To see these three views of the building under favourable
conditions of light will well repay the visitor for a journey of many miles to Manchester, to say nothing of the exquisite detail work that now demands our attention.
It has been already explained that the outer aisles on either side have been formed by throwing down the walls or screens that once divided these spaces into a series of chapels on the outside of the real nave aisles. In Continental churches double aisles on the north and south side of the church are by no means uncommon, but instances of this arrangement are more rarely met with in England. The most familiar example is Chichester Cathedral, where double aisles have been formed by the inclusion of lateral chapels.
It has been already stated that the baptistery which occupies the western end of the outer southern aisles is entirely modern, as also is the south porch. At one time a small porch called Bibby's Porch projected from the second bay from the west of the true south aisle, to the east of which, stretching right over the outer south aisle, was the Chapel of St. George. This occupied two bays, and projecting from it to the south was Brown's Chantry. To the east of St. George's Chapel, also occupying two bays, was the Chapel of St. Nicholas, the Trafford Chapel. These were the chapels on the south side of the nave aisle. Opposite to them, outside the north nave aisle, were two chapels, that of the Most Holy Trinity at the west, that of St. James, otherwise known as the Ducie Chapel, at the east end. The west wall of the outer nave aisle on the north side is original, so that the whole length of the series of chapels on this side was greater than that of the series on the south side. The nave and its twin aisles, as will be seen from what has already been said, consist of six bays. The eastern half of the church also consists of six bays, and the choir aisles, like those of the nave, are flanked by chapels which have fortunately remained undestroyed down to the present day, enclosed by their original screens. On the south side, raised three steps above the level of the nave and occupying three bays, was the Jesus Chapel, now divided into two parts, the western bay being used as a vestry, the two others as the Cathedral Library; from this a door leads into the chapter house, the main entrance to which is from the choir aisle. With this the unbroken series of building attached to the south side of the church ends, but from the easternmost bay a doorway in a screen opens into the Fraser Chapel, built as a memorial to her husband, the second Bishop of Manchester, by Mrs. Fraser. Crossing the church by the ambulatory, passing the small Lady Chapel, we find the whole length of the outer aisle on the north side occupied by the chapel of St. John the Baptist, often called the Derby Chapel. The western bay forms the antechapel, from which we pass into the chapel itself through the original oak screen. From the second bay, counting from the east end of this, the Ely Chapel projects.
The reader should follow on the plan the general description just given, and while doing so he will notice that the church is not quite regularly built, but tapers slightly towards the east. The enclosed choir, presbytery, and sanctuary taper still more, so that the east end is between three and four feet narrower than the west end. But this enclosed space is symmetrically placed in the church. The plan shows the very great width of the church in proportion to its length. The interior width of the nave and its double aisles is 114 feet, while its length is only 85 feet; the whole interior length of the church, omitting the tower at the west and the Lady Chapel at the east, is 172 feet. This shows that the choir is about the same length as the nave, and that the total length of nave and choir is only about one and a half times the width.
