hing" of the old works included also the building of
the chapter-house staircase, and, when that was finished, the raising
of the chapter-house itself (the _nova structura_ of the old
documents) upon the undercroft. The full Decorated style of the
chapter-house is separated by a considerable interval from the late
Early English of the undercroft, while that of the staircase, which is
geometrical Decorated of a character not very far removed from Early
English, must have been built before the chapter-house itself was
begun.

The self-sacrificing spirit of the chapter was supplemented by the
offerings which flowed in from the growing practice of endowing altars
for requiem services, as well as from the shrine of St. William
Bytton; and the building activity continued for the next fifty years
till the church had been brought, in all save its western towers, to
its final state of perfection. After the staircase to the
chapter-house had been completed, about the year 1292, the walls of
the chapter-house itself were built, probably by Bishop William de
Marchia (1293-1302) who seems to have covered it in with a temporary
roof.

Dean John de Godelee (1306-1333) was the last great builder of the
church of Wells. The power of the bishop in his own church is already
declining, as that of the chapter rises, and it is the dean now who
organises the works. In 1315 the central tower was raised, and by 1321
it was being roofed in. By 1319 the chapter-house was finished;
Godelee, with William Joy, the master-mason, had probably worked out
the old drawings and built the windows and vaulted roof. Next the Lady
Chapel must have been begun, for by 1326 it was finished. Somewhere
about this time the parapet, which adds so much to the external beauty
of the church, was also made.

But the raising of the central tower had, ere this, brought disaster.
In 1321 there was a grant from the clergy of the Deanery of Taunton in
aid of the roofing of the "new _campanile_"; in 1338 a convocation was
summoned because the church of Wells was so _totaliter confracte et
enormiter deformate_ that the instant and united action of its members
was required to save it (_cf._ Willis in _Som. Proc._ 1863). The
adding of the Decorated portion to the tower increased the weight so
much that the four great piers sank into the ground, dragging the
masonry with them and causing rents to appear at the apex of the
arches. The situation was most dangerous: it was met b