ree
stages above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows
in each face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing
room, has two pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage,
two double windows of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The
parapet is battlemented, and of course of later work than the tower
itself. The tower is flanked by pilaster buttresses, which merge into
cylindrical turrets in the upper story. For simple dignity the tower
stands unrivalled in this country. It must have been splendidly built to
have stood as it has done so many centuries without accident. Winchester
tower fell not long after its building, Peterborough tower has been
rebuilt in modern days; but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the
monks of Peterborough did, and no evil-living king was buried below the
tower, as was the case at Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of
the time, leading to its downfall. Tewkesbury tower alone can vie with
that of St. Albans, and the seventeenth-century pinnacles on that tower
spoil the general effect, so that the foremost place among central
Norman towers as we see them to-day may safely be claimed for that at
St. Albans. Few more beautiful architectural objects can be seen than
this tower of Roman brick, especially when the warmth of its colour is
accentuated by the ruddy flush thrown over it by the rays of a setting
sun.

The view from the tower when the air is clear is magnificent, but
unfortunately the privilege of ascending the tower once accorded to
visitors has, on account of unseemly behaviour, been necessarily
withdrawn, and only by a special relaxation of this rule, through the
kindness of the Dean, was the writer enabled to inspect the upper parts
of the church.

[Illustration: THREE OLD PAVEMENT TILES.]

[Illustration: THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END.]

CHAPTER III.

THE INTERIOR.

#The floor levels.#--The Church of St. Alban is built so that its axis
points considerably to the south of east, a thing that would hardly have
been expected, seeing that the sun rises as far to the north of east as
it ever does on St. Alban's Day, June 22nd. The orientation of the
church may have been due to the fact that no great attention was paid to
it by the builders, or it may have been due to the natural slope of the
ground, which would have made the building of the church difficult had
the east end been swung round further to the north where th