of is red-tiled," says a recent observer, "the long blank wall
faced with rough-cast of a warm yellowish tinge, and supported on a
range of broad and low timber arcading, which is, in its turn, supported
by a dwarf wall some three feet in height." The main feature of the
cloister is a red-brick oriel window; "reared upon two brick arches,
supported midway by an octangular pillar of the same material, and
flanked by splayed buttresses with stone quoins, the window-opening
occupies a comparatively small space, and is filled with stone mullions
and tracery of a Tudor character; the whole design proclaimed by a stone
tablet, let into the brickwork, to be the work of Bishop Compton." Above
the cloister is the infirmary, which opens into the church so as to
allow the sick to hear the service. The church, though considered by
many the finest existing example of Late and Transitional Norman, also
exhibits architecture of all periods down to Late Decorated. Commenced
by Bishop de Blois in 1171, it was not completed until the end of the
thirteenth century. From east to west it measures 125 feet, its ordinary
breadth is 54 feet, while at the transepts it is 115. Woodward thinks
from the appearance of the exterior that the body of the church was
widened at some period after its first erection. The windows are various
in style. In the nave they are Transition Norman and Early English, and
in the clerestory Decorated; in the choir aisles Late Norman. The
western doorway is Early English with dogtooth ornament, while the large
window above with its geometrical tracery is "fully developed
Decorated." The most striking feature of the exterior, however, is at
the south-east exterior angle of the south transept, a fine triple arch
with chevron and billet moulding, which was probably once a doorway into
a cloister no longer existing. Within the three-bay nave one is in the
midst of Early English and Transition Norman work. The bases and caps of
the Norman pillars are very rich, and, as has been pointed out, furnish
a great contrast to such Norman work as is seen on the transept pillars
at Winchester itself. The south walls are very plain, and were probably
connected with De Blois' buildings originally. In the choir above the
pier-arches is a triforium of intersecting arches (to which Milner
attributed the origin of the Pointed style), and there is a second
passage beneath the clerestory windows. The floor-brass of John de
Camden (1382) lies