Apparently the apse and ambulatory which till then had closed the
great church, on the east had been destroyed in the fire. At any rate
Bishop Seffrid replaced them with the exquisite retro-choir we have,
and square eastern chapels. He did the same with the old apses of the
transepts, and he recased the choir with Caen stone, using Purbeck very
freely and with beautiful effect. All this work is very late
Transitional, the very last of the Norman or Romanesque.
Then in the thirteenth century, which was to see St Richard Bishop of
Chichester, the beautiful south porch was built, a pure Early English
work, the north porch almost as lovely and of the same date, and later
the sacristy beside the south porch. In St Richard's own day the south-
west tower was built as we see it. The Norman tower over the crossing
was destroyed and a lighter one built in its place as we see, and the
galilee was set up before the western doors. Then, too, the chapels
were built out from the nave aisles, upon the north those of St Thomas,
St Anna, and St Edmund, upon the south, those of St George and St
Clement, things unique in England, and all largely works of the second
half of the thirteenth century and the early Decorated style, which
indeed give to the Cathedral, with its dark Norman nave, all its charm,
its variety and delight.
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