ctagon is not equilateral. The cardinal faces, being equal to the
inner breadth of the nave and transepts, are the longer. In all the
faces just below the open parapet are arcades of cinquefoiled arches,
some of them pierced for windows. The cardinal faces have each six such
arches, and the other faces only three. These shorter sides only have
large windows, the others abutting directly upon the roofs. These large
windows have exquisite tracery; they are all of four lights, with
transoms, and are beneath arches unusually acute for the Decorated
period. The windows in the lantern are new, Essex having destroyed the
original four-light windows and substituted poor ones of three lights
each.

The way in which the octagon and lantern combine in producing a
perfectly harmonious composition is in great part due to two points of
difference, points which very few observers detect. These are, firstly,
that the lantern is a regular octagon, having all its sides equal, in
this respect being unlike the stone octagon beneath it; and, secondly,
that the eight faces of the lantern are not parallel to the eight faces
of the octagon. The new windows of the lantern are similar to the large
ones below, but are not mere copies of them. The upper stage of the
lantern, above the roof as seen from within, was once a bell-chamber;
its lights are not, and never have been, glazed. The whole of the
lantern is of wood, covered with lead. Two flying buttresses rise from
the corners of the nave and transept aisles to the corbel table of the
clerestory range. There are also eight elegant flying buttresses, one to
each of the angles of the lantern. These are part of the new work, the
originals having long disappeared.

#The North Transept# retains its original Norman windows in the lower
stage of its western aisle, though we must remember that the
north-western angle of this transept fell down in 1699, and was
rebuilt[9] under the superintendence of Sir Christopher Wren. It is
said that an earthquake had occurred some few years before, and had
caused some damage which was not suspected at the time. However much we
may admire Wren's constructive genius, we cannot justify the incongruous
door in the north wall of the transept, for which we take it for granted
he was responsible. It is in the classical style, utterly out of keeping
with the architecture near. The arch and jambs of the Norman window
above it were replaced; but this again is spoilt by the