Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/110

76 be Saxon, are in fact early Norman. The finished style usually called Norman, not being prevalent until after the year 1100.

"The Norman masons, as we have before seen, were at no pains to give so much finish to their work as would be likely to provoke comparison with the neighbouring mouldings of coated brick; but it is by no means certain that their ultimate intention was not to have improved its appearance, by indenting ornaments on the surface after the stone had been fixed in its position. A single performance of the kind was executed on an impost of one of the arches in the triforium on the north side of the nave, as shewn in the annexed figure; but the relief is so slight, and the height so great, that the characteristic ornament of early Norman architecture is scarcely visible from below, and it might have been on this account that it was allowed to remain without repetition." p. 81.

"The noble design which the front of the Transepts presented when the lofty wall was surmounted by a broad and fleet gable spreading over its extreme width, may so far be traced from the remains which have survived the alterations of various periods, that no essential feature would be wanting to its complete restoration. A central pilaster-buttress divides the breadth into two bays, and similar buttresses, with a still broader surface, stand near the angles, and terminate below the gable-springers: the spaces between are only sufficient to admit of a single window in each; these are in two stages, and range with those of the clerestory and aisles, the triforium never having received light from the exterior. The lower part of the gable was enriched with a tier of blank arches, inclosing others with a column in the middle, according to the pattern assigned for imitation by the Norman architect, wherever this kind of embellishment was introduced, which was not departed from for any more ornamental combination. The columns and bases are of stone, and the abacus and impost mouldings of brick; the upper part of the gables has been destroyed, but the springers, with considerable portions of the slopes, remain on the sides, and owe their preservation to the turrets which partly rest upon them. In their complete state they were out-topped by the cones of the circular turrets, which were like those on the chancel of the church of St. Peter-in-the-East, Oxford. The walls of these handsome finishings of the staircases are slightly higher than they originally were, and are pierced in the upper part with four windows corresponding with the prescribed model before referred to." p. 130.

We may observe that the pinnacles at St. Peter's, Oxford, did not originally terminate in a point, as they are made to do in the modern restoration, the original flat capping stone is preserved, and seems to have been surmounted by an iron cross or vane.

The successive alterations in the church are described and clearly explained; the best authorities have been consulted in every instance, and the result is a volume, which as respects its execution and merits reminds us more strongly than any other work of the kind, of the admirable monographs of the cathedrals of Canterbury, Winchester, and York, by Professor Willis.