Before these restorations a vault of the fifteenth century rose immediately above the great arches, and concealed the upper part of the tower. This was removed. The whole of the tower above the arches dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century; and the interior walls, which are now visible from below, “are of a very singular construction; twelve piers of compact masonry on each side, beside angle piers, are carried up to the height of 26 ft., and connected half-way up by a horizontal course of stone, in long pieces, and by an iron bar, which runs all round immediately under this bonding course. Upon these gigantic _stone gratings_, if I may be allowed the expression, the interior wall of the tower rests; and they also carry the entire weight of the bell-chamber and bells. I believe this construction was entirely adopted for the sake of lightness[34].” This part of the tower, which has no decorative character, was not originally intended to be seen from below; and the fifteenth-century vaulting had replaced an earlier wooden ceiling. It is now completely open, and the flat wooden floor of the bell-chamber above it is coloured in blue and gold. From this floor depends a superb corona of wrought iron, by Skidmore--a worthy companion of the great choir-screen, and coloured in the same manner. IX. The peculiar darkness of the _choir_ has already been mentioned. It results mainly (as will be seen from the Plan) from the arrangement of the transepts, which prevents the admission of light to the choir except from its clerestory. The choir and sacrarium, as at present formed, consist of only three bays, eastward of the screen. (The Norman choir extended no doubt to the western arch of the tower, if not into the first bay of the nave.) As far as the top of the triforium, the choir is _Norman_: the clerestory and vaulting are _Early English_, and date, apparently, from the middle of the thirteenth century. No record of their construction has been preserved. The _main arches_ of the choir are of three orders, and spring from massive composite piers, with broad, square bases. The capitals of the semi-detached shafts are enriched with leafage and grotesque heads. The _triforium_, in each bay, consists of one wide Norman arch circumscribing two smaller, divided by a central shaft, and springing on either side from two massive semicircular piers, with small capitals. Both outer and inner arches spring from these piers. The capitals of the central shafts have square abaci, and are enriched. The tympana of the outer arches are covered with scallop, leaf, and billet-ornament. At the base of the triforium runs a square stringcourse, enriched with minute carving. The lozenge ornament prevails round the main arches of the choir, as does the zigzag round those of the nave.