dition when the great bell was first hung (see p. 74). The effect of
these transeptal towers is so fine as to make us regret their rarity. A
case in which they were obviously imitated is to be seen in the fine
parish church of Ottery S. Mary, Devon. There are also most practical
reasons in their favour, and a consideration of them tends to increase
one's wonder that they should not be found more frequently. In the first
place it is possible to get a continuous, uniform, stretch of vault, the
roof being broken by no central tower. Also the plan is simplified, and
nave and choir have more architectural continuity. Again, by building
transeptal towers and discarding the usual central tower, the interior
escapes a danger it is often hard to overcome, the difficulty of holding
up the central tower. It is quite possible that Warelwast was far-seeing
enough to anticipate this trouble. The histories of other cathedrals
prove it to be a very real one. In 1107 the tower of Winchester fell in.
At Salisbury the spire is still a constant source of anxiety, despite "a
complex arrangement of iron bands and ties," which has been reinforced
more than once. The tower of Chichester collapsed in 1861. There is a
legend of the fall of a central tower at Christchurch Priory, and other
warnings could be cited, such as Hereford, Selby, Peterborough, and
Wells.

[3] "Architectural History of Exeter Cathedral," by Philip
Freeman, Archdeacon and Canon of Exeter (Bell), 1888.

Originally these two towers were cut off, by two arches underneath, from
the body of the church. But Quivil, wishing to enlarge the interior, did
so by "throwing the Tower spaces into it."

#The Roof# is one of the most striking features of the building,
especially as it is seen from a distance. The long line of the ridge of
nave and choir, unbroken by a central tower, give it a unique
distinction amongst English cathedrals. The delicate cresting of
fleurs-de-lis, and the pinnacles which crown the supporting buttresses
obviate any impression of heaviness, and together with the long series
of clerestory windows, alike in form yet differing in their admirable
tracery, give a singular impression of beauty.

#The North Porch.#--This was the northern entrance of the Norman church,
and from the outside it is possible to trace the line where the
fifteenth-century front was added to the old structure. It is decorated
with seven canopied niches in the style of that per