Abstract
There are only five examples of a western transept in Britain : three in England — Bury St. Edmunds, Ely and Peterborough — and two in Scotland — Kelso and Kilwinning. In all cases, a western choir, traditionally associated with a west transept on the Continent, has been replaced by one or more western portals, which therefore, it would seem, drastically changed the function and meaning of the west transept form. What are the reasons for this change ? In the case of the two earliest examples — Bury and Ely — it was perhaps an interest in asserting the Anglo-Saxon heritage of these abbeys by the erection of a monumental axial west tower, a feat facilitated by the construction of a transept and crossing. But the transept at Peterborough was narrow and surmounted by two towers, perhaps the result of the conflation of a west transept with a two-tower façade. It may have served as a prototype for certain similar constructions in France as at Saint-Germer-de-Fly and Noyon Cathedral. The reasons for the appearance of the form in Scotland, at Kelso with an axial lantern tower, and at Kilwinning with two towers, are yet to be determined. It is worthy of note that it was only after 1200 that examples of a west transept with portais replacing a choir occur in Germany.
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