The entrance to the ruins is through a gateway opposite the George Hotel. The abbey cannot be seen from the street, but this obscure entry conducts the visitor to the porter's lodge (entrance 6d.). The most perfectly preserved portion of the buildings is the chapel of St Mary, commonly known as _St Joseph's Chapel_. It stands on the site of St Joseph's legendary shrine, and formed a kind of Galilee to the W. entrance of the church. It is rectangular in plan, with a square turret crowned by a pyramidal cap rising from each corner, only two of which now remain. It is one of the most beautiful specimens of Trans. work in England. The decoration is rich and abundant--"no possible ornament has been omitted." Note (1) fine N. doorway (which should be compared with the S. porch of Malmesbury), (2) arcading round interior face of wall, (3) triplet at W. end, (4) remains of vaulting, (5) shallow external buttresses. Beneath the now demolished flooring is a small crypt of 15th-cent. work. It was probably excavated to provide extra burial accommodation. Observe on S. side a well within a round-headed recess. The chapel originally stood apart from the great church, but was eventually joined up to the larger building by a continuation of the chapel walls. The extension is at once detected by the late character of the work. Note change of arcading from Norm. to E.E., and the E.E. entrance to the church. Of the latter very little now remains. There still stand the piers of the chancel arch, portions of the walls of the choir and nave aisles, and a little chapel which opened out of the N. transept. But these remains, slight though they are, are sufficient to indicate the general design of the church and its huge dimensions. Though there is an evident attempt to keep up the character of the ornamentation displayed in St Mary's chapel, the workmanship is much later; and a still later development is noticeable in the two easternmost bays of the choir, thrown out by Abbot Monington (1371-74). Note (1) lancets of nave, pointed externally, rounded internally, (2) pointed lancets of choir, (3) square abaci to pilasters of lancets (cp. Wells), (4) traces of Dec. work in vaulting ribs of nave, (5) absence of bench-table in Monington's additions, (6) fragment of Perp. panelling on E. side of chancel arch. The general plan of the church followed the arrangements of the great Benedictine abbeys, which were all designed with a view to a stately ritual and imposing processions. There was a lofty nave of ten bays, with corresponding aisles, a choir of three bays, also with processional aisles (Monington's extension was evidently intended to form a further path behind the high altar), and N. and S. transepts, each with a pair of E. chapels. A large central tower surmounted the whole, which, like that of Wells, is said to have been braced internally with inverted arches. The cloisters abutted on to the S. aisle of the church (note the higher sills of the windows),