At the Restoration all churchmen set about repairing their cathedrals, and the citizens of Rochester lagged not behind. Much money was spent on the fabric, and many repairs effected. In the eighteenth century Sloane was the architect who rebuilt the steeple. Very extensive alterations were made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, under the direction of Cottingham, which were drastic, and Sir G. Scott and Mr. Pearson have both been at work on the Cathedral, whose restorations we will examine when we inspect the Cathedral. The Bishopric of Rochester since the Reformation has been occupied by several remarkable men. Bishop Fisher, a learned, brave and saintly man, was doomed to death on the scaffold by Henry VIII. (1535), and Barlow, Buckeridge, Warner and Atterbury were all men who achieved fame in their times. THE EXTERIOR The best view can be obtained from the castle. The _West Front_ is a fine example of Norman work, with the exception of the large Perpendicular window, and the modern imitation of Norman work. It is a mistake for architects to destroy the accretions of centuries, and to substitute a reproduction of what they imagine to have been the original design. Mr. Pearson had the audacity to take down the fifteenth-century north turret, and to erect a bran-new Norman turret in its place. The front, as we see it, consists of a centre flanked by turrets, and two wings, which form the ends of the aisles. First we notice the beautiful west door, which is one of the finest Norman doorways in the kingdom. It has five orders, and is of elaborate design and profusely adorned with mouldings, the capitals being richly carved. On the fourth shaft on each side are two curious figures, supposed to represent Henry I. and his queen. In the tympanum is the Saviour, with angels and the evangelistic emblems, and below small mutilated figures of the Apostles. The old doors were said to have been covered with the skins of Danes, but these have disappeared, and the new ones have no trace of the epidermis of our destructive visitors. The great west window was inserted about 1470. Rows of Norman arcading adorn the front. Two modern statues of Bishops Gundulf and John have been placed in the niches on each side of the doorway. The turrets are octagonal, that on the west being modern, and built by Mr. Pearson on the model of that on the south, in place of a Perpendicular one erected at the same time as the window. The north tower has been quite recently erected in imitation of the ancient design, and the south tower raised to its original height.