nourable men, Cardinal John Morton
and Prior William Sellyng, erected and magnificently completed that lofty
tower commonly called Angyll Stepyll in the midst of the church, between
the choir and the nave--vaulted with a most beautiful vault, and with
excellent and artistic workmanship in every part sculptured and gilt, with
ample windows glazed and ironed. He also with great care and industry
annexed to the columns which support the same tower two arches or
vaults of stone work, curiously carved, and four smaller ones, to assist
in sustaining the said tower" ("Ang. Sac." i. 147, translated by Professor
Willis). The western front of the cathedral is flanked by two towers of
great beauty; a point in which Mediaeval architecture has risen above that
of all other ages is the skill which it displays in the use of towers of
different heights, breaking the dull straight line of the roof and
carrying the eye gradually up to the loftiest point of the building.
Canterbury presents an excellent example of the beauty of this
subordination of lower towers to the chief; we invite the visitor, when
looking at the exterior, to compare it mentally, on the one hand, with the
dull severity of the roof line of a Greek temple, and on the other, to
take a fair example of modern so-called Gothic, with the ugly straight
line of the Houses of Parliament, as seen from the Lambeth Embankment,
broken only by the two stark and stiff erections at each end. The two
towers at the west end of Canterbury were not always uniform. At the
northern corner an old Norman tower formerly uplifted a leaden spire one
hundred feet high. This rather anomalous arrangement must have had a
decidedly lopsided effect, and it is probable that the appearance of the
cathedral was changed very much for the better when the spire, which had
been taken down in 1705, was replaced by Mr. Austin in 1840, by a tower
uniform with the southernmost tower, called the Chicele or Oxford steeple:
this tower was completed by Prior Goldstone, who, during his tenure of
office from 1449-68, also built the Lady Chapel. On its south side stands
the porch, with a remarkable central niche, which formerly contained a
representation of Becket's martyrdom. The figures of the Archbishop's
assassins now no longer remain; but their place has been filled up with
figures of various worthies who have lived under the shadow of the
cathedral. Dean Alford suggested, about 1863, that the many vacant niches
sh