Not much later than this transformation of the nave, though the nave
itself was not touched, was the rebuilding or rather the lengthening
and transformation of the Lady Chapel. Fundamentally this beautiful
Decorated chapel is a Norman work, transformed into a Transitional one,
to be glorified and transfigured in the very end of the thirteenth
century, and now spoilt as we see. All this was done either by St
Richard himself, or with the money gathered at his shrine.
In the first half of the fourteenth century little would appear to
have been built, save that certain beautiful windows, as that in the
end of the south aisle of the choir and that in the south transept,
with Bishop Langton's tomb beneath it, were inserted, and the fine
stalls were built in the choir.
In the Perpendicular period the detached campanile was erected to the
north-west and the Cathedral was crowned by the great spire, a noble
work lost to us in our own time and replaced by the copy of Sir Gilbert
Scott. Later still, in the sixteenth century, a great stone screen, now
destroyed, was erected across the church, with chantries, and the
cloister was built.
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