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fret, and then another string course, from which the second row of
arcading springs. This has semicircular heads, with zigzag ornament, and
a double series of intersecting arches above, like an arcade on Anselm's
Tower at Canterbury. The topmost arcade of the three rises over another
string course and is round-headed like the rest. Its arches do not,
however, like theirs, run on continuously but form two groups of two on
each side. The crenellated gable parapet rises from a string course with
five sculptured masks, and has plain shields on its battlements. Of the
gable turrets the northern has, in the last restoration, been made to
match the southern. Both are now octagonal, and have two arcaded
stories. Their tops are pyramidal, and ribs run down the edges from the
curious conical cap, which crowns the apex of each.

The aisle ends stand back somewhat. Each has a lofty, ornamented arch,
rising to the height of the sill of the central window, and containing,
recessed within its upper part, a semicircular headed window. We see,
higher up on each side, a single narrow light, and higher still an
arcaded lean-to. At the end of the north aisle is a pointed doorway,
inserted for the use of St. Nicholas' parishioners in 1327.

We will now conclude our account of the front in its present form, with
a description of its flanking towers. The northern is square for its
whole height, and has four rows, one above the other, of blind arcading.
The southern, with the same number of arcades, is also square in its
lower portion, but, for the two upper rows becomes octagonal, and
finally terminates in an octagonal pyramid. The spire of its fellow on
the north can scarcely be called octagonal; it is square, with the
angles only slightly cut down, and with slight splaying at its base. On
the summits of both are curious conical caps (like those described as
surmounting the gable turrets), from which ribs run down the angles. The
arcades are continued round the outer sides of the lower parts of the
towers, and right round when the roofs of the aisles are passed. The
heads of all the arches are as usual semicircular, and the second arcade
from the top is filled with a diaper of semicircles arranged in a
curious scale-like pattern.

Generally, as we have said, except for the great Perpendicular window
and the gable above it, the front shows the design of the later Norman
builders. The window that they constructed in it was possibly
wheel