ce of
Saxon brick; a circumstance worthy of remark, as the original
situation of the font has of late occasioned some little controversy.
It is also curious, that the walls on the south side should be far
less massive than those on the north, though both unquestionably of
the same aera. The windows in each aisle are, for the most part,
circular, and each is decorated occasionally with Norman capitals and
groinings."[8] The aisles, on each side, are much lower than the body
of the nave, and in the north aisle is a cinquefoil arch, with Gothic
canopy and crockets, resting on short columns of Purbeck stone, over
an elegant altar tomb. A modern inscription assigns it to "Petrus de
Sancta Maria, 1295."

[8] _The Crypt_, No. vii. p. 168.

The transepts display a variety of arches and windows, of irregular
arrangement, both round and pointed. Some of those in the south seem
to have opened into chancels or recesses, and some probably were mere
cupboards: but in the north wall of the opposite transept are two
arches communicating with the _sick chambers_ of the Hospital, by
opening which "the patients, as they lay in their beds, might attend
to the divine services going forward." Both these transepts are
profusely enriched with embattled and other mouldings. One window on
the east side of each has been so contrived as to throw the light in a
sloping direction into the body of the church, instead of reflecting
it directly, and to less purpose, on the opposite wall; that in the
north retains a portion of its painted glass, but the corresponding
one in the south has been blocked up.

We have already spoken of the aisles attached to the sides of the
choir, and their beautiful embellishments. Each is decorated with
three circular-headed windows, and exhibits a few traces of its
ancient altars. That towards the north contains a very curious
piscina, fixed upon a pillar, and with small holes pierced round a
raised centre, precisely resembling a modern sink. There are likewise
the remains of several pedestals, on which images may be supposed to
have once stood.

"The choir extends, according to modern arrangement, beyond the tower
into the nave itself. The tower rises very nobly upon four slender
columns, terminating in pointed arches but with Norman capitals. The
lantern is lighted by four lancet windows on each side, the two centre
ones not being open. The oaken roof is plain, and supported by very
large beam-heads. Eastward