On the northern side is the octagonal chapter house with its five-light windows between angle buttresses. A parapet surrounds the pyramidical roof; a gargoyle depicts a bishop, in a boat, giving his benediction. The vestibule was built after the chapter house, to connect it with the church. The whole of the northern elevation is well seen from the Deanery Gardens. It is difficult to realize that the whole was in ruins in the first half of the last century. The choir was fired by a lunatic in 1829, and the nave was destroyed by fire in 1840 owing to the carelessness of a workman. The central tower, fortunately, proved a barrier to the flames on both occasions by preventing their spreading to the other part of the building. The Minster is generally entered by the south transept. Spaciousness is the leading feature within. The great dimensions of the transepts with the lofty lantern in the centre and the “Five Sisters” at the northern end, filled in with ancient brownish-green glass, combine to make this the finest internal view. The resemblance of the glass to tapestry has given rise to a tradition that five maiden sisters worked the design in tapestry. This pretty legend forms the subject of a story related by Dickens in _Nicholas Nickleby_. The view westward along the nave is a fine one. The eight bays are emphasized by the vaulting shafts which rise directly from the floor, whilst the end is filled with arcading in which is set the entrance and thereover an eight-light window with beautiful flowing tracery. The beauty of the nave owes much to the fourteenth-century glass which fills the aisle and clerestory windows. A most brilliant scene is produced when the sun shines through these windows. The view from the western end embraces the whole length of the Minster: in the centre the tower arches support the lantern and beyond stretches the long vaulted roof over the organ and altar-screen to the east end with its large magnificent window. The view in the choir looking eastward with the canopied stalls, the open traceried altar-screen, backed by the great window, which rises to the lofty vaulting, is one of striking beauty. The chapter house is octagonal and without a single column to support the vaulting. Each bay, excepting the entrance, consists of six canopied stalls under a lofty window. The glass in the tracery is adorned with shields bearing the arms of King Edward I and of members of his Court. The windows have alternately diapered and subject panels. The subjects are taken from the Bible or from the lives of saints. The carving on the stalls is exquisite and consists of figures, heads, and foliage. The latter is treated “naturally”, as is the diaper on the glass. The ironwork on the doors consists of scrolls cut into leafage and flowers and finished at the top in zoomorphic figures. A Latin verse painted on the wall testifies “As the rose is the flower of flowers, so is this the house of houses”.