The Abbey, from the W. porches to the E. end of the Lady-chapel and the Chapel of Transfiguration, measures inside 520 feet, outside 550 feet; the entire transept length from N. to S., on the floor, 177 feet; the nave, the longest Gothic one in the world, 292 feet x 75 feet 4 inches; the Lady-chapel, 57 feet x 24 feet; the great Screens are rather less than 170 feet apart; the height of the tower is 144 feet.  Visitors will find some slight discrepancies as to measurements in the several guides which have been compiled; but the foregoing figures will assist them to realise the vast dimensions of the building.  Its area is approximately 40,000 square feet.  Of special interest are:—­

(1) The Tower, which is seen to greater advantage since Sir Gilbert Scott removed the exterior plaster, thus exposing the wonderfully preserved Roman tiles with which it was faced by Abbot Paul de Caen.  The four enormous piers upon which it rests were weakened by the ignorance of early restorers, who cut into them freely, and dug graves in such manner as to imperil their foundations.  The most arduous work of Sir Gilbert Scott was the strengthening of these piers, effected piecemeal by partial reconstruction of the piers themselves and by laying a durable substratum of cement right down to the chalk.  The fine ring of eight bells was rehung.  Visitors will find the ascent of the spiral staircase long and arduous, but will be rewarded by the almost unrivalled view from between the merlons on its summit.

[Illustration:  The Shrine of St Alban]

(2) St. Alban’s Shrine (in the Saint’s Chapel between the Altar Screen and the Lady-chapel), already referred to (p. 188), disappeared about the time of the suppression of the monastery (1539), and all traces of it were lost except the fragment of Purbeck marble marking its former site on the chapel floor.  Yet that shrine, its genuineness unquestioned, stands to-day on the site which it occupied centuries ago!  Hundreds of fragments of Purbeck marble were discovered when the central arches of the Lady-chapel were opened by Dr. Nicholson previous to the restorations of Sir Gilbert Scott.  Subsequently, other fragments were discovered and the whole collection, the importance of which was suspected, was pieced together with indefatigable ingenuity by the late John Chapple.  The feretry itself, mentioned by Matthew Paris, which was supposed to contain the relic of the martyr, has not, and probably never will be, discovered.  The vaulted niches are of clunch, but the rest of the shrine is of Purbeck marble.  Note the beautiful tracery of these groined niches, the cusps of the arches and crocketted pediments, and the carvings in the tympana, representing scenes from the martyrdom of SS.  Alban and Amphibalus.

(3) Shrine of St. Amphibalus (in N. aisle of presbytery).  This was discovered in fragments and pieced together in the same manner as that of St. Alban.  The whole, however, is of clunch, and, unfortunately, incomplete.  Note the fret-like sculpture round the basement, and the name of the saint (imperfect) in carved capitals.