Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/338

 06i ON THE ARCHITECTURE OP ON THE AECHITECTUEE OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF DORCHESTEE.* § 2. — Architectural History. Having thus contemplated the effects produced on the several parts of the building by the peculiarities of its general arrangement, we will now proceed to the second part of our subject, the history of the fabric. And I imagine that in so doing we shall easily find the key to those pecu- liarities. Dorchester, like Llandaff, is an instance of a church growing up from small dimensions to a considerable size, without any thorough reconstruction either of the whole or of any essential portion. And it is to this circumstance that each owes its peculiar character. But, with this striking analogy in their general history, in its minuter circumstances we shall find but little resemblance, except the accidental circumstance that in both the whole extent of the Decorated period was a season of extraordinary activity, while there is very little work of a later date. At Llandaff also the changes which the fabric has undergone are of the most complicated and perplexing character ; while the history of Dorchester, since the time when we can first call it complete, is comparatively simple ; additions have been numerous, but, for the most part, they are merely additions, with no recon- structions or insertions of any importance. Also at Dor- chester there has been comparatively little extension in the way of length, while Llandaff has received the addition of that stately Early English nave, built almost entirely to the west of the original Norman church, on which it grounds its best pretension to an architectural rank equal to its ecclesiastical. We have then the explanation ; no one would sit down and dcsio-n such a church as either Llandaff or Dorchester is o at present. An original architect would probably have preferred to produce something of the comparatively humble scale of Llanbadarn or Leonard Stanley. But in both cases successive benefactors, finding an originally small fabric, and. adding to it each after his own taste, with but little reference to other portions, have gradually produced what we now see ; {.'oiiliiuied ii-iiin p. G9.