this class; they are distinguished chiefly by the peculiar

edge is cham

14. Belfry Window with Balusters, Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire.

fered off, like the common Norman moulding; in other cases the mouldings are very singular, as at Barnack and Corhampton. The impost frequently has its projection inward from the jamb of the arch, and is not carried along the plain face of the wall.

CHAPTER III.

The Early Norman Period.

HE Norman style was introduced into England in

THE

the time of Edward the Confessor; the king himself founded the great Abbey of Westminster, and many of the buildings were erected in his time. Of this

16. Early Norman Vaulting, Chapel of the Pix, Westminster Abbey, AD 1060-1066.

church he had completed the choir and transepts, which were sufficient for the performance of divine service, and it was then consecrated, Dec. 28, 1065, a few days

only before his death. The nave at that time was not built it is probable that a nave was built soon afterwards, but of this church we have no remains. The dormitory was in all probability building at the same time, as the monks who had to perform the service in the church must have required a place to sleep in. Of this dormitory the walls and the vaulted substructure remain; the work is rude and clumsy Norman, with widejointed masonry, and the capitals left plain, to be painted or carved afterwards. It is about as much advanced in style as the work in Normandy of the same period, and is said to have been built by Norman workmen. The original parts of the church of St. Stephen, or the abbaie aux hommes, at Caen, are not more advanced".

About the time of the Norman Conquest a great change took place in the art of building in England. On consulting the history of our cathedral churches, we find that in almost every instance the church was rebuilt from its foundations by the first Norman bishop, either on the same site or on a new one; sometimes, as at Norwich and Peterborough, the cathedral was removed to a new town altogether, and built on a spot where there was no church before; in other cases, as at Winchester, the new church was built near the old one, which was not pulled down until after the relics had been translated with great pomp from the old church to the new. In other instances, as at York and Canterbury, the new church was erected on the site of the old one, which was pulled down piecemeal as the new work progressed. These new churches were in

See Gleanings from Westminster Abbey, by G. G. Scott.

all cases on a much larger and more magnificent scale than the old; they were also constructed in a much better manner, the Normans being far better masons than the Saxons.

Notwithstanding this superiority of workmanship to that which had preceded it, the early Norman masonry is extremely rude

of very good qua- 71 Wide jointed Masonry, Chapel in the White Tower lity. In conse.

London, A.D. 1081.

quence of this imperfect construction, many of the towers fell down within a few years after their erection. It is probable, however, that the workmen employed on these structures were for the most part Saxons, as the Normans must have been too much employed otherwise during the reign of the Conqueror to execute much masons' work with their own hands. Nor were the Norman monks established in sufficient numbers to be able to superintend all the works which were going on at this period; the cathedrals and large monasteries must have occupied nearly all their attention. The ordinary parish churches which required rebuilding must have been left to the Saxons themselves, and were probably built in the same manner as before, with such slight improvements as they might have gleaned from the Norman works.

We have a strong confirmation of this in the city of Lincoln: the Conqueror having taken possession of about a quarter of the old city to build a castle upon, and Bishop Remigius having purchased nearly another quarter to build a cathedral and monastery, the Saxon inhabitants were driven down the hill on which the old city

18. Tower of the supposed Saxon character,

St Peter's at Gowts, Lincoln, c. 1080.

stands, and took possession of some swampy land at the foot of the hill, which they drained, and redeemed from the fens or marshes of which nearly all the low country then consisted. On this new land they built several churches. One of these, St. Peter's at Gowts, or at the Sluices, remains nearly entire, and St. Mary le Wigford has retained the tower built at this period b This is an important and interesting fact in the history of architecture, as it confirms what was before only a natural supposition, and it enables us to fill up a gap: we appeared to have scarcely any parish churches of the early Norman period, but it is now evident that many of the long list of churches called Saxon belong to a period subsequent to the Conquest. The tower of St. Michael's Church, Oxford,

is one of those included by Mr. Riekman as of the character sup

b For these particulars respecting the city of Lincoln I am indebted to my lamented friend the late Mr. E. J. Wilson, of that city, one of the most learned archæologists of his day, the author of the Glossary in Pugin's "Specimens," and of much of the letterpress in the works of the elder Pugin, the "Specimens" and "Examples" of Gothic Architecture.