he church which was
used up to 1870.

In 1856 a scheme was started for getting the Abbey Church raised to
cathedral rank, and also for restoring the fabric. Mr. (afterwards Sir)
Gilbert Scott was appointed architect, and was empowered to do what he
thought most pressing as far as funds would allow; the flat roof of the
north aisle was renewed, drainage attended to, and foundations
strengthened; the floor at the south end of the transept was lowered--it
will be remembered that it had been raised in 1692--the vaults were
filled with concrete, and the floor repaved. The presbytery was repaved
with tiles copied from some old ones. The Georgian fittings were removed
to the nave; fragments of the tabernacles, which we now see over the
doors leading from the aisles into the presbytery, having been
discovered, the tabernacles were reconstructed of the old with some new
material. But more important work had to be undertaken in 1870. On
Sunday, July 31st, the sound of cracking was heard in the tower, and Mr.
J. Chapple, the clerk of the works, went up the next day to London to
see Scott and asked him to come down at once to examine the tower;
plaster was put over the crack to see if it was increasing or not. There
were soon signs that the mischief was getting worse, and Scott ordered
the tower to be shored up with timber, and temporary brick walls to be
built below it. It seemed that the rubble of the eastern piers had been
made of mortar which had turned into dust, and that a big hole had been
cut in the south-eastern pier. This, according to Lord Grimthorpe, had
apparently been done with the intention of demolishing the tower,
probably soon after the time of the dissolution of the monastery, for
the hole contained timber shores which were sufficient to support the
tower while the workmen were enlarging the hole, but which were probably
intended to be set on fire and burnt away, thus allowing the workmen to
escape before the tower fell. This wood was found partially decayed, and
probably to its state the settlement of the tower was partially due. The
hole was, by Scott's direction, filled with bricks laid in cement, and
cement was poured in to fill up all the interstices; some of the decayed
rubble was cut out of the piers and brickwork put in to take its place:
the walls were tied with Yorkshire flagstone and iron rods, and were
grouted with liquid cement wherever possible. It was an anxious time for
those in charge of the work