Originally founded in 627 by Edwin, King of Northumbria, the Minster
had been rebuilt and enlarged from time to time. It received its final
and present form in the fifteenth century. At one time the Nave was
rebuilt: at the same time there was built, near but separate from the
main building, the Chapter House, a magnificent octagonal parliament
house of one immense chamber: later the Chapter House was connected
with the main building by the Vestibule. Then the Choir was replaced
by a larger and finer building in the then latest architectural
fashion. The new choir contained the east window, which in the eyes of
contemporaries was wonderful and unrivalled for its size and painted
glass. It occupies nearly all the central space of the east wall from
a few feet above the ground to almost the apex of the gable. Gothic
architecture was so marvellously adaptable that all these parts, built
at widely different times, at various and strongly-contrasted stages
of the development of this English mediæval architecture, together
make a single building that appears to possess the most felicitous
unity of general design and a perfectly wonderful diversity of
sectional design, for every part is in complete sympathy with the
scheme as a whole.

To the east of the Central Tower is the Choir, which was kept
exclusively for the services; to the west, the Nave, the popular part.
The entrance to the Choir from the west is made through the stone
screen of Kings, which, with the lofty organ which rests on it,
prevents people in the Nave from getting anything more than a glimpse
of what is taking place in the Choir. Over the western ends of the
Nave aisles are the twin west towers, which contain the bells. The
high altar and reredos stood in the middle of the Choir between the
two choir transepts, the huge windows of which present in picture the