e the church of the
parish, the recently erected Perpendicular church would be no longer of
any use, and the keeping of it in repair a continual source of expense;
hence it was pulled down, the openings in what had been the original
north wall of the nave aisle of the Abbey church were walled up, and the
mouldings and glass of the Perpendicular windows on the north side of the
parish church were inserted in these new walls. Hence we get windows of
different heights and levels between the great north door and the
transept: recent alterations have still further increased the
irregularity. The parish church did not, apparently, extend so far to the
west as the Abbey church, hence the two windows to the west of the north
door were not interfered with when the parish church was built. It has
been already pointed out that the three western bays of the nave are of
later date and later in style than the rest of the nave; they were built
in the thirteenth century, and consequently all the windows found in this
part of the church have pointed heads.

[Illustration: THE WEST END AND SOUTH TRANSEPT]

The #West Front#. A unique feature of this church is its west front. It is
one of singular beauty, but its beauty does not depend on any enrichment
of decoration, for a simpler front it would be impossible to find: there
is not a single carved stone about it. Its beauty is due to the exquisite
proportions of the various parts. The nave and aisles are of the same
length. At the corners of the aisles are rectangular buttresses and
two similar ones stand at the ends of the main walls of the nave.
String-courses, starting from the aisle buttresses, run below the aisle
windows and round the buttresses of the nave, but are not continued across
the nave beneath the lancet windows. The buttresses do not quite rise to
the full height of the side walls of the nave, and not a pinnacle is to be
met with anywhere. The sill of the west window is about fifteen feet from
the ground, and from it three tall lancets about four feet wide rise to a
height of nearly thirty feet. They are placed under a comprising pointed
arch, just beneath the point of which, and over the central lancet, is a
cinquefoil opening. The wall finishes in a gable and the whole west wall
is a true termination of the nave which lies behind. We notice that the
glass is set well towards the outside of the openings, and also that no
western doorway exists or ever existed here. The pro