n up behind the westernmost arch of the
arcading. The very fine vaulting, although some have ascribed it to the
Early English period, belongs more probably to the time of Archbishop
Roger. Unlike that over the choir-aisles and the Markenfield chapel,
however, it has all its arches rounded, and is without wall-ribs. It
springs from five-sided corbels which, like the corbels of the old nave,
are finished off with scrolls, and which on the north side are placed
against the piers of the arcading; and in the middle of the room it is
supported on two cylindrical and monolithic pillars. The bases and
capitals of these are circular, and the former are almost pure Early
English, the plinth having a round moulding at the bottom, and the base
proper consisting of two round mouldings separated by a hollow, with one
or two beads or fillets. The capitals are less advanced in style, as the
part just above the bell is not moulded and the abacus retains the
square edge. All the eight ribs that rise from each pillar resemble the
groin-ribs in the crypt.

[Illustration: THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.]

The arcade against the north wall is continued in the vestry, and it has
been thought that it is Norman, and that its arches were once open.[110]
But had this ever been the case the piers would surely have been
narrower, and would have had capitals. Indeed, it is doubtful whether
the arcade is Norman at all: for if it were, its bays might be expected
to agree in span and number with the (presumably Norman) bays of the
crypt, whereas there are five bays there and only four here occupying
the same total length. Secondly, the set-off on which its piers stand is
probably Archbishop Roger's work, as will appear later; and the piers
themselves seem to be of the same construction with the wall behind
them, which again is almost certainly his. Moreover, it is significant
that the arches agree in span with those of his choir, and that their
piers are back to back with his vaulting-shafts in the choir-aisle.
Lastly, these piers correspond in width with his buttresses on the north
side of the choir. In fact it is difficult to resist the conclusion that
they are Archbishop Roger's south choir buttresses in disguise,[111] and
that the arches between them were thrown across merely to form a
straight boundary for the vaulting, and to carry a ledge which (when
there was no storey above) might support the external roof. The piers
indeed are carried up, with a 'strai