Architecture And Archæology

latest , are almost exactly alike , even to minute details . The Italians were such admirable copyists , thafc ifc is almost impossible to tell which are early and which are late . Of our English towers , on tho contrary , no two are alike , and there is an evident steady progress in them quite as rapid as wo could reasonably expect . They have not yet been sufficiently examined and compared with each other to

arrange them in strict chronological order , but I have no . doubt thafc it may be done and will be done . The towers of this period have more commonly been preserved than the other parts of the churches ; being used for the belfry , it has been convenient to preserve them when the rest of the church has been rebuilt or altered .

We have not a single perfect church of this period remaining , but we have enough remaining , by taking different parts from different churches , to make out satisfactorily what these churches wero like , ivhich is more than we can say of an earlier period . One of the characteristics of the buildings , the long-andshorfc-work for the groins on the angles , has been already

mentioned . Another is the use of a kind of stone baluster to divide tho windows in a place of a shaft or a mnllion ; these balusters have evidently been turned in a turning lathe , which is just what we should expect a carpenter to do , but what a mason would never think of doing . The con-. struction of tho walls is rude and coarse , either of rag or rubble , or sometimes partly of herring-bone work , and often plastered on the outside .

The use of what we call pilaster , strips on tho surface of the wall instead of buttresses , is another imitation of woodwork . There are sometimes several tiers of these used as ornamental arcades . What is called tho straight-sided arch , -or the triangular head to an opening , as at Barton-on Humber , and Earl ' s Barton , is also obviously derived from placing two pieces of timber to meet at the point . The windows are

usually placed in the middle of a thick wall , and the opening splayed or spread out , both outside and inside , as at Caversfield ; and ivhen there are two lights to the window , a long . stone is carried through tho wall , and supported in the middle by the baluster , as at -St . Benet ' s , Cambridge . Tho frequent use of Soman tiles in the masonry , or rather in tho rubble walling , is hardly to be considered a

characteristic . The use of old materials is not confined to any style , and the earliest builders in stone would naturally use the remains of Eoman buildings whenever they could find them , as they did in all countries . The use of plain square blocks -of stone for imposts is , I believe , peculiar to the earlier specimens of this style , and belongs obviously to the rudest kind of construction .

The peculiar moulded imposts , as at Barnack , are quite -as much like pieces of wood let into the wall horizontally for bonding , as they are like Eoman mouldings , of which thev aro supposed to be a rude imitation . In the latter

examples , such as Sfc . Benet ' s , Cambridge , Corhampton , & c ., the moulded imposts are of very decided Ifortnan character . I cannot find any special peculiarity in the plans of these churches and tho circular staircases , which Mr . Eickman considers one of the features , appear to me to be even moro ¦ common in Norman work . They have no buttresses . The arches are quite plain ,

square in saefcion , and nofc recessed , except in the later examples . They are often formed of tiles or thin stones used edgeways , like tiles , as at "Britford , Wilts . When there is airy carving , it is rude and shallow , and an unskilful imitation of Itoiiiaii . One of tho most perfect churches of this century that we have remaining has only recently been noticed ; it is afc

Bradford-on-avon , in Wiltshire , and stands side by side ivith the present church , a -part of which is Norman , though late . 'The two churches stood originally in the same church-yard , but a road has been made between them . It was not an uncommon practice to build tho new and larger church by the side of the small old one , in order that divince servico miht not bo intoruptedand tho old church

g ; was sometimes retained for a school-room , the purpose to which a part of the one at Bradford is now applied . This church is built of ashlar masonry ( thafc is , of cut stone , as distinguished from the rubble walls of the earlier work ) , and is moro ornamented than usual in this style ,

Architecture And Archæology

having an arcade cut on the surface of the stone along the upper part of the exterior . There is a large porch on ; the north side , which is unusual ; but this position was probably dictated by convenience , as the church stand on the slope of a steep hill . The chancel arch is very small , ivhich is commonly the case in all Early churches , and may be considered one of the characteristics of the 11 th century , though

sometimes found afterwards . The doorways , ancl imposts , ancl pilaster-strips are of the usual Anglo-Saxon character , as at Corhampton and Stornton Lacy . In the first year ofthe llfch century "King Ethelred gave the monastery and village of Bradford to the nunnery of Shaftesbury , in Dorsetshire , to be always subject fco ifc , that the nuns might have a safe refuge against the insults of tho

Danes , and , on the restoration of peace , return to their ancient place ; but some of the family to remain at Bradford if it should be thought fit by the prior . " We usually find that , when any manor or village was given to a monastic establishment , the church was rebuilt within a few years afterwards . Each monastery usually hadas we knowa of workmen in their regular loy

, , gang emp , as part of the necessary establishment ; ancl , by always doing a little each year , great things were ultimately affected . As the country was in a very disturbed state afc that time , ifc is hardly probable thafc a stone church would be begun until things hacl settled down under Canute , which was twenty years after the donation ; and as such a- church was

an important work for that period , it would require some years to build it , so that ifc ivas probably near fche middle of the 11 th century before it ivas completed . The masonry is unusually good for that time ; but Bradford stands on a , bed of fine building stone , and was , therefor , likely to be in advance of . other places in its masonry . Ifc is remarkable that of tho churches that have been

described by Mr . Bloxam ancl others as Anglo-Saxon , and which amount to nearly a hundred , fully one-half arc in thafc part of England in which the Danes were settled , ancl fchey are far more numerous in Lincolnshire than in any other county . This was , as we all know , pre-eminently the Danish county . It seems probable that the churches burnt by the Danes

in their piratical incursions were almost all of wood , and that those which thoy built under Canute to replace them were of stone , and are for the most part the earliest churches we have now remaining , or rather of which we have any parts remaining , for none of them have been preserved entire . Wc must remember that Canute was the greatest of the

Scandinavian kings ; that he was nofc king of England only , but of Denmark also ; ho was a man in advance of his age , and justly called the ' * ' Great . " Under his firm sceptre England had breathing time , and enjoyed more tranquillity than she had for a century before ; and in such circumstances ive might naturally expect tho arts of peace , and especially architecture , to revive with now life and vigour . ( To be continued . }

General Architectural Intelligence.

GENERAL ARCHITECTURAL INTELLIGENCE .

On fche exterior of Worcester Cathedral the south-eastern transept which hacl reached a dangerous state of dilapidation , has been restored . Internally the same transept has noiv the true character of a transept : the three Italian arches which closed it up like a chapel , which wero introduced at some time or other to support tho tottering masonry , have been removed ; and the transept arch is open from the

pavement to fche apex . Two of tho transept walls have been rebuilt and all the windows restored . The latest restorations run from the easternmost transepts to the east end , and comprise tho whole of the walls , piers , and windows of the lady chapel , except thoso in tbe east , which had before undergone restoration . In taking off tho plaster from the walls several blocked-up ambries and a staircase in the wall have been

discovered . A memorial window is in preparation ^ for the I east window of the north aisle of the lady chapel . Sew con' tracts will shortly be entered upon for carrying the repairs westwards from the lady chapel to the principal transepts .