structure that could claim such sacrifice, the suggestion occurs that
the spire was already in course of construction not long after the
middle of the fourteenth century. The late Gordon M. Hills, Esq., in
reporting to the chapter in 1892 his opinion concerning the condition
of the fabric, said that, "Under Bishop William Rede (1369-1385) was
begun a series of works: the completion of the central spire, the
conversion of the north end of the north transept into a perpendicular
work, the construction of a new library, the construction of the
present cloisters, and finally the erection of the great detached
belfry, called 'Raymond's, or Redemond's, or Riman's Tower,' was in
progress in 1411, 1428, and 1436. All this work was carried on partly
by the influence at Chichester of churchmen of the school of William
of Wykeham, whose followers were strong at Chichester at this
era." [15]

[15] See the Wykeham motto on the lady-chapel vault decoration, page
92.

[Illustration: THE BELL TOWER AND SPIRE AS SEEN FROM WEST STREET.
_Photochrom Co., Ltd., photo._ ]

He also said "that the spire itself was commenced before the death of
Bishop Neville. The moulding in the angles cannot, I think, have
originated later"; and "that the early work extended to about forty
feet above the tower; all the pinnacles and canopies at the base of
the spire and the upper part of the spire, were insertions and
rebuilding of one hundred years later. At the base the work of the
earlier period had had its face cut away to bond in the later work,
and the masonry of the two periods did not agree in coursing."