Wells Cathedral: A Sea of Steps

"The steps now rise steeply before one, and the extraordinary wear in the top portions leading to the corridor, is now shown just as it appeals to the eye in the original subject, a veritable sea of steps. The passing over them of hundreds of footsteps during the many years the stair has served its purpose have worn them into a semblance of broken waves, low-beating on a placid shore. The beautiful curve of the steps on the right as they rise to the height of the Chapter House floor, is for all the world like the surge of a great wave that will presently break and subside into smaller ones." Frederick H. Evans, 1903