This arcade, or gallery, is intended to break the abruptness with which
the pointed roof rises between the two spires. These spires are different
in design, the southern tower being much earlier than that at the north.
The southern spire, in its austere simplicity and exquisite proportions,
is certainly the finest I have seen in France, and can only be paralleled
elsewhere by that which rises like a flower-bud almost ready to burst over
Salisbury plain. The northern tower is very much more elaborate, and
reminded me of those examples with which the traveler becomes so familiar
in the many churches of Rouen. The richly crocketed gables, the flying
buttresses and pinnacles which run half way up this spire, while they
adorn it, seem to stunt the profile and rob it of its towering altitude,
just as is the case with the western spires of St. Ouen. Yet this northern
tower is considerably higher than the ancient one at the south, being 374
feet high, while the more ancient spire is only 348. The other dimensions
of the church are as follows: It is 420 feet long; 110 feet wide; its
height from ceiling vault to pavement is 115 feet.
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