Five steps lead from this into the
presbytery; there is another step at the high altar rails, and four more
lead up to the platform on which the high altar will stand. From the
space below the tower one step leads up into the north aisle and two
more into the north arm of the transept. From the level of the south
choir aisle and south transept two steps lead up into the south aisle of
the presbytery; from this aisle there is a rise of four steps into the
aisle south of the Saint's Chapel, and from this into the chapel itself
a rise of four more. So that the floor of this chapel is, with the
exception of the high altar platform, which is one step higher, the
highest in the whole church, or nineteen steps above the floor just
inside the west door. From the aisle of the Saint's Chapel one step
leads into the retro-choir, and two more into the Lady Chapel; hence the
floor of the Lady Chapel is one step lower than that of the Saint's
Chapel. If we take seven inches as the average height of a step, it
would appear that the floor of the Lady Chapel is about ten feet higher
than the floor at the west end of the nave.
As we stand just inside the west door of the church we are struck by the
length of ritual nave, about 200 feet, the flatness of the roofs, and
the massiveness of the arcading dividing the nave from the aisles; for,
though the four western bays on the north side and five on the south are
Early English in date, there is none of that lightness and grace that we
are accustomed to associate with work of this period, no detached shafts
of Purbeck marble such as we see at Salisbury, no exquisitely carved
capitals such as we meet with at Wells.
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