uch before his accession to the throne of
England in 1603.

The abbey church was beautiful in its architecture and of great
size. It consisted of nave, choir, transepts with aisles, and
probably lady chapel to the east, two western towers, and a tower
over the crossing; but of all that splendid structure there now only
remain the ruins of the nave and one western tower.

The surviving nave is in a ruinous state and consists of eight bays,
the main piers of which are complete on the south side, but only
represented by two fragments on the north side.[318] The vaulting of
the south aisle still survives, but that of the north aisle is gone.
The north wall of the aisle still stands, and the east and west ends
of the nave are restored. The N.W. tower is still preserved, but the
companion tower at the S.W. angle was demolished when the palace was
rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Some remains of the cloister are
still observable on the S. side of the nave.

The chief part of the architecture is pronounced to be first
pointed, but the doorway at the S.E. angle, which led from the
cloister into the nave is pronounced to be of genuine though late
Norman architecture. There was a nook shaft on either side, the
divided cushion caps of which survive. The arch is round and
contains two orders, both ornamented with zigzags. These orders are
enclosed with a label, containing a double row of square facets and
sinkings.

Some alterations have taken place adjoining the doorway, and two of
the windows, that over the doorway and that to the west of it, are
circular-headed and have a Norman character in their nook shafts and
cushion caps. These windows were probably constructed in imitation
of Norman windows which existed there originally. It is not
improbable that the choir was built before the nave, and was of
Norman work, and this supposition is regarded as accounting for the
Norman work found at the first bay of the nave, and which may have
been erected in connection with the choir and crossing.

The oldest part of the nave after the S.E. doorway is the wall of
the north aisle. The windows above the arcade are single lancets,
one in each bay. The south wall of the south aisle is similarly
designed, but the details are different and of a rather later
character. The lower story contains a