1XX. CHEDDAR, WELLS, AND GLASTONBURY. 



the crypt, and had to raise the floor of the chapel, which 

 necessitated covering up the bases of the pillars and the bench 

 tables. Mr. Bond then led the way through the site of the 

 galilee, of which little is left, to the nave of the great Benedictine 

 Abbey Church. It was, he said, begun in 1189 and dedicated in 

 1303, having taken all that time in building. It was one of the 

 largest churches in Britain, and, with what they had now 

 discovered at the further end, they might claim that it was the 

 longest church in Britain, the total length, including St. Mary's 

 or St. Joseph's at that end and the retro-chapel just found at the 

 east end, being little short of 600 feet. The style of the church 

 was very interesting, because it was of that delightful Transitional 

 period between the Romanesque and the Early English. The 

 detail was at once bold and delicate, being a later variation of the 

 Norman hatchet or chevron moulding, beautifully carved and 

 undercut. The foliated caps were extremely good. The west 

 end was rather later in style, more advanced Early English ; but, 

 unfortunately, little of it was left. However, from what little was 

 left they thought that it must have been something like the west 

 end at Wells Cathedral, and probably it had a triple lancet window. 

 Unfortunately, all that was left of the nave was a little bit of the 

 south aisle. Coming to the transepts, the two eastern piers were 

 standing of the four which once supported the central tower. In 

 Wells and other cathedrals they found the arcade, triforium, and 

 clerestory three distinctly separate features of the building ; but 

 here at Glastonbury the arcade and triforium were incorporated 

 in one by the massive and beautifully-moulded arch which was 

 carried up over the heads of the triforium openings, and which 

 bound the whole into unity of design. Each of the great 

 transepts was furnished with two chapels. Unfortunately, they 

 had only one chapel preserved on the northern side ; but there 

 was a fellow-chapel in line with it, all of which, however, was 

 now gone. The choir was at first of four bays ; but Abbot 

 Monington about the year 1 340 enlarged it by adding two bays. 

 Behind the extended choir lay the ambulatory, with a series of 

 five chapels in a line. Professor Willis, whose book entitled 



