It is probable that small apsidal chapels flanked the crypt at its western termination, on both sides. On the south side such a chapel still exists, immediately under that which opens from the south aisle of the choir. The western, and part of the southern, wall of this chapel is Norman, as are the central pillars. The square eastern end, however, is Early English, of the same date as the chapel above it.
In the crypt are preserved the ancient north doors of the cathedral, removed about the year 1820. They date from the fourteenth century, and are coeval with Bishop Wakefield’s work. These doors are said to have been covered with human skin. Tradition asserts that a man who stole the sanctus-bell from the high altar was flayed alive for the sacrilege; and portions of skin, which the late Mr. Quekitt, Assistant Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, declared to be human, remain fixed to the inside of the doors, under the iron-work.
The west doors of Rochester Cathedral, and the north doors of Hadstock and Copford Churches, both in Essex, were also covered with skins, said to have been those of piratical Northmen. The Rochester doors have entirely disappeared. Those of Copford have been removed, but portions of them are still in existence. The doors of Hadstock Church remain in place. Fragments of skin from Hadstock and Copford were examined by Mr. Quekitt, who pronounced it human in both cases[93].
XXIII. The great Norman tower fell in 1175, “a circumstance of such common occurrence that there is some evidence against a tower being Norman work if it had not fallen down[94].” The existing _central tower_ dates from 1374, but the general design alone remained before its restoration (still, 1866, in progress) was commenced. The soft sandstone of which it is built had crumbled away to such an extent, that all the details had perished. The tower, which is 196 ft. in height, is of good proportion. It was by no means improved by the modern parapet and pinnacles which were placed on it in the last century, and somewhat altered in the early part of this. A new peal of ten, or possibly twelve bells will be hung in the tower after its complete restoration.