The two portals of the transepts are richly decorated in harmony with the
style of the western facade. A graceful spire rises from the eastern part
of the roof. It is called "The Angel's spire," from the fact that poised
upon its summit is an angel covered with gilt and holding aloft a cross.
This turret rises 59 feet above the roof of the church. The church itself
is 486 feet in length, and from the vaulting of the roof to the pavement
is 125 feet. The towers are 272 feet high. I noticed the church is built
in the form of a cross, but the transept is very close to the apse, so
that the choir being too confined for the great ceremonies, such as that
of royal coronations, which used to take place there, has been extended
westward across the transept so as to take up three bays of the nave.
There are seven chapels at the east of the church, but none are found in
the naves. The plainness of the nave, in comparison with the ornate
character of the exterior, is very remarkable, but this plainness detracts
nothing from the impressiveness of its long arcades, its towering roof,
the noble lines which rise from the ground and support, as it were, on
slender sinews of stone, the shadowy ceiling.
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