[Illustration:  The West Front in the Seventeenth Century.]

In 1540 the reign of the abbots came to an end, and in 1541 the church became a cathedral.  For a hundred years the church itself, as well as all the buildings attached to it, appear to have remained in their full glory.  There is no reason to discredit the account given of the preservation of this church, when so many others were dismantled or sold at the suppression of the monasteries.  It was suggested to King Henry VIII, after the interment here of Queen Katharine of Aragon, that it would become his greatness to erect a suitable monument of her in the place where she was buried; and in reply the King said he would leave her one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom, meaning that he would spare the church for her sake.  We conclude, however, from what we know of the state of the fabric in the reign of Charles I, that although no buildings may have been demolished, yet the church itself was falling into disrepair.  No doubt the diminished resources of the establishment, as well as the numerous demands upon the stipends (never large) of the members of the chapter, most of whom had duties and claims elsewhere besides having families to support, materially reduced the amount that could be annually devoted to the sustentation of the fabric.  In the time of the civil war much wanton destruction took place.  Nearly everything in the nature of ornamentation or embellishment was destroyed.  A full account of the mischief wrought has been preserved.  Without particularly naming such things as books, documents, vestments, and the movable ornaments, we find the damage done to the fabric itself was terrible indeed.  The organs, “of which there were two pair,” were broken down.  All the stalls of the choir, the altar rails, and the great brass chandelier, were knocked to pieces.  The altar of course did not escape.  Of the reredos, or altar-piece, and its destruction, Patrick writes as follows:  “Now behind the Communion Table, there stood a curious piece of stone-work, admired much by strangers and travellers; a stately skreen it was, well wrought, painted and gilt, which rose up as high almost as the roof of the church in a row of three lofty spires, with other lesser spires, growing out of each of them, as it is represented in the annexed draught.[15] This had now no Imagery-work upon it, or anything else that might justly give offence, and yet because it bore the name of the High Altar, was pulled all down with ropes, lay’d low and level with the ground.”  All the tombs were mutilated or hacked down.  The hearse over the tomb of Queen Katherine was demolished, as well as the arms and escutcheons which still remained above the spot where Mary Queen of Scots had been buried.  All the other chief monuments were defaced in like manner.  One in particular is worth mentioning.  It was a monument in the new building erected to himself by Sir Humfrey Orme in his lifetime.  Two words