[Illustration: THE WEST TOWER FROM THE SOUTH.]
On the west face of the buttress, built against the tower in the north, can be seen some panels of Perpendicular date. These have suggested the idea that it was in contemplation to rebuild what had fallen in a later style.
Notwithstanding the ruins, the view of the cathedral from the north-west is very striking, and in some respects more remarkable than any other (see p. 2). We have here the only external view of the whole length of the #North Side Of The Nave#. With the exception of the clerestory range, and, of course, the north transept, the first impression is not that of a Norman building. The single broad light of the Norman clerestory, with its adjacent round-headed lancets in the wall, remains in each bay unaltered. Above these windows was once a battlement; but Miller records, in 1834, that it was "removed within the last sixty years." The aisle battlement remains. The walls of the triforium were raised, and the Norman windows, both of the aisle and triforium, altered, in the Perpendicular period, the alterations having been begun on the south side in 1469. All these windows now have ogee arches, and are of three lights. The tracery is unimposing. About the middle of the wall can be distinctly seen the marks of the door and covered way that led from the cathedral to the Church of S. Cross. This church had been erected in the early part of the fourteenth century, but (as has been mentioned, p. 29), was found in 1566 to be too dilapidated for use, and beyond repair. It was accordingly destroyed, and the lady-chapel assigned, in lieu of it, to the parishioners for their parish church. Either the fabric of this church must have been strangely neglected by its custodians, or it must have been very inferior in merit of construction to Walsingham's work, which was being erected at the same time, if it could last no longer than about two hundred and thirty years. Round the clerestory windows and arcading can be seen the billet moulding; under the triforium parapet is a corbel table with billets; below the triforium windows is a string-course consisting of little double squares with a diagonal (sometimes called the hatched moulding), a form of ornament not one of the most common. Good examples of it are to be seen in Westminster Hall. In the sixth bay from the transept is a tablet with the date 1662. This must be the time when some alterations were made; but it can neither refer to the raising of the triforium walls, nor to the building up the wall when the door to the destroyed church was no longer needed. Between this point and the transepts can be plainly seen the marks of the original Norman windows over the heads of the existing Perpendicular ones.