The =Crypt=, finished by 1286, represents the last development of the Early English style. It was used as the treasury where valuables were kept. It is reached by a dark passage from the north-choir-aisle. The odd corbels should be noted. The walls are very thick, the windows narrow with wide splays and the vaulting-ribs spring from round and massive pillars with much effect. This Crypt is unusually high, because the many springs at Wells would not permit of a subterranean chamber. But again we have been led astray from the main body of the Cathedral. Returning the same way, we again enter the north transept and stand beneath the splendid fan-tracery vault of the tower, a vault, beautiful as it is, that hides the lantern with its arcades. These, however, can be seen during the ascent of the tower. The =Screen= dates from the Fourteenth Century. “The first impression on entering the choir will not readily be forgotten. Owing to the peculiar and most beautiful arrangement of the Lady-chapel and the retro-choir, to the manner in which the varied groups of arches and pilasters are seen beyond the low altar screen, to the rich splendours of the stained glass, to the beautiful architectural details of the choir itself, and to the grace and finish of the late restorations, it may safely be said that the choir of no English cathedral affords a view more impressive or more picturesque. It is difficult to determine whether the effect is more striking at early morning, when the blaze of many-coloured light from all the eastern windows is reflected upon the slender shafts of Purbeck and upon the vaulted roof, or at the late winter services, when the darkened figures of saints and prophets in the clerestory combine with the few lights burning at the choristers’ stalls to add something of mystery and solemn gloom to the maze of half-seen aisles and chapels. “The first three piers and arches of the choir are Early English, of the same character as those of the nave and transepts, and are probably the work of Bishop Jocelin. The remaining portion, including the whole of the vaulting as well as the clerestory above the first three bays, is very rich early Decorated (geometrical) and deserves the most careful study.