“The shoring by which the weight of the western half of the tower has been temporarily supported is of three descriptions--1st, direct supports under the western, northern, and southern arches (the two former consisting of timber framing, and the latter being provided by an old stone wall, by which the arch was blocked); 2ndly, vertical shores of immense strength, supporting “needles,” or horizontal masses of timber, passing through the walls; and 3rdly, by ‘raking’ or inclined shores abutting against the walls in all directions, and both supporting weight and preventing lateral motion. All these had to be provided with firm foundations, having to bear the actual weight of the tower. The magnitude of the work may be judged of when I mention that, of the six main supports of the ‘needles,’ two consisted each of _nine_, and the others of _six_ full-sized balks of timber, bound together into one mass by irons, and thus making timber supports, the first 3 feet 6 inches square, and the others 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 4 inches in thickness, and all of them 36 feet in length. The ‘needles’ are of oak, 2 feet 4 inches deep and 2 feet 4 inches thick, and shod with wrought iron. The raking shores are arranged in systematic groups, giving supports at all heights, from immediately over the piers to nearly the top of the tower. “The shoring has required the use of nearly 12,000 cubic feet of timber. “The state of the west wall of the tower was rendered alarmingly apparent by the difficulties encountered in making the holes for the ‘needles.’ “Mr. Clear, the Clerk of the Works, and myself, foreseeing some difficulty, arranged a plan by which, before cutting through the wall, a sort of tunnel of strong stone should be formed through it, by inserting the stones, one at a time, in the shattered rubble work, and then removing the enclosed wall. This was done, with some difficulty, to a depth of 2 feet from either side, but as the wall is 6 feet thick, there remained 2 feet in the middle untunnelled, and when the enclosed wall was attempted to be removed, the middle mass began to pour out like an avalanche, which was only stopped by the immediate insertion of sand-bags, and by subsequently running the wall from above with liquid cement, and thus solidifying the disintegrated rubbish.