The lower part of the central tower, which is hardly worthy of the Cathedral, was built by Bishop Haymo de Hythe (1319-1352); all above the roof was erected by Cottingham in the restoration of 1825.
The remains of the old wall which surrounded the precincts are still in existence. The Prior's Gate was built about the middle of the fourteenth century; and the other remaining gates are College Gate, and the Deanery Gate, both of which belong to the time of Edward IV.
We enter the _Nave_ by the beautiful west doorway and are at once impressed by the fine Norman character of the building. Much of it is the work of Gundulf, the first Norman bishop, the companion of Lanfranc, who fashioned his rising church after the model of Canterbury, and has thus left us a copy of the appearance of that church ere it was refashioned by later builders. The two eastern bays are Early Decorated. The clerestory is Perpendicular work, and the flat timber roof was erected at the same time. The later Norman builders, Bishops Ernulf and John (1115-1137), greatly improved the appearance of Gundulf's nave. They finished the west end, recased the piers, and carved the zigzag mouldings and the capitals, and seem to have added a new triforium or enriched the old arcade with diaper work. There is no triforium gallery, as it opens both into the aisles as well as into the nave. The fine interior of the west doorway will be noticed, and also another Norman doorway in the south-west corner. The windows in the north aisle are Perpendicular. The font is modern, and also the pulpit, stalls and lectern. On the south of the south aisle is the Late Perpendicular Chapel of St. Mary, usually called the Lady Chapel. It was restored in 1852. Here the consistory court used to meet. It is now used as a chapel for the grammar school. The _South Transept_ is of later date than the corresponding north transept; its style is Late Early English, when the style was merging into Early Decorated. The architect was Richard de Waldene, sacrist. Above in the south wall there are five single-light windows, and below three double windows, and the extensive use of Purbeck marble in the shafts will be noticed. Banded shafts of marble cluster around the great tower-piers. Cottingham erected the present ceiling in 1840. It will be noticed that the Purbeck marble shafts on the two western tower-piers stop some distance from the ground, and a block of intrusive masonry obtrudes itself on the west of the northern one. Various conjectures have been made concerning the object of this. Possibly it formed part of a stone rood loft, or served as a buttress to the arch. The _North Transept_ is Early English, the work of Richard de Eastgate, sacrist. The dog-tooth ornament is seen in the clerestory. The carved corbels, representing monastic heads, are finely executed. In the recess on the east side there is a piscina which marks the site of an altar.