Excerpt from The Antiquary, Vol. 2: A Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past; July December Having sketched the history of the Cathedral, and commented on its surroundings, I will proceed to make some general remarks on its architectural features and peculiarities. Commencing at the west end, we find evidence that the facade was plain and severe, judging by the analogy of other buildings of the same date, and from the views of the south side of the nave given by Hollar. Dugdale mentions no western towers as having existed at any time; but Stow minutely describes them. In the later edition of Stow by Strype, however, nothing is said of these towers. It seems curious that a cathedral of the first magnitude should have possessed no western towers, when such a comparatively small building as Lichfield Cathedral has, in all, three towers. Mediaeval churches abroad were rich in towers. There were nine at Clugny, seven intended for Rheims, and seven formerly at Laon, according to Mr. Beresford Hope's "Cathedrals of the Nineteenth Century." At Tournai, in Belgium, also, though but a small cathedral, we see five towers; but in our own land even a building of the scale of that at Salisbury has but one tower and spire, forming the crowning feature of the structure, and this was probably the case at Old St. Paul's. The plan of the westernmost piers of the nave, as shown by Hollar, does not suggest any towers; which consequently, if they existed, must have been outside the aisles, like those to Wells Cathedral. Entering in at the west doors the spectator must have been impressed by the vast length and size of the building, which, notwithstanding Dugdale's authority, I cannot but think was about 596 feet long in the clear (Dugdale says 690 feet) as shown by the scale on Hollar's ground plan. In a work called "London Plates," in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries, the length is described in the margin as 720 feet. Now, the extreme length of Ely Cathedral is 560 feet, and it is the longest on this side of the Alps according to Murray's "Handbook of the Cathedrals." The extreme length of the present St. Paul's, externally, is but 512 feet, and that of St. Peter's, at Rome, 607 feet. Therefore, I think, we may reasonably conclude that Hollar's plan is correct. In simplicity of plan, a plain Latin cross, Old St. Paul's was like Ely or Winchester; it had not the intricate and irregular plan of such a Cathedral as Canterbury. It is interesting for a moment to compare it in this respect to Chichester, or on the Continent to Notre Dame, at Paris, and to Seville Cathedral, all with two aisles on either side, or to Antwerp Cathedral, with three. In span the nave of Old St. Paul's was about the same as Peterborough, 38 feet. The triforium was lighted by circular windows. At Westminster Abbey, spherical triangular shaped windows, as we know, occupy this not very usual position; at Waltham Abbey are circular windows, and at the Abbaye aux Hommes, at Caen, circular windows filled with tracery. It should be observed how wide for Norman windows are those to the aisles of the nave. (Hollar gives a view on a large scale of one of them, retaining its Norman garb). The ancient Consistory Court was probably in the westernmost bay of the north nave aisle. Proceeding down the nave, let us next pause to look at the elegant chantry chapel of Bishop Thomas Kempe, between the piers on north side of nave, near the crossing. Such a position is not unusual for the memorials of great benefactors to a building, so placed that every worshipper could not fail to observe them. At Winchester Cathedral, we have similarly in the nave, the chantries of Bishops William of Wykeham and Edington; and at Wells Cathedral that of Bishop Bubwith. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com"