3. Plan of Roman and Saxon Cathedral of Canterbury, according to Prof. Willia. A. The first altar, enclosing the relics of St. Wilfrid: this was the original high altar, and was built of rough stones and cement, according to Edmerd, which marks its antiquity; it was afterwards considered too sacred for ordinary use, and

B. The second altar was constructed in front of it for daily use.
CC. Steps descending from the Presbytery to the Choir.

d Edm. Vit. S. Wilfridi; Mabillon, t. iii. p. 227; MS. C.C.C., p. 77; ap. Willis's Cant., p. 4.

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The charter granted by King Edgar to Malmesbury Abbey, late in the tenth century, (974,) mentions that the churches were visibly ruinated with mouldering shingles and worm eaten boards, even to the rafters e;" and King Canute's charter to Glastonbury Abbey, in 1032, is dated from the wooden church there; yet Glastonbury was one of the most wealthy abbeys, even at that time. The walls were covered inside with plates of gold and silver, and outside with lead, but the material of construction was wood. There is, however, no doubt that the Saxons had some stone churches; but the building of a stone church was an event of importance, recorded with much pomp by the historians of the period; they were therefore not common, and it is not until the eleventh century that we can expect to find many remains of stone buildings &.

Ordinary dwelling-houses continued to be usually of wood throughout the Middle Ages, and in some parts of the country wooden houses are to this day more common than any others. Wooden palisades were also much used in fortification at all periods.

Soon after the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity, Bede records the building of stone churches at Wearmouth and Jarrow, in the county of Durham, about 680. As this has been considered the starting-point of the history of architecture in England, it will be better to give the substance of his words :-" A year after the monastery of Wearmouth had been built, Benedict crossed the sea into Gaul, and no sooner asked than he obtained and carried back with him masons to build him a stone church in the Roman manner, which he had always admired h." It is possible that portions of the two churches still standing on these sites may be of this early period. The tower of Monk's Wearmouth is very rude both in

e "When St. Aidan was sick, they set up a tent for him close to the wall at the west end of the church, by which means it happened that he gave up the ghost leaning against a post that was on the outside to strengthen the wall." The church was twice destroyed by fire, but "it would not touch that post, although in a most miraculous manner the fire broke through the very holes in it, wherewith it was fixed to the building, and destroyed the church."-Bede, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. c. 17.

f See Companion to the Glossary of Architecture, p. 10, and Chron. Petriburg., p. 3.

g In A.D. 652 St. Finan built a church in the island of Lindisfarne : "Nevertheless, after the manner of the Scots, he made it not of stone, but of hewn oak, and covered it with reeds." Eadbert afterwards took off the thatch, and covered it, both roof and walls, with lead. Bede, lib. iii. c. 25. h Bede, Vita Abb. Wiremuth et Gerv., ed. Giles, p. 364.

design and workmanship. The present church at Jarrow is of early Norman character, but there appear to be parts of an earlier structure built in. Dr. Raine has demonstrated that these two churches were rebuilt about 1075 1.

4. Fragments of Roman Mouldings built in at Hexham.

Before the end of the seventh century stone churches were built by St. Wilfrid at York, Ripon, and Hexham. At York there are no remains of this period, the church having been several times rebuilt, and the earliest portions now remaining are the foundations of the early Norman one. But at Ripon and Hexham are crypts closely resembling each other in plan, dimensions, and character: they are evidently very early; and at Hexham bits of Roman ornamented mouldings are built into the walls, which is generally an indication of early work. The plan of these crypts is a small oblong cell, with very massive walls, and a passage in the thickness of the walls round three sides of the cell: these passages are not level, but ascending and descending, and there are small openings at intervals, as if for persons to look into the cell, or possibly for confession. They are popularly called confessionals, but this name is so com

i See his Account Rolls of Jarrow and Wearmouth. 8vo., Durham, 1854.

A. Present entrance, a square pit 7 ft. long by 2 ft. 7 in. broad, and about 18 ft. deep to the bottom level of the crypt.

B. An arched chamber, 9 ft. 2 in. by 5 ft. 7 in., height to top of roof, 9 ft. ; recess in the wall, cavity at the bottom.

C. The cell, an arched chamber, 13 ft. 4 in. by 8 ft., same height as B, three square recesses in side walls, with a cavity in the bottom stone, (perhaps for holy water, or for a lamp,) and a funnel-shaped hollow above; a stone bracket at the east end, as shewn in plan.

D. A small chamber, (pointed triangular roof, formed with large flat stones,) 5 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. 6 in.; height to apex of roof, 8 ft.

E. A passage, 2 ft. 6 in. broad, length to angle 8 ft. 6 in., elbow 4 ft., flat roof covered with large stones.

F. A small chamber, 6 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in., with a pointed triangular roof, same as D.

G. A passage, 2 ft. 6 in. broad, 6 ft. 6 in. high, length to angle, 13 ft. 6 in., elbow to north, 4 ft., walled up with dry stones.

H. A Roman inscribed slab forms the cover to this angle of the passage. The dotted half-circles at the openings from one chamber to another, are arched doorways about 6 ft. 3 in. in height.

The crypt at Ripon is similar as to the general plan of passages round three sides of a central cell, but the entrances are not arranged quite in the

same manner.

monly given to any part of a church of which the use is not obvious, that no importance can be attached to it. The ascending and descending passages, however, coincide exactly with the description given by Eddius, in his Life of Wilfrid, and the coincidence is too remarkable to be considered as accidental. They seem to indicate that these crypts were used on certain occasions for the exhibition of the relics of the saint, according to an ancient custom still in common use on the Continent: the faithful descend by one staircase, pass along the narrow passage, look through the opening in the wall at the relics, and then pass on, ascending by the other staircase; or sometimes are allowed to pass through one corner of the inner chamber, or cell, and touch the coffin of the saint.

In the year 710 Bede records that Naitan, king of the Picts, sent messengers to Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarrow, and prayed to have architects sent him to build a church in his nation after the Roman manner, promising to dedicate the same in honour of St. Peter, "and Ceolfrid sent the architects as he desired." This probably records the first introduction of stone churches into Scotland.

In the ninth century many churches were destroyed in the incursions of the Danes, and although Alfred exerted himself greatly after the restoration of peace, and employed a sixth part of his income "in the erection of new edifices in a manner admirable and hitherto unknown to the English," no buildings of his age are known to exist.

In the tenth century we are told by William of Malmesbury, that "King Athelstan and Archbishop Odo built and repaired many monasteries:" the word monasterium at this period, and long afterwards, frequently means only a church, with three or four priests attached to it. In Osborn's Life of St. Dunstan mention is made of the building, or re-building, of many churches and monasteries by King Edred and King Edgar. The Saxon Chronicle and the Peterborough Chronicle both record the building or restoring of many churches and monasteries by St. Athelwold, and Ordericus Vitalis mentions that St. Dunstan, St. Oswald, and St. Athelwold built twenty-six abbeys or nunneries. The large number of them, and the rapidity with which they were built, shew that they were of wood.

A curious poetical description of the rebuilding of Winchester

See Observations on the Crypt of Hexham Church, Northumberland, by T. Hudson Turner, Esq., in the Archæological Journal, vol. ii. p. 239.