e Decorated arches at the west end of the nave. The
pier at the eastern side of the easternmost of these consists of the
semi-cylindrical respond of Norman date, a piece of masonry which was
part of the west wall of the Norman church; and then on the western
side of this an added semi-cylinder, on the capitals of which may be
seen the ball-flower ornament. The pier on either side, between the two
fourteenth-century arches, is octagonal, with a very plain capital (one
of these is shown in the illustration on page 57); the arches themselves
are also plain, consisting of two members with chamfered edges. The half
pillars at the western side of the western arch have been imbedded in
the octagonal buttresses of the west tower, which project into the
church.

[Illustration: PIER AND ARCH-SPRING IN THE SOUTH ARCADE.]

[Illustration: DECORATED ARCH IN THE NAVE.]

The height of the nave roof appears to have been altered on several
occasions. There may be seen from the interior of the nave, on the
west wall of the lantern tower, two lines running from the level of
the tops of the Norman clerestory windows: these make an angle of about
forty-five degrees with the horizontal, and, no doubt, are traces of the
weather mouldings marking the position of the exterior of the roof of
the nave in Norman times. Probably the roof visible from the interior
was flat and formed of wood, and ran across in the line of the string
course above the tower arch, at a level slightly above the heads of the
clerestory windows. A round-headed opening above this string course
probably gave admission to the space between the outer and inner roofs.
At a somewhat higher level, we have a slight trace which probably marks
the junction of the fifteenth-century roof with the tower. This roof
was of oak and very plain--at the restoration the pitch of the roof was
raised and carried up to such an extent as to cut off the bases of the
clerestory windows of the lantern tower; the inner roof itself is of
pitch-pine, with hammer-beams of the character which finds such favour
with nineteenth-century architects.

[Illustration: CLERESTORY STAGE OF THE CENTRAL TOWER.]

The #Central Tower#, the oldest and probably most interesting part
of the church, consists of four stages, of which the three lower ones
are open to the church. The lowest of these was undoubtedly part of the
original Norman church; the second or triforium was soon added. Above
this comes the clerestor