At Salisbury Cathedral. 145 
its convenience ; and we agree with Sir Gilbert Scott in saying that 
it would have held “an impracticable position between the two doors” 
of the presbytery, when that was enclosed with a high wall on the 
north and south sides. It was therefore thought advisable to re- 
move it to a spot, which, as we also admit, Sir Gilbert Scott has 
shewn to be common in other Cathedrals. The space therefore 
eastward of the line ¢ d was taken from the laity, and added to the 
presbytery. The floor of what was henceforth to be the presbytery 
was raised two or three steps above the original level as already 
described, and the altar placed at the east end—at the spot where 
Leland saw it (marked in our plan 4), and where it has now been 
replaced. We cannot think that this arrangement equalled in beauty 
the original plan, but still for evident reasons it was advisable to 
make the change. For unless the arches between the points a c and 
6d could be thrown open, the space immediately surrounding the 
altar would be too contracted 3 and these arches could not be left 
open without endangering the safety of the building. 
It may be well to remark, that just as in the nave of the Church, 
there are at intervals openings in the stone bench between the 
pillars separating the nave from the aisles, in order to allow ingress 
and egress to the people, so most probably in the original plan there 
must have been similar openings in the stone bench which separated 
the aisles from the portion of the Church at the back of the altar, 
then occupied by the laity. These openings were probably at the 
places marked 0 and y—the portions now occupied by the Audley 
and Hungerford chantries. 
To sum up our views in a few concluding words, we would say— (i) 
that we believe the original position of the high altar to have been 
at the point marked gy in our plan, immediately below the roof 
painting of Our Blessed Lord in glory, and that it stood there from 
A.D. 1258—when, on the completion of the bodyof the Cathedral, 
it was “hallowed” in the time of Bishop Giles de Bridport—till 
about 1330, when the dangers that threatened the stability of the 
building rendered necessary the insertion of the inverted arches, and 
of high partitions between the piers marked a ¢ and b d;—(ii) that 
the original presbytery was the space enclosed between the lines a 3 
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