ut together, when the present choir was
built, out of old materials which came readily to hand, with the object
of giving support to the platform of the altar, and to provide chapels
and altar room beneath it.

[Illustration: The Crypt.]

After the fire of 1829, the existence was discovered of a large crypt,
stretching westward of the altar platform, and extending under the whole
of the rest of the choir and its aisles. Of this crypt, only the pillars
and the lower part of the walls remained.

At the west end of this crypt a portion had been enclosed in walls and
filled up with earth. The eastern part was vaulted, and had stout Norman
pillars at the side, while in the middle were two rows of smaller single
pillars. The earth has since been removed, and the building laid open,
repaired, and vaulted.

The thicker pillars are of elaborate late Norman work, diapered in a
manner recalling the piers of the nave at Durham. The vault was ribbed.
These pillars were, no doubt, erected by Roger Pont l'Eveque, and enable
us to understand what the character of his choir must have been.

The walls enclosing the western part of the crypt are of peculiar
interest. They are made up of three partitions. The outer wall, 3 feet 6
inches thick, is, no doubt, the work of Roger. The middle wall, 4 feet 8
inches thick, is faced with herring-bone work, and this, and the
coarseness of its workmanship, prove it to be of great antiquity. It is
almost undoubtedly Saxon, and has been supposed, though on slender
evidence, to be part of the original church begun by Edwin in the
seventh century. A bit of this wall is now bare, and may be seen.

[Illustration: Capitals in Crypt.]

The third wall is only 2 feet thick. It probably was also erected by
Roger, but it is composed of older materials of an early Norman
character. It may be from Thomas's choir, if, as is probable, the
earlier choir which Roger pulled down had been built by Thomas. The
stone of this wall is of the same coarse sandstone as the remains of
Thomas's apse under the north transept, and there are traces of plaster
on the stones showing that they had been used for the interior of a
building.

No doubt the outer wall was erected by Roger as a support for his
massive piers, for which purpose the middle wall alone would have been
insufficient. Roger also probably added the thin inner wall, and filled
the whole with earth, for the same purpose.

Close to the remains of the Norman