a central
shaft, with moulded base and foliaged capital. The jambs contain five
shafts on each side, which differ from that in the centre, in that
they are of Purbeck marble, and banded, in pleasing contrast to the
plain stone of their own bases and capitals, and of the (unbanded)
central shaft. In the tympanum of the double doorway thus formed,
there is a pointed arcading, consisting of a central arch and two
smaller arches on either side. The deep soffit of the arch in which
this elegant arcading is enclosed, is adorned with a series of
quatrefoil panels.

[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORCH.]

From the remains of a bracket discovered in the ruins of the former
arcading, it is obvious that the central space was intended for a
statue. We are not left to mere conjecture on this point, but have
documentary evidence to confirm it, which shows that the recess held a
seated figure of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of the church.[19]
The arch is now vacant, though supplied with a suggestive pedestal;
and there is one other detail in which the restorer appears to have
departed from his original, viz., in not reproducing the small
clusters of foliage that were distributed along the hollows of the
mouldings.

The long gargoyles projecting horizontally on either side of the roof,
and the floriated cross on the apex, are worth notice. The modern
restoration is indicated by a cross (_patee_) carved on the central
buttress on this side of the Cathedral, which marks the stone laid by
King Edward VII on 24th July, 1900, when His Majesty was Prince of
Wales.

The =West Front= is chiefly remarkable as presenting a dead wall where
we usually expect to find the grand entrance. It is a debated question
among antiquaries and architects whether the first Norman church ever
had a doorway in this front; and the question has not got beyond
conjecture as to the Early English church which superseded it in the
thirteenth century. It is certain, however, that a rich and elaborate
entrance, deeply recessed, was inserted here in the Perpendicular age
(sixteenth century), about the same date that the upper stages of the
tower were set up, either for the first time, or in place of an
earlier doorway.[20]

The same uncertainty attends the history of the great west window; all
traces of the original having disappeared when a window of the
Perpendicular style was introduced in agreement with the doorway
b