The Norman portions of the nave may have belonged to the church of Abbot Serlo, (completed in 1100); but it is impossible to say how much alteration or rebuilding was rendered necessary by the fires of 1122, 1179, and 1190. The red colour of parts of the piers where the stone has become calcined, still bears witness to the fierceness of, most probably, the last of these fires; by which the wooden roof of the Norman church was destroyed. This was replaced during the abbacy of HENRY FOLIOT, (1228-1243,) by the existing _vaulting_; which is plain quadripartite, with a central rib and bosses at the intersections. The groining, of a light porous stone, is plastered on the underside. The vaulting-shafts, (of the same date as the roof,) in groups of three, are of Purbeck marble, with stone capitals of leafage, and Purbeck abaci. These rest on a series of brackets supported by shafts which descend between the pier-arches. The first five of these brackets, counting from the third (the first Norman) bay of the nave, are perhaps Transitional Norman, and the cable-moulding at the head of the pier-arches passes round them. The next three eastward have the cable-moulding cut away for them; and on either side is a shaft of Purbeck marble with foliaged capital, from which a moulding is carried round the bay of the clerestory. This part was perhaps more injured by the fire, so that the earlier work required greater alteration. (The peculiar arrangement, suggests Professor Willis, may have been one of the consequences of the monks’ amateur workmanship.) The capitals and corbels of the vaulting-shafts were richly coloured[6]; and remains of painting were found on the great piers themselves during the late restorations. Against three of the piers on the north side are Perpendicular brackets, for lamps or for statues.
The two _western bays_ of the nave were the work of Abbot MORWENT, (1420-1437,) who pulled down the Norman front, which had towers north and south, intending to re-construct the entire nave,--a design fortunately prevented by his death[7]. The contrast between the noble Norman columns and the Perpendicular piers is sufficiently striking. The westernmost bay is much wider than the others; there is no triforium; the clerestory windows resemble the others, all of which were probably inserted by Morwent; and the vaulting is a rich lierne, with bosses of leafage. The west end is filled with a large Perpendicular window of very good design, the glass in which, by WAILES, is a memorial of the late Bishop MONK, (died 1856,) erected at the sole expense of the Rev. Thomas Murray Browne, Honorary Canon of Gloucester, “in grateful remembrance of many years of sincere friendship.” (It should be remarked that the tracery heads and cusps, as seen from the inside of this window, are not repeated on the outside,--a plain transom only crossing the lights. This peculiarity is repeated in the great east, and in some other windows.) The glass is of unusually pictorial character; and if not entirely successful, is at least better than most recent attempts in a similar direction. The subjects are:--_Lowest tier_, beginning south--Noah passing out of the Ark after the Deluge; Moses dividing the Red Sea; the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. In the _second tier_--The Annunciation to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Kings. In the _third tier_--The Presentation in the Temple; the Baptism of our Lord; St. John Preaching in the Desert. _Above_ are the Baptism of St. Paul, of St. Peter, and of the Jailor of Philippi. Below the window is a brass plate with an inscription recording its erection as a memorial to Bishop Monk.