verhead comes the later vault, telling richly by
contrast with the severe plainness of the earlier work below. The
extreme length of the cathedral is about 407 feet. The nave, always long
in Norman churches, is here over 200 feet from the west door to the
choir screen. Although some critics object to the position of the organ
on this same screen, there can be no doubt that, not only is it a most
admirable position for the instrument acoustically, but also that its
presence here does not detract from the general effect of the interior.
From the west end of the nave, as a dark silhouette against the eastern
apsidal windows, or as an object in the middle distance, it helps the
spectator to realise the length of the cathedral. A certain sense of
mystery and something undiscerned adds to the charm of an interior, and
the organ here helps, with the screen, to enshrine the eastern arm and
most sacred portion of the building, and interrupts the vista for the
sake of which disastrous sacrifices have been made in many of our
cathedral churches.

#The Nave# consists of seven double bays; in all, fourteen compartments
from the west end to the tower crossing.

It will be noticed that, in the plan (page 113), a square of the nave,
occupying longitudinally the space of two bays of the aisles, is
indicated by the dotted lines; also a main pier is marked as Y and a
subsidiary pier as z.

The main piers, as at Y, are large rectangular masses, having on the
nave side a flat buttress-like piece added, with shafts in the angles,
and bearing on the face the two vaulting shafts. On the aisle side are
two shafts to each transverse arch; and on the two lateral faces are
triple shafts to the arcade arches, with four angle shafts at each
corner of the main pier, taking the outer rings to same. The plan is the
same at the triforium level. The smaller or subsidiary piers (as at X)
have single vaulting shafts on the nave face, double ones to the aisle,
and under the arcade arches convex faces, with four angle shafts, as in
main piers. The plan of these piers determines the elevation. The nave
arcade arches, ornamented with the billet, and triforium with a
_chevron_ or zig-zag, are almost equal in size, and over these lower
stages comes the typical triple Norman clerestory with walk; the whole
covered in by the fine lierne vault.

[Illustration: A Norman Capital.]

The vault has thirteen complete bays and two semi-bays, one at either
end. The j