ne more recently, and the present vicar has the
intention of building a porch with a room over it on the north side, to
take the place of the porch which was destroyed when the nave of the
church of St. Laurence was built in the time of William of Wykeham, as
already described.

The curious wooden erection on the top of the tower, somewhat resembling a
hen coop or gigantic lobster pot, was added in comparatively recent times
to contain the bells; drawings made at the beginning of the nineteenth
century do not show it, but, those made about the middle of the century
do. It is ugly, and adds nothing to the dignity of the church; probably
the tower was originally crowned by a pyramidal roof which gave it the
appearance of height so much required.

The east ends of the two choir aisles have in quite recent years been
provided with altars and fitted up as chapels for week-day services. The
two apsidal chapels attached to the transept are used as vestries, the one
on the south for clergy and that on the north for the choir.

[Illustration: THE ABBESS'S DOOR]

CHAPTER II

THE EXTERIOR

The site of Romsey abbey church is not a commanding one. There are some
cathedral churches, such as Ely, built on marsh-formed islands which rise
considerably above the surrounding flats, and so form conspicuous objects
in the landscape seen from far or near; but this is not the case with the
abbey church with which we have to deal. The level of its floor does not
rise much above the level of the river valley in which it stands, the
building is not large or lofty, the parapets of its central tower, about
92 ft. above the ground, rise little above the ridges of the roofs of
nave and choir and the north arm of the transept. But it has one great
advantage: there is no part of the exterior of the building that cannot be
fully examined. Perhaps we might be glad if the space from which it may be
seen were here and there a little wider, yet nowhere do we find a garden
wall or a building barring our passage as we make the circuit of the
exterior of the church. On the north side lies the churchyard stretching a
considerable distance to the north, from which an admirable general view
is obtained; and again, there is open ground to the west, so that the
unique and splendid western facade can be well seen. The space to the
south side of the building is more limited; it is entered through an iron
gateway running in a line with the west front; s