ransepts are never common,
even in large churches. Instances in which a transeptal chapel is aisled
are even less common. The aisled south chapel at Medbourne in
Leicestershire has been mentioned in an earlier chapter. Oakham and
Langham churches in Rutland have large transeptal chapels with western
aisles: the north chapel at Langham was removed in the fifteenth
century, when the aisles of the nave were widened.

Sec. 64. Reference has also been made to those plans in which the side
walls of a tower between chancel and nave have been pierced with arches,
and quasi-transepts have been constructed. This is very noticeable at
Almondsbury in Gloucestershire, where the transeptal chapels, turned at
a later date into burial-places for two local families, are very large
and roomy. The cross-plan of Burford church in Oxfordshire was formed in
this way, early in the thirteenth century. Plans like this, in which the
chapels grow out of the central space, instead of being planned from the
first in relation to it, are imperfectly cruciform; but are highly
characteristic of the irregular methods of development pursued by the
builders of medieval parish churches.

Sec. 65. Towers above transeptal chapels are not uncommon. The two
transeptal towers at Ottery St Mary in Devon were doubtless copied from
the arrangement at Exeter cathedral: there was an altar against the east
wall of each chapel. The tower at Coln St Aldwyn, Gloucestershire, rises
above a south chapel projecting from an aisleless nave. This addition
was made in the fifteenth century. At Duddington in Northamptonshire the
ground floor of the tower virtually forms, in its present state, an
eastward extension of the south aisle parallel to the western part of
the chancel: the original plan was probably similar to the present plan
of Coln St Aldwyn. The noble church of Whaplode had transeptal chapels
projecting from the east end of either aisle: the thirteenth century
tower is above the south chapel. At Clymping in Sussex the arrangement
is very peculiar. The church, which is almost entirely of the thirteenth
century, has north and south transeptal chapels, and only a south aisle
to the nave. The tower, which is at the end of the south chapel, is
earlier than the rest of the building, but is clearly in its original
position.

Sec. 66. The early progress of Gothic art in parish churches was marked by
a general lengthening of chancels, analogous to that elongation of the
e