Transept# (or St. Andrew's Aisle), as far as the walls are
concerned, is thought by some to have been built by Serlo, but there
have been so many alterations in the exterior that it is difficult to
say anything with certainty. Fosbroke, writing at the end of last
century, noted that there was an inscription on the outside wall making
mention of one William Pipard, who was sheriff of the county about sixty
years after Serlo's time. The windows have been enlarged and much
altered, and later tracery has been inserted.

In spite of the many alterations and some restoration, the south front
of this transept contains much interesting Norman work, which has been
re-used in a very clever way. The square flanking towers, with their
later spires, the arcading over the head of the window, and the graceful
curve in the battlement are all worthy of attention, and will serve to
confuse visitors before they realise that the Norman architecture is
concealed under a later casing, and that there is a great deal of old
work re-used in the new.

There is a curious buttress, too, which goes across the west window of
this transept to strengthen the south-west corner of the great tower. In
fact, the south side of the church is the only side that, as builders
say, has "settled" at all.

In 1867 a Roman tesselated pavement was discovered near the south front
of this transept.

#The Tower.#--Of all the exterior beauties, the most striking is the
beautiful and graceful tower. Placed where it is, almost in the centre
of the long line of the nave, continued in the choir and Lady Chapel, at
the point where the transept line intersects it, it is the chief feature
of the massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to the
enhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The other
members of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of which
approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most impressive
feature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks at it, the charm
is there. Seen from the gardens in the side streets close by when the
pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, or
again later in the autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or,
better still, in snow time, it is always full of beauty. On a bright hot
day the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a dream of
fairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower has the appearance of
being so close at hand