in 1321 the original central tower collapsed and over the next ten years was replaced by the octagon and lantern. With the transepts (north at the left of this image) and nave all of the scale they are, the then Sacrist Alan of Walsingham saw that something of a different order was needed. In clearing the debris he must have had the inspiration that by adding the width of the side aisles in each direction, an octagonal space could be created that would make the crossing yet greater. The choir goes off to the right of this image