was entirely possible that other documents were used as a source for the paintings but the evidence from the chapel seemed to indicate a reliance on the images from Caxton. However the Lyfe of Adam was only one Chapter in an extended portfolio added by Caxton which also included the stories of Isaac, Noah, Moses, Joseph and Abraham - each with a single illustration.
 Above: The similarities between the images in Caxton's Golden Legend and those in the Guild Chapel. Click the image to enlarge.
Returning to the texts identified by Puddephat (DR399/3a) the longest segment of text refers to the art of tent making yet nowhere in the original text of Caxton's 'The Lyfe of Adam' is there any mention of tents. However, in the last chapter of the portfolio 'Moses' tents are mentioned: "The Children of Israel fixed their tents around Mount Sinai..." The hypothesis that is presented is that the images on the wall were in fact each of the single illustrations from the additional portfolio starting with Adam and continuing through to Moses with accompanying text. Either at the time that the walls were painted, or by Puddephat, there has been a miss-understanding of the term "fixed" in relation to tents - this has been taken to mean the act of tent making or tent repair rather than fixing of tents to the ground.
This could explain the mention of tents by Puddephat and why tents appear nowhere in The Lyfe of Adam, the wall actually included images from each of the chapters not just Adam. This would fit with the theory that The Golden Legend was used as a source for the majority of the paintings in the Guild Chapel and would also explain the mention of tents which otherwise is out of place in the context of the Lyfe of Adam. There is no immediate way to test this theory but it is certainly one possible answer to the paintings of the south wall of the nave, although due to the conjectural nature of this argument these images were not added to the interior of the model.
Above: A conjectural image of the possible figures for the south wall of the nave. Click the image to enlarge.
The Lost Saints
The final unanswered question was the paintings of saints in the niches along both the north and south wall of the nave. On west end of the north wall of the nave is still visible the painting of St. Ursula (incorrectly identified as St. Edmund by Fisher). Opposite St. Ursula is an image of St. Modwena, both of these saints were recorded by Fisher. However in Puddephat's conjectural image all of the niches along the north wall have depictions of saints, yet none are visible in his photographs. The information boards at the Guild Chapel mention the existence of further paintings on the east wall of the nave as depicting St. John the Baptist and St Mary but no mention or recording of these saints is made by either Puddephat or Fisher. It seems likely that the niches along both the north and south wall had images of saints but there is no evidence to support this or who the saints may have been and therefore no attempt was made to replace the lost saints. It is hoped that further research may uncover their identities.
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