STALL, literally a place where one may stand, and so applied to a separate division in a stable, shed, etc., in which a single horse, cow or other domestic animal may be kept, to a separate booth, bench or table in a market or other building, or in the street, on which goods are exposed for sale and in England to the higher-priced seats on the ground floor of a theatre. In cathedrals, monastic churches and the larger parish churches the stalls are fixed seats enclosed at the back and separated at the sides by high projecting arms, and placed in one or more rows on the north and south sides of the choir or chancel. In a cathe dral the canons and prebendaries have each a stall assigned to them. In the chapels of the various knightly orders the stalls are assigned to the members of the order, thus, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, are the stalls of the Knights of the Garter, in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster abbey are those of the Knights of the Bath, adorned with the stall plates emblazoned with the arms of the knight occupying the stall, above which is suspended his banner.
Architecturally considered, the stalls of a cathedral or church are a marked feature of the interior adornment. They are richly carved, and are frequently surmounted by canopies of tabernacle work. The seats generally can be folded back so as to allow the occupant to stand upright or kneel; beneath the seat, espe cially in monastic churches, is fixed a small bracket, a miserere (q.v.), which affords a slight rest for the person while standing. Among beautiful specimens of carved stalls may be mentioned the Early Decorated stalls in Winchester cathedral (1296) ; the Early Perpendicular ones in Lincoln minster (c. 137o) ; the early 5th century canopies in Norwich cathedral (15th century), and the towering corner-stalls with their ornate carving filled with figures, in Amiens cathedral (1508-2o).