The churches were so ransacked and destroyed in this way that Bishop
Harsnett [17] said he found the cathedral and the buildings about the
close had been criminally neglected for years, so that they were in a
decayed and almost ruinous condition. Such was the deliberate opinion
which he expressed early in the seventeenth century.

[17] "Records."

During the first half of the sixteenth century a stone parapet, or
screen wall (taken away in 1829), was built up in front of the
triforium arcade. It rose to a height of about four feet six inches,
and was continued throughout the whole length of the church. It has
been supposed that it was intended to render this gallery available as
a place from which some of the congregation might observe the great
ceremonials. So we see that after the close of the fifteenth century
little but decline is to be recorded. Since Sherburne's day no care
had been taken of the fabric; and except that an organ was introduced
above the Arundel screen, no new schemes were devised, no new building
done. It should be remembered, however, that the Reformation did not
at once destroy all the beauties of mediæval art that the cathedral
contained. Certain things, such as shrines, altars, chantries, and
chapels, were removed, dismantled, or totally wrecked. It was with the
coming of the Parliamentary army to the city that wholesale pillage
and destruction began.

The removal of the altar and other derangements of the building had
been effected during the preceding century; but now the vestments,
plate, and ornaments were stolen. The decorative and other paintings
on the walls, and all parts that could easily be reached, were