The paintings within the panels above the beautifully carved spandrils have little interest or merit, though it is thought that
they date from the same period as the screen itself. It is difficult, however, to believe that they can be so old, or that such good and bad work could belong to the same period. James I. introduced into the foliage of the spandrils the rose and thistle; but this uncalled-for emendation was summarily removed in the year 1875. The side arches of the screen were at one period filled up with thick walls, and two strong doors barred the arch of entrance, but this was altered by the restorers in 1875.
The Organ was originally built by John Loosemore about 1665. In its existing form it is an enlarged reconstruction by Messrs. Willis, the old instrument being incorporated in it as a choir-organ. The organ case, which was an elegant specimen of Renaissance woodwork, has also undergone alteration and renovation.
The Choir.—If the chief glory with regard to the exterior of the cathedral remains undoubtedly with the designer and builder of the great towers, the choir, the work of Bytton and Stapledon, is no less certainly the supreme glory of the interior. The Norman choir reached no farther than the third bay, counting from the choir screen. Traces recently discovered seem to prove that it had an apsidal termination. Bishop Marshall, in completing Warelwast's work, added four bays and destroyed the triple apse. It is also possible that, as the transition period to Early English was in its birth, some of the vaulting was pointed. Bytton converted the choir as left by Marshall into the Decorated style, inspired to the work by the success which had attended Quivil's efforts in the easternmost bay of the nave. The whole work—the transformation of the choir with its aisles—took about fifteen years to complete, the speed and skill with which it was accomplished being due to the fact that the task was not entirely in the hands of one body of labourers. It seems to have been divided into two portions, at which the builders worked simultaneously. Admirable as Quivil's work in the nave had been, that of Bytton in the choir is an improvement. Doubtless he had learnt something from the difficulties his predecessor encountered, and knew how to avoid them. At any rate, he pushed forward the work with great vigour and boldness. He formed his pillars of horizontal sections of Purbeck marble from nine to fifteen inches thick: five boutelles on each side presenting "the appearance of twenty-five shafts bound in one." In the pavement of the choir more than ten thousand tiles were used. For the vaulting of the choir, also his work, though the honour due to him has till lately been denied, he procured quantities of Portland stone. Material for bases and capitals was imported also from Portland: the entry in the Fabric Rolls runs: "For the purchase of 18 great blocks of stone at Portland for the keys or bosses, together with 60 bases and capitals, including carriage by sea £4 16 8." The colouring of the keystones was due to Stapledon in the first year of his episcopate.
