y the careful
repairing of the torn masonry and the construction of those inverted
arches which are so familiar a feature of the church.

Yet the work proceeded very rapidly under a great bishop, who for the
time eclipsed the rising power of the deans. Ralph of Shrewsbury
(1329-63) carried on the work of Dean Godelee, and in the early years
of his episcopate entirely reconstructed the choir. The scheme seems
to have been contemplated as early as 1325; for in that year each
dignitary arranged to pay for his own stall in the refitting of the
choir, because the old stalls had become "ruinous and misshapen." In
any case, it was Ralph who added the three new bays of the presbytery
which are so curiously joined to the old presbytery of Reginald, and
with it form the present eastern limb of the church. He then
constructed the beautiful retro-choir which connects the presbytery
with the Lady Chapel. The vaulting of the choir and the construction
of the great east window would appear to have been undertaken at a
later period of his episcopate; for the ceiling is of a more advanced
style than the lower work, and the tracery of the window is half
Perpendicular. When Bishop Ralph died, in 1363, he was buried in the
place of honour in front of the high altar, as the founder of the
choir which he had finished.

The finishing touches were given to the cathedral when Bishop Harewell
(_ob._ 1386) gave two-thirds of the cost of the south-western or
Harewell Tower, and when the executors of Bishop Bubwith (_ob._ 1424)
finished the companion tower on the north-west.

The other efforts of the fourteenth and fifteenth century builders
were given to those subordinate buildings which are the peculiar glory
of Wells. Even so magnificent a prelate as Beckington did nothing to
the actual fabric of the Cathedral (unless his tomb be so considered),
for the simple reason that there was really nothing for him to do.
Ralph of Shrewsbury had, besides his work in the church, finished the
palace (which Jocelin had begun and Burnell had enriched with the hall
and chapel) by the moat, walls, and gate-house. He had also begun the
Vicars' Close, of which the chapel was built by Bubwith, but the
executors of Beckington recast it in its present form. After
Beckington had employed his energies in erecting the beautiful
gateways with which his name is always associated, Dean Gunthorpe
(_ob._ 1498) built the deanery.

The following interesting eulogy of Bish