Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/302

 2-Zi) NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. porch (by which a Bemich-cular apse is probably meant) having a radius of 1 2 feet ; this would, therefore, extend the entire length to 40 feet. On April 1 4, A.D. 1120, Urban commenced his great work of erecting a suitable cathedral in this ancient see." Of this church, Mr. Freeman thinks the choir, *' of which no trace remains, occupied the site of the present Lady Chapel, and that the fragments of early Norman work, retained in the present presbytery, are portions of his nave." The original Norman cathedral must have been a structure of comparatively small size, though, as its remains attest, of a very considerable degree of ornament. It " probably consisted only of a nave and choir." [Ibid pp. 113, 114.) " The enlargement of the building began while Romanesque architecture was still not quite extinct, and was concluded (for a time) in the earliest day of the pure Lancet style." The western front, in which this style appears "in its perfection," and the arcades, he attributes "to a date about 1220. The character of the Early Enghsh part of the church is singularly good ; besides its excellent proportions, it combines, in a most remarkable degree, a great lack of ornament, with not only the utmost excellence of detail, but a considerable effect of richness. The internal treatment of the west end is especially excellent, and deserves the more attention, as the mean appearance of a western portal is often a marked blot upon churches of great magnificence. The nave was nxanifestly intended to be covered by a flat ceiling. This is shown by the roof shafts, which are continued up to the summit of the masonry." After noticing the division of nave and choir, south aisle of presbytery, and chapter-house, he introduces the Lady Chapel, under the section of "Decorated repairs," which he regards as an example of Early English gradually sinking into Decorated. " It was a complete erection from the ground, and retains no trace of Romanesque work, except the grand arch opening into it from the presbytery." The north-west tower he considers a fine example of Perpendicular. The present fabric, as it now stands, consists of two low western towers, a nave, choir, presbytery, and Lady Chapel — the last without aisles. (See plan, ibid. p. 100.) Of the interesting ruined abbeys of the Principality, we find full particulars of Cwmhir, Rad- norshire (vol. iv., p. 233), with a plate ; of Strata Florida, Cardiganshire (vol. iii., pp. 110, 191) ; Rhuddlan, Flintshire {ibid. p. 46 ; vol. ii., p. 250); Cymmer, Merionethshire (vol. i., p. 445 ; vol.ii., p. 327) ; Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire (vol. i., p. 201); Basin£;werk, Flintshire {ibid. pp. 97, 334, 408) ; and Valle Crucis {ibid. pp. IT", 151, 279). Of these, Cwmhir appears to have been the longest building of its class in Wales. It derives its name from being situated in a long (hir) dingle (cwm), and was founded by a daughter of Blanchlaud, in the year 1143 ; or, according to Leland, by Caswallon ap Madoc, then sovereign lord of the district : it seems, how- ever, never to have been finished. The actual length of the nave, within the walls, from careful measurement, appears to be 242 feet. Little more now remains of the edifice than ruinated walls, and traces of founda- tions. In the notice of Strata Florida, a well executed engraving is given of the west door-way of the nave, which, perhaps, has not a counterpart in the kingdom. It is a round-headed arch, consisting, as the writer describes it, of " co-ordinate arches," five in number, which make up the whole, and are bound together " by three crosiers on either side." In the series of papers, entitled " Mona Media?va " (beginning in vol. i.. p. 61), and " Arvona Mediseva (beginning in vol. ii., p. 53), will be found