ST. Margaret’s porch. 
3 
had been removed from the demolished church of St. Nicholas, 
and in the rebuilding of it the subject panels had got misplaced. 
The treatment of the armour and the absence of the nasal helmet 
led Browne to the opinion that the Porch was executed in the 
reign of Stephen. 
The perusal of “ Halfpenny’s Gothic Ornaments in the Cathedral 
Church of York ” led Browne to turn his attention to the Minster, 
and in 1827 he began an appendix to Halfpenny’s work by giving 
additional representations of the sculpture. After the lamentable 
destruction of the choir by fire in 1829, it was found there was 
scarcely any representation of the ornamental parts requiring 
renovation, and this induced Browne to change his plan and 
encouraged him to undertake the illustration of the edifice by 
plans, elevations, sections, and details of the sculpture, etc., on a 
more extensive scale and in a more regular order than had before 
been attempted. Scaffolding was erected in 1834 in the nave for 
cleaning the vaulting, and Browne, at considerable personal risk, 
used the scaffolding from which he sketched and measured the 
nave roof bosses. He had to lie on his back for hours together on 
a couple of planks laid from one pole to another at a height of 
about 90 feet from the ground. To emphasise the great danger 
of Browne’s enterprise, it may be recalled that the master mason 
was killed in the nave south aisle by a portion of the scaffolding 
falling with him and five workmen, who were much injured. 
The Minster excavations added much to Browne's archaeological 
learning. He did his work thoroughly, he not only sketched the 
revealed walls and stones to scale, but was particular in describing 
the kind of stone used. Distinctive features, as herring-bone work, 
remains of plaster jointing, etc., were carefully recorded. 
During the Choir restoration it became necessary to consult the 
Minster documents, and as some of those that were examined 
brought out much new matter, Browne decided that his work on 
the Minster should be a new history of it, founded on the Registers 
of the Archbishops and the Chapter documents. 
At the meeting for the restoration of the Choir it was agreed to 
proceed on the principle of reconstruction onl3c The work, how¬ 
ever, had scarcely begun when it was suggested that a great 
improvement might be effected by removing the screen of kings 
a bay eastward, extending the chom into the lady chapel, and 
placing the new organ on one side of the choir in order to get a 
“vista” or an uninterrupted view of the whole length of the 
