The extent and nature of the different restorations will be pointed out as we proceed. It is no doubt to be regretted that so much rebuilding should have been necessary; but this has been partly owing to original defects of construction, and partly to the nature of the stone, which was taken, apparently without much care in selection, from quarries in the old red sandstone, near the city. This stone is so much weather-worn in parts as to resemble the face of a sea cliff. Throughout Wyatt’s rebuilding and all the restorations, the new stone has been brought from the Caplar quarries near Fawley; from Lugwardine; and from some quarries nearer Hereford; also in the old red sandstone, but yielding blocks of a much harder and more durable character. II. The Saxon Bishop ETHELSTAN (1012-1056) built a church from the foundations; which shortly after the accession of his successor, LEOFGAR, (1056,) was burnt together with the greater part of the city, by the Welsh king Gryffyth. The first Norman bishop, ROBERT DE LOSINGA, (1079-1096,) who found his cathedral in ruins, began to rebuild it, taking for his model the church of Aachen, or Aix la Chapelle,--the work of Charlemagne[30]. This building was so far completed as to be dedicated (in the names of the Blessed Virgin and of Ethelbert King of East Anglia, see § X. and Pt. II.) in 1110, during the episcopate of REINHELM, (1107-1115). The Norman portions of the existing cathedral (the piers of the nave, the choir as high as the clerestory, and the south transept,) belong to Bishop Robert’s cathedral. With the exception of its first foundation, however, and of the walls of the nave-aisles, “it is much to be regretted that the period of erection of no one part of this cathedral has been recorded[31];” and we are left to assign the various dates from the character of the architecture alone. They are probably as follows:-- _Norman_, 1079-1115. Piers of nave, choir as high as clerestory, and south transept, (which has had Perpendicular alterations). _Early English_, _circ._ 1190. Vestibule of Lady-chapel. _Early English_, _circ._ 1220. Lady-chapel. _Early English_, _circ._ 1260? Clerestory and vaulting of choir. _Transitional_, from Early English to Decorated, 1282-1287. North transept. _Geometrical_, (Early Decorated,) 1287-1320. Eastern transept. Upper part of central tower. _Late Decorated_, 1360-1364. Outer walls and windows of nave-aisles. _Perpendicular_, 1492-1502. Bishop Audley’s chantry. 1516-1535. The north porch.