Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/294

 204 NOTICES OF AIJCIIAEOLOGICAL riTBLICATIONS. and part of the transepts of Gloucester ; tlie choir and transepts of Durliain ; the nave and transepts of Christ Chureli, in Ilanipsliire ; the choir and transepts of Norwich ; the crypt under the choir, and parts of the side walls of the choir aisles, of Canterbury. — (P. 40.) Now, of these examples, heyond the uniform use of the round arch, a certain boldness of mouldings, and a considerable degree of roughness in the masonry, scarce any two can be said entirely to resemble each other in general character. The forms and pro- portions of the piers, the sections of the architraves, the style of ornament, vary. In Walkeiyn's work the orders of the arches are square, like the German Romanesque ; in his brother Simeon's, they are enriched with mouldings. In the work of Keniigius the mouldings are so numerous as almost to lead to the suspicion that they have been cut at a subsequent period. There is no English work that exactly follows the type of St. Nicholas in Caen, with its external columns running to its cornice ; nor of Jumieges, which also differ much from each other. In the early part of the twelfth century a much greater uniformity seems to have prevailed, though we have still varieties, and some examples, as Tewkesbury and Gloucester, differing much from the ordinary type. After citing a passage from William of Malmesbury's description of the churches of Salisbury and Malmesbury, Mr. Parker remarks, " The buildings here alluded to were erected between 1115 and 1139; this may, then, fairly be considered as the turning point between early and late Norman work." — (P. 45.) It may be a matter of dispute where the perfection of the Norman style is to be found. Some will assign it to the purity and simplicity which prevails in buildings belonging to Henry I.'s reign ; others to the richness which characterises the work of the later period, of which the magnificent nave of Selby in Yorkshire furnishes a striking example. The fact is, that the English-Norman throughout is rather a transitorial than an independent style, and from the first exhibits some indication of the approaching change. The pier arches of Lindisfarne, to which Mr. Parker affixes the date 1094, exhibit a series of mouldings not much less numerous and varied than those which immediately precede the appearance of the Early English, The abacus adapting itself to the shape of the cylindrical pier, as at Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and Southwell, where it is circular, and at Durham, where it is polygonal, is a further step, and this also takes j)lace at an early period. " The general effect of a rich Norman church is very gorgeous ; but it has a soi't of barbaric splendour, very far removed from the chasteness and delicacy of the style which suc- ceeded it."— (P. 86.) This is very true, and it constitutes the great difference between English churches of the Norman style, and many Romanesque continental build- ings of corresj)onding date. The latter, though less rich in ornament, have a certain classical refinement tmknuwii to us. They exhibit the Woottoii, uioutestcibhire. uuirka of a permanent and iudc- IIHlUlni