There are likewise
the remains of several pedestals, on which images may be supposed to
have once stood.
"The choir extends, according to modern arrangement, beyond the tower
into the nave itself. The tower rises very nobly upon four slender
columns, terminating in pointed arches but with Norman capitals. The
lantern is lighted by four lancet windows on each side, the two centre
ones not being open. The oaken roof is plain, and supported by very
large beam-heads. Eastward from this point, the vaultings of the roof
are square, with broad, simple groinings. Beneath, are two ranges of
windows, running quite round the chancel, and decorated with an
amazing variety of mouldings. Those below form the grand
characteristic of this venerable pile, being likewise _circular; but
so intersecting one another as to form perfect and beautiful pointed
arches_." This then is the hypothesis of Dr. Milner towards the
settlement of the controverted origin of the _pointed_ or _English_
style of architecture. It is, probably, the most reasonable of all
solutions. Sir Christopher Wren's account of a Saracenic origin was
vague and unsupported; and Warburton's deduction from groves and
interlacing boughs, though ingeniously illustrated by the late Sir
James Hall, has more prettiness than probability.
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