Octagon) is lighted by windows assimilating with the large windows in
the angles of the Octagon; the upper story is lighted by louvres as
adapted to a belfry, for which purpose this chamber was originally
designed; the lower windows have been reconstructed, a series of
flying buttresses (which had been taken away) have been re-placed
against the angle divisions, which are finished with embattled turrets
instead of pinnacles, and between them runs an open-work parapet. The
whole of the Lantern has been repaired, and the exterior wood work
re-covered with lead.
The portion of the north Transept which fell down in 1699, although
soon afterwards carefully restored, and the mouldings and ornaments
nicely replaced, may yet be distinguished from the old work: the
Tuscan door-arch, however, in its northern face, is quite out of place
here, not according with the style of the building in which it is
placed. The restorations were executed under the directions of Sir
Christopher Wren. The northern face of the Transept shows two pairs of
Norman windows, the second pair being longer than those in the lower
tier; above these is an arcade of small arches, and over these are two
high Perpendicular windows, which reach partly into the gable. Over
the doorway in the eastern aisle is an original Norman window, and in
the western aisle is a replaced one.
The west front of the Lady Chapel[53] is richly decorated with niches,
and has a noble window, under which is an arcade of small arches
formed entirely in the thickness of the wall, in the back of some of
which may be seen traces of coloured decoration; the gable point is
adorned with a niche rising above the pierced parapet running up the
sides. On each side of the building are five large windows, the
tracery of which is much decayed, having been executed in a softer
kind of stone than the walls. Between each two windows is a deep
projecting buttress surmounted by a crocketed pinnacle; at the angles
are double buttresses, on which are two kinds of tabernacles, both are
square and occupy the breadth of the buttress, the upper one is
recessed in the body of the buttress, the lower one is open on three
sides, and had small pillars at the front angles rising from the
set-off and carrying the projecting canopy; the tops being finished
with crocketed pinnacles. The east end is not so richly ornamented as
the west; the window is a very fine one but not so large as the
western one, and there are no niches on the sides nor beneath it.
[Footnote 53: Now in course of restoration.]
The north side of the Choir is somewhat hidden by the Lady Chapel,
which stands parallel to it, although the latter is much shorter; but
a better view may be had by going between them. An opportunity is also
thus afforded of observing the original Norman windows of the
triforium of the Transept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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