a of a stone vault was, however, abandoned
before the two eastern Early English bays on the south side were built,
for no preparation for vaulting shafts exists there.

[5] Sir Gilbert Scott was of the opinion that the south porch
was also John de Cella's work.

Abbot John de Cella had begun to build afresh the western towers, or,
according to some authorities, to build the first western towers that
the church ever had; we have no record of their completion, and it is
said that Abbot William abandoned the idea. We have only the foundations
by which we can determine their size. William of Trumpington transformed
the windows of the aisles into Early English ones. He also added a
wooden lantern to the tower, somewhat in the style of the wooden octagon
on the central tower of Ely.

At some time, but we do not know exactly when, the Church or Chapel of
St. Andrew adjoining the north nave aisle of the monks' church,
extending as far east as the sixth bay, was built for the use of the
parishioners, who had no right to enter the monastic church. This Church
of St. Andrew opened into the north aisle of the Abbey Church, being
separated from it by an arcade of four arches. It had a nave with aisle
and chancel. Its total length was about 140 feet, its width about 61
feet. It is conjectured that the north-western tower was converted into
a kind of antechapel or entrance porch for the Church of St. Andrew.
There was a door leading from the aisle of the Abbey Church into the
chancel of St. Andrew's; this door, walled up, may still be seen in the
fifth bay from the west end. In order to avoid the necessity of
returning again to the history of this church, it may here be stated
that it was rebuilt by John Wheathampstead after he had been re-elected
to the office of Abbot in 1451; and that it was destroyed after the
dissolution of the monastery, when there was no longer any need for it,
as the parishioners bought the Abbey Church for parochial use. The place
of the old arcading was then taken by a blank wall without any windows;
this was pulled down and the present wall built by Lord Grimthorpe.

In the latter half of the thirteenth century the reconstruction of the
eastern end was begun by Abbot John of Hertford. Here, as in many other
churches, the Norman choir was too short for thirteenth-century
requirements. The walls of the presbytery were raised and its
high-pitched roof converted into a flat one. The church was gr