eddish-brown stone structure, grim and defiant, with
its almost perfect specimen of a Norman Keep, and battlements frowning
towards the north, is still a place to see.

But it is the Cathedral which is Carlisle's chief glory. Rising in the
centre of the city, high above all other buildings except the factory
chimneys, there is an air of importance about it not altogether
justifiable. The building is small and not of very great account, the
reason being that Carlisle was only erected into a See in 1133, and then
out of Durham. The result was that the parish church was promoted to the
dignity of a cathedral. Nevertheless, it has several striking
features--a delightful Early English choir and magnificent east window,
reputed to be unsurpassed by any other in the kingdom, if indeed in the
world. From 1092, the date of the original building, to 1400-19, in
Bishop Strickland's time, when the north transept was restored and the
central tower rebuilt, and down to the present day, the edifice contains
every variety of style, from Norman to Perpendicular, with admirable
specimens of nineteenth century work. Of the original Norman minster the
only parts remaining are two bays of the nave, the south transept, and
the piers of the tower. How long the church remained in its pristine
state it is impossible to say. The first alteration was probably the
enlargement of the choir, towards the middle and close of the thirteenth
century, immediately before the great fire of 1292, the worst the
cathedral has experienced in its four burnings. The work of
reconstruction after 1292 appears to have been somewhat slow, so slow
that little was done till the year 1352, when Bishop Welton and his
successor set themselves in earnest to the task. "The king, the city
treasury, and the leading families of the neighbourhood contributed
towards the restoration, in response to the urgent appeals of the
bishops and to the indulgences issued for the remission of forty days'
penance to such laity as should by money, materials, or labour,
contribute to the pious work." Towards the close of the reign of Edward
III. the renovated pile rose from it ruins. To this period belongs the
entire east end, with its grand window, the triforium, the carved
capitals of the arches, and the Decorated windows of the clerestory.
The ceiling was painted and gilded and panelled, the intersections
glowing with the armorial bearings of the rich donors by whose
liberality the work h