ons were made in the clerestory of the south
transept, while on its east side there was, apparently, a conversion of
two arches into one to form a large altar recess. This change seems to
be alluded to when in 1322 the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in this
transept is spoken of as "de nova constructo." At this time there were
many disputes between the monks and the parishioners of St. Nicholas,
whose altar[5] stood from 1322, at any rate, till 1423, against the
rood-screen across the end of the nave beneath the western tower-arch.
In 1327, in which year Mr. Walcott tells of a riotous assault by the
townsfolk on the pretence of a right of entrance by day or night for the
ministration of the Viaticum, an oratory was built, by agreement between
the monks and the parishioners, "in angulo navis," for the Reserved
Sacrament, and the small door was inserted in the west front. To dread
of such attacks or fear of the crowds of strangers constantly passing
through the town, which stood on the main road to Canterbury and the
Continent, we must attribute the erection of the screens and strong
doors of this time, which shut off the choir from the rest of the
cathedral, and also the almost contemporaneous walling off of the priory
from the town. Among these screens is included the west side of the
pulpitum, which still contains its original central doorway, as well as
the screens in the choir aisles. To this same period also belongs,
apparently, the western cloister door.

[5] For further information about this altar, see p. 68.

In 1343 the central tower was at last raised by Bishop Hamo de Hythe,
and capped by him with a wooden spire in which he placed four bells
named Dunstan, Paulinus, Ythamar, and Lanfranc. The south tower had
already been destroyed and with its demolition we approach the end of
the changes which have brought the south choir aisle to its present form
and which will be described in the chapter on the interior of the
church.[6] The completion of this aisle is assigned to W. de Axenham;
its wooden roof seems to belong to King Edward II.'s time. Decorated
tracery was inserted in the presbytery windows soon after the erection
of the tower, and Bishop Hamo is recorded to have reconstructed in
marble and alabaster the shrines of SS. Paulinus and Ythamar. Finally,
to this time, to about the middle of the fourteenth century, belongs the
beautiful doorway which leads to the present chapter room and library,
and is o