The design first seen in the transition Norman portion of each bay of the nave--one arch below, two in the triforium, and three in the clerestory, (see § IV.)--was followed in this Early English work, as it was in all the later portions of the cathedral. The octangular piers of the choir have large shafts of Purbeck marble, alternating with white stone; the Purbeck shafts ringed half way up. The shafts have foliaged capitals; and the dog-tooth ornament is used (as at Salisbury) in the mouldings of the main arches. The triforium in each bay consists of two large arches, each enclosing two smaller, divided by a slender shaft, with a plain capital of Purbeck. The groups of shafts between and at the sides of the larger arches have capitals of leafage worked in oolite, with Purbeck above. In the spandrils or tympana above the small central shafts are sculptured figures. At the back of the outer triforium arches is a wall, covered by an arcade with semi-detached shafts, so arranged that the crowns of the arches are nearly on a level with the capitals of the shafts in the main arcade. A very rich and intricate effect is thus produced, which may be compared with that of the double arcades in the choir-aisles of Lincoln Cathedral,--in all probability part of St. Hugh’s work. The triforium passage itself, which extends over the aisles, is shut out, by this arcaded wall, from the choir, which was no doubt rendered much warmer by this arrangement. The clerestory has in each bay three sharply-pointed arches; that in the centre being much higher than the two others, with slender shafts and capitals of Purbeck marble. The windows at the back, which had been filled with mean Perpendicular tracery, have been restored to their original Early English condition. A single vaulting-shaft of Purbeck rests on a corbelled head at the intersection of the main arches, and terminates in a capital of leafage at the base of the triforium. A second shaft rises through the triforium stage, and terminates in a small capital at the base of the clerestory. The vaulting itself is quadripartite, with carved bosses.
The restoration of the choir, under Mr. Perkins, was begun in 1859. Much of the stone-work was in so ruinous a condition that it was necessary to replace it with new; but although the building has thus lost something of its interest in the eyes of archæologists, it should here be said that the repairs have been made with good judgment, and that no unnecessary destruction of ancient work has taken place. Wherever it was possible the old stone-work has been carefully cleaned, and is otherwise untouched. This is the case with nearly all the leafage of the capitals, which is unusually good and varied. The greater part of the figures in the tympana of the triforium arches, however, were unfortunately sculptured in the local stone, and had crumbled away so completely, partly from the effects of time and partly perhaps before the matchlocks of Cromwell’s troopers, that their subjects were hardly to be deciphered. They have been restored, in accordance, as far as could be ascertained, with the original design, by Boulton of Worcester, under the direction of Mr. Perkins.