32 Oti the ArcJiitecture of Malmeshury Ahhey. 



The ambitious builders of Malmesbury considerably over-did the 

 thing-, for the central tower and spire fell, as Leland says, writing 

 about 1540, within the memory of men then living-, that is, in the 

 later days of the monks, destroying apparently the eastern portion 

 of the church. Mr. Freeman has shown reasons for thinking that 

 this tower had previously threatened to fall and that the west tower- 

 opening had been built up, with the exception of the upper part, and 

 the original choir disused, in the time of the monks. The western 

 tower also fell, at a later date, at what time precisely is not known, 

 but before 1660 and apparently before 1634, and its fall probably 

 destroyed the western portion of the nave. 



I omitted to mention that one bay of the north aisle was converted 

 in the fourteenth century and, as I have suggested in the case of 

 the south aisle, this may have been the first instalment of an intended 

 conversion of the whole. In this case, owing to the juxta-position 

 of the cloister, the window had to be at a higher level than those 

 on the south side and, in order to introduce one of the size they 

 desired, they carried up an independent gable, demolished the Nor- 

 man vaulting of one compartment of the bay, and re-vaulted it in 

 their own style, at a higher level. This single gable, standing alone, 

 has rather a peculiar effect and it is evident that the appearance of 

 the church, externally, though perhaps not internally, would have 

 been improved by carrying the change throughout. The lines of the 

 window tracery are much more satisfactory than those in the two 

 windows in the south aisle. There are, preserved in the vestry, 

 some remains of a very interesting tile pavement of the fourteenth 

 century, probably contemporaneous with these works, which has 

 been well figured in the " Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine." ^ 



The remaining works of the fifteenth century, in the church, are 

 the choir-screen which now forms the reredos, the screens of the 

 western bays of the aisles, the watching chamber already mentioned, 

 and the monument attributed to King Athelstan. The position of 

 the choir-screen, under the western tower-arch, is consistent with 

 what Mr. Freeman has pointed out that the monks^ choir was under 



^Vol. viii., Plate iv. 



