The ceiling of the
church--the wreck of the Tudor open-worked timber roof--had been "pared
down to a common pediment covering," supported on the heads of cherubim
as corbels. The Doric altar-piece is contemptuously referred to as "a
painted theatrical scene of architecture."[15]

While the subordinate buildings were dropping into ruin, the church,
besides having suffered from fire and neglect, had been disfigured by a
long series of repairs and embellishments, the character of which may be
inferred from the glaring instances pointed out in the letters just
quoted. The other alterations made in the interior may be briefly
summarized as follows: The level of the floor was raised by a thick
deposit of earth; the walls were enveloped in whitewash, to the
concealment of the ancient mural paintings and certain delicate
sculptured ornament; and high pews were erected, which reached almost to
the capitals of the piers. The openings of the triforium were bricked
up--in some cases entirely obliterated--and at the east end, above the
altar-piece just mentioned, there rose a brick wall, pierced with two
ugly round-headed windows, filled with square panes of glass, and
destitute of mullions and tracery. The space between the termination
thus formed and the original apse went by the name of "Purgatory," as a
receptacle for human bones, some thousands of which were found to have
accumulated when it was cleared out in 1836.[16]

[Illustration: THE CHOIR BEFORE RESTORATION, SHOWING THE FACTORY FLOOR
EXTENDING OVER THE APSE AND SUPPORTED BY TWO IRON COLUMNS]

The secularization of this extreme eastern part of the church is traced
to the first purchaser from the Government, who held that the sanctuary
was bounded by the straight wall which there ran across it. A more
modern consequence than that just mentioned was the intrusion into the
triforium of a Nonconformist school, which was held there during the
eighteenth century, in connection with a chapel belonging to the
particular denomination immediately outside, having a convenient access
to the triforium from its own galleries. Another encroachment was a
fringe manufactory, which extended westwards along the triforium so as
to include Prior Bolton's window, and held its ground for some time
after the main arcading of the apse had been restored. Visitors to the
church before the restoration was complete will remember a substantial
iron bar which was carried across the cur