othing--there is no
description of it; and though the minster is represented on an old seal
with one spire-crowned tower, yet the representation of the rest of the
church is so conventional that it cannot be regarded as an authentic
record of the actual appearance of the steeple. It is curious that, as
it stood for about three hundred years and fell only in the later years
of Elizabeth's reign, no drawing remains to show us what this spire was
like. But it passed away, doing some damage to the building in its fall,
and that is the only record it has left behind; but we can well picture
to ourselves how much importance must have been added to the minster by
this spire, which must have been a conspicuous object for many miles
round. The present heavy, ugly battlemented parapet spoils the general
effect of the tower; and though we are adverse to the sweeping away of
any features of an old building, even when the features are inharmonious
and even ugly--because this is, as it were, tearing a page of stone from
the book of the history of the building--yet we must confess we could
have regarded the loss of the seventeenth-century parapet and pinnacles
with much less regret than other features which the restorer has
tampered with.

[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT BEFORE 1891.]

The #North Porch#, which was evidently always intended to be, as it
is to this day, the chief entrance into the church, consists of two
bays marked externally by buttresses on each side: the inner order of
moulding to the arch giving access to this porch springs from two shafts
of Purbeck marble; the outer orders are carried up from the base without
any capitals or imposts. The height of the crown of the inner arch above
the capitals from which it springs is somewhat less than half the width
at the bottom, and the radius of the curvature of the arches is greater
than the width. Over the arch is a square-headed two-light window,
lighting the room over the entrance. The roof differs from all the other
roofs of the church since it is covered with stone tiles, while the
others are covered with lead. There are buttresses set diagonally at the
two northern angles of the porch.

Between the porch and the transept are three two-light Decorated
windows. The tracery of all these is alike, but differs from that of
the two windows to the west of the porch. The most picturesque feature
of the north transept is the turret containing the staircase by which
access