The church was gradually
extended eastward by Abbots Roger of Norton and John of Berkhampstead;
first the Saint's Chapel was built, then the retro-choir, and finally
the Lady Chapel, which was finished by Abbot Hugh of Eversden in 1326.
Another change was necessitated by an event which took place on St.
Paulinus' Day, October 10th, of the year 1323. For on that day a
calamity such as had never before happened befell the church. The
celebration of Mass at an altar of the Blessed Virgin was just over, a
great multitude of people, men and women, still being in the church,
when two of the Norman piers of the main arcade on the south side fell
outwards one after the other with a great crash, and about the space of
an hour afterwards the wooden roof of the nave which had been supported
by these columns also fell; the piers themselves had crushed the south
wall of the aisle and the cloisters, so that a complete wreck was made
of the south-eastern part of the church westward of the tower. But this
disaster was accompanied by a great marvel, for though many persons were
standing close by, not one was injured; and a still more wonderful thing
is recorded: the monk whose duty it was to guard the shrine of St.
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