The tower was
rebuilt, though not to its original height, but in the reconstruction,
the parts of the transept nearest to the tower were also rebuilt, and
thus we have here two periods of Norman work; the main building of 1107
and the reconstruction after that date.
Of the Transitional work of the second half of the twelfth century very
little is to be seen at Winchester. It was for the most part the period
of that great Bishop Henry of Blois, and he was probably too much
immersed in the brutal politics of his time, too busy building and
holding his castle to give much thought to the Cathedral. The font,
however, dates from his time, and perhaps a door in the north-western
bay of the south transept.
The earliest Gothic work in the Cathedral is the chapel of St
Sepulchre, which was built upon the northern wall of the choir before
the north transept. There we may still see wall paintings of the
Passion of Our Lord. Not much later is the retro-choir. This consists
of three bays, and is the largest in England. It was begun in 1189 by
Bishop Godfrey de Lucy, and we must admit at once that it is wholly
without delight, and yet to build it the Norman apse was sacrificed.
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