or the largest, or the oldest, or in some other way the most remarkable.
Occasionally the claim is indisputable, because the boasted object is
unique in the country; as is the case with the octagon at Ely, the three
spires at Lichfield, the situation and western Galilee of Durham, and
the almost perfect unity of design at Salisbury. Sometimes, if not
unique, there is no question as to the justice of the claim for
superiority; whether it be for a thing of beauty, like the cloisters at
Gloucester, or the Norman tower at Norwich, or the east window of
Carlisle, or the angel-choir at Lincoln; or for size or extent, when the
question narrows itself to a mere matter of measurement.

But it is not always by any means the fact that this prominent feature,
though it is the pride of the inhabitants and a source of admiration to
visitors, is really the most noteworthy thing belonging to the church.
This seems specially the case at Peterborough. Probably nobody speaks or
thinks of Peterborough cathedral without immediately associating it with
its glorious west front. Many believe that there is little else in the
building that is worthy of any particular attention. And yet nowhere in
the kingdom is there to be found a finer and more complete Norman
church. Arches, windows, mouldings, more elaborate and more grand may no
doubt be found elsewhere; but where else can we find, as here, choir,
transepts, and nave, with all the original Norman, from ground to roof,
with two insignificant exceptions, remaining unaltered? It is natural
to compare the three great East Anglian Cathedrals, as all have superb
work of the Norman period. But at Norwich the lower arches in the choir
have been rebuilt in the Perpendicular style, while the vaulted roof of
the nave, raised in the fifteenth century, is less in keeping with the
sturdy architecture beneath it than the wooden ceiling at Peterborough.
At Ely, beautiful as is the work in the octagon and choir, there is no
Norman work east of the transepts. Of course we are referring to the