in
1107, they still remain to a great extent what they were when originally
built by Walkelin. We therefore get the massive and rugged early Norman
walls still divided into the three nearly equal storeys which in the
nave have given place to two. Where the fall of the central tower
necessitated a partial rebuilding, the difference between the Early and
the Late masonry is very evident. That of the transepts generally is
coarse and very thick, as is the case with all Early Norman stonework.
The new masonry, on the other hand, recalls what William of Malmesbury
says of the Later Norman masonry at Salisbury, when he speaks of "the
courses of stone so correctly laid that the joint deceives the eye, and
leads it to imagine that the whole wall is composed of a single block."
The juncture of the two works at Winchester can be easily traced. Of the
general style of the transepts, Willis says: "The architecture is of the
plainest description. The compartment of the triforium is very nearly of
the same height as that of the pier-arches, and the clerestory is also
nearly the same height.... Each pier-arch is formed of two orders or
courses of voussoirs, the edges of which are left square, wholly
undecorated by mouldings. This is the case with the pier-arches of Ely
transept, but in the arches of the triforium at Ely, and in every other
Norman part of that cathedral, the edges of the voussoirs are richly
moulded. In Winchester transept, on the contrary, the arches of the
triforium and clerestory are square-edged like those of the pier below
and hence arises the peculiarly simple and massive effect of this part
of the church." Between the tower-piers and the terminal walls of each
transept there are three piers, making four compartments, the farther
two of which from the nave and choir open into the terminal aisles. The
arches were all originally plain, semi-circular, and square-edged, and
are supported by shafts with the cushioned capitals so characteristic of
the ruder Norman style, and the bases are simple with a chamfer and
quarter-round, very different from the ornamental Late Norman bases,
such as may be seen at S. Cross, Winchester, for example. Where the
Later Norman work has taken the place of the original, we find stronger
piers. The vault above is groined, but there are no ribs. Nothing,
however, can now be seen of the vaulting above the level of the
side-walls, since a flat wooden ceiling, painted in "Early Tudor" style