all. It is
not unlikely that the tower was weakened by the alterations in the
fourteenth century, when wider arches were cut in the west walls of the
transepts, in consequence of the widening of the nave aisles. The fall
of the spire, which fell towards the east, demolished the clerestory
windows of the choir on the south side, and their place was supplied by
a long, low Tudor window oblong in shape and quite plain. The windows,
however, on both sides have been entirely altered, and those now
existing in the clerestory are small lancets of modern date.

The spire was not rebuilt, but the heavy looking battlement and solid
pinnacles which still remain, and detract considerably from the beauty
of the tower, were added as a finish to it in the year 1608. It is
curious that the churchwardens' books, in which many entries occur
detailing repairs and other work connected with the spire, make no
mention of its fall.

The western tower was also a source of trouble. It was built, as has
been already mentioned, during the latter half of the fifteenth century,
the glazing of the windows being completed in 1464; but as early as 1548
it was thought necessary to brick up the west doorway, and notices of
unsoundness of the tower occur frequently in the church books. In 1664
we find the following entry made:--"Paid in beere to the Ringers for a
peale to trye if the Tower shooke L0 1s 0d." As we read this entry, we
cannot help wondering if the large amount of beer which a shilling would
purchase in those days was given to the ringers so as to give them a
fictitious courage and blind their eyes to the possible danger of
bringing the tower down upon their heads. In 1739 the Perpendicular
window in the western face of the tower was taken out and a smaller oval
one put in its place, with a view to the strengthening of the wall by
additional stonework. The modern restorer, however, has again put a
window of Perpendicular character in place of the oval window inserted
in the last century, using to aid him in his design, sundry fragments of
the original tracery found embedded in the walls.

[Illustration: WIMBORNE MINSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. From an old
Print.]

Before the nineteenth-century restorations, the pulpit, probably late
sixteenth-century work, stood in the nave against the middle pillar on
the north side, and the nave and choir were separated by a screen of
three arches on which stood the organ. The central arch had doors