Salisbury and Christchurch Priory should be found influencing or
influenced by the great northern cathedral, but the likeness between
Flambard's Norman work at Christchurch and the same bishop's work at
Durham is as strongly marked as the Early English of Bishop Poore at
both the churches in which he was enthroned. That Elias de Dereham is
responsible for much of the work of both cathedrals is also a fair
assumption. Curiously enough his name, hitherto hastily assumed to be
equivalent to Elias of Durham, has probably no connection with that
city; whether, however, his patronym should be traced to the Norfolk
Dereham, or the Gloucester Dyrham, it is impossible to say with any
certainty. On somewhat insufficient grounds it has been hazarded that
his portrait may be found in a figure on the east side of the
staircase buttress of what was formerly the great entrance to Wells
Cathedral.

Owing to the fact that the original design of the building was fully
carried out, with the addition of a tower and spire, its architectural
history ceases just where most others begin their chequered career. At
the time of the Reformation it suffered but little, except in the
wholesale destruction of its stained glass. Dr. Pope, in his "Life of
Bishop Ward," says that even during the Civil War, when it was
abandoned, workmen were engaged to keep it in repair, who when
questioned as to the authority by which they worked, said, "Those who
employ'd us will pay us; trouble not your selves to inquire who they
are. Whoever they are, they do not desire to have their names known."
We find as evidence of the secret influence exerted in its behalf that
when one of Waller's officers sent up to the Parliament certain plate
and a pulpit cloth from Salisbury Cathedral, he was ordered to restore
them, as it was considered that he had overstepped his commission; all
that was retained being certain copes, hangings, and a picture of the
Virgin.

At the Restoration, Bishop Ward, after a great thunderstorm in 1668,
when fears were entertained for the safety of the spire, called in Sir
Christopher Wren, who, after examining the tower, expressed his belief
"that a spire was not contemplated by its builders;" that "out of fear
to overburden the four piers of the tower, its inside was carried for
40 feet above the nave with a slender hollow work of pillars and
arches, nor hath it any buttresses; the spire itself is but 9 inches
thick, though the height be above