of the desired extension to
the east. Norman choirs, as a rule, had an apsidal termination to the
east, and it was not till Early English times that square east ends,
which were characteristic of the English church in pre-Norman times,
prevailed again over the Norman custom; and it is worthy of notice that
this rectangular termination towards the east end remains a marked
characteristic of the thirteenth-century work in England, Continental
church-builders having retained the apsidal termination till the
Renaissance. The side walls of the Norman choir extended two bays to the
east of the central tower, and the nave four bays westward of the same.
The transepts were shorter than at present, and the side aisles of the
nave narrower. There appear to have been two side chapels to the choir,
extending as far as the first bay eastward; beyond this to the east were
two Norman windows on each side: these windows, parts of which remain,
cut off by the Early English arches, were round-headed, and richly
ornamented with chevron mouldings. They were uncovered at the time of
the restoration, but are now again hidden by plaster. At the south end
of the south transept a low building seems to have existed: the walls
of this were raised when the south transept was lengthened in the
fourteenth century. The Norman masonry may be seen under the south
window of the transept, and a Norman string course runs round the sides
and ends of the present transept. The aisles of the nave were not only
narrower, but were also lower, than those now existing. It is also
probable that these aisles did not originally extend as far westward
as the nave. The windows of the Norman clerestory, which may still be
seen from the interior, though all similar in design, are not alike in
workmanship. The one over the narrow eastern bay on either side differs
from those over the three bays farther to the west. Moreover, a
continuous foundation has been discovered underneath the three western
arches of the Norman nave. Possibly there was at one time a solid wall
in this position, intended, however, from the first only to be
temporary, and this was removed when the aisles, still in Norman times,
were lengthened. The tower itself was not all built at the same time;
the upper stages are ornamented with an arcading of intersecting arches
indicating a somewhat later date.

In the thirteenth century the east end of the choir seems to have been
removed and the presbytery a