We enter the _Nave_ by the south porch. Lanfranc's nave was entirely removed in 1380 on account of its ruinous state, and the present nave erected by Prior Chillenden, who was employed and supported by Archbishops Sudbury, Courtenay and Arundel. As we have said, it resembled Winchester, built at the same time, but it is lighter in character, as here the piers were built anew, and not cased with Perpendicular work as at Winchester. The height of the floor of the choir necessitated a lofty flight of steps leading to it from the nave; and this is a peculiar feature of this Cathedral and of much beauty. The nave is very lofty, being 80 feet high. The great west window contains the fragments of old glass which have been brought together here. The rest of the stained glass is modern and hideous. In the north aisle are monuments of Adrian Saravia, the friend of Hooker (1612), Orlando Gibbons, organist to Charles I., Sir John Boys (1614), founder of a hospital, Archbishop Sumner (1862), who crowned Queen Victoria, and memorials of military men who died for their country. In the south aisle are monuments of Dr. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney, and Dean Lyall (1858).
The central tower is supported by original Norman piers, cased with Perpendicular work at the time when the nave was built. The vault and all the upper part of the tower above the roof were erected by Prior Goldstone (1495-1517), and also the arches, which act as buttresses and bear the Prior's rebus, three golden bars. The screen is fifteenth-century work and is remarkable for its beauty; formerly the figures of our Lord and the Twelve Apostles occupied the upper niches, but these fell victims to Puritan iconoclasm. The devastators spared, however, the figures of the kings in the lower tier.
The _North-West Transept_, or Chapel of the _Martyrdom of Becket_, claims our close attention, as the event which occurred here filled Christendom with amaze.