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The beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling in Bath Abbey is a masterpiece, and my reaction when I saw it for the first time was that it was a classic piece of medieval craftsmanship. In fact, part of it is. The vaulted ceiling over the chancel (at the bottom of the picture) is by Robert and William Vertue, who had worked on the nave of Westminster Abbey in the late 1400s.

In the early 1500s, what was then known as Bath Cathedral was in a state of serious disrepair and needed a major restoration. Robert and William Vertue, the king's masons, were commissioned, promising to build the finest vaulted ceiling in England. Their design incorporated the surviving Norman crossing wall and arches.

The remainder of the vaulted ceiling above the nave is actually by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who worked on a major restoration in the 1860-70s. The vaulted ceiling was not merely a fanciful aesthetic addition but a completion of the original design.