arily small,
from the want of funds at his command, and the wasted condition of the
diocese.

This would seem to support the theory that Thomas left the Saxon choir
as it was, and contented himself with rebuilding the ruined nave and
transepts. In that case, of course, the Saxon choir remained until the
time of Roger.

The alternate theory is that Thomas rebuilt an enlarged, but still a
small, choir, leaving the Saxon crypt as it remains to this day; and
that even this choir proved too small for the magnificent ideas of
Roger, who utterly demolished it to make room for his own great
building, leaving no trace of it above ground. This is the more probable
supposition, and it is supported by the fact that the inner wall of the
crypt is composed of fragments of masonry, buildings, etc., of early
Norman date, which might well be parts of Thomas's choir, if it was
destroyed, as we suppose. Some of the stones are covered with white
plaster, showing they are parts of the interior of a building, and they
are of the same red sandstone as the remains of the transept apse, which
was undoubtedly built by Thomas.

As has been said, the choir of the minster remained unusually small for
so important a church. The eleventh and twelfth centuries were periods
of great activity in church building, and many of the Norman architects
planned their works on a vast scale. With the examples of Durham,
Winchester, and St. Albans before them, it was natural that the
archbishops of the Metropolitan Church of York should be dissatisfied
with the size of their own choir. It fell to the lot of Roger, the rival
of Thomas a Becket, to rebuild it. The date of his nave is approximately
1154-1181. The remains of his work in the crypt show that it was in the
latest style of Norman architecture and considerably influenced by
Flambard's work at Durham, with channeled and fluted pillars. The detail
appears to have been richer and later in character even than Flambard's.
The outer wall of the crypt shows the dimensions of this choir. It was
square at the end, and had flanking towers--two bays from the
east--which served as transepts inside. The eastern transepts of the
present choir still keep the position and tradition of these towers. The
aisle probably ran round the east end as at Romsey and Byland. The two
bays east of the tower were wider than the others. Roger, it should be
said, had been Archdeacon of Canterbury, and he was therefore well
acquainted