But first a new church of S. Peter was built in West Street in 1853,
so that the north arm of the transept should no longer be used as it
had been for about four hundred years. Then not long afterwards Dean
Chandler, at his death, left a large sum to be used for the purpose of
decorating the cathedral. To this sum other funds were added. The need
that more space should be provided for the congregation arose, and to
satisfy this it was decided that the choir should be opened out to the
nave. Consequently, in 1859 the work of decoration was begun by the
removal of the Arundel screen with the eighteenth-century organ above
it--one of the most beautiful remnants of the art of earlier days that
remained in the cathedral. The object of this act was most admirable,
but it involved in addition the destruction of the fourteenth-century
"return" stalls which were on the eastern face of the doomed screen.
In taking down the screen, or shrine, all the stones composing it had
been carefully numbered, with the intention that it should be rebuilt
in a new position. But although these materials are still wantonly
distributed about the cathedral and precincts, no attempt has been
made to use them again, either as a screen or as an evidence to show
by contrast that the result has justified the change. Its removal was
the beginning of a series of alterations, both by accident and design.
The old reredos, that quiet and beautiful witness of things so sacred
and some so profane, was torn away. The whole of the choir was to be
rearranged. But when the piers of the central tower were exposed by
the removal of the screen, it was discovered that they were in a
precariously rotten condition at the core. Other indications of
weakness, which had been overlooked before, were now observed. Large
and deep cracks and various earlier signs of apprehended weakness both
in arches and piers were remarked. That the work now begun had given
impetus to the fall has been denied on excellent authority, and to
discuss such a question at this time is useless. The serious trouble