Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/95

Rh but the time I have been enabled to allow to each would not suffice for any beyond the most meagre account, unless I had sacrificed the power of obtaining a general impression to the careful examination of one or two isolated specimens. I will content myself with a very brief notice of the churches I have visited, and then make a few remarks upon their general character.

—About a mile from the Clermont station. A fine cross church with a massive central tower. Its style corresponds with the English early Decorated; that is, the windows have geometrical tracery; but it may possibly be as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century. A good flamboyant apse is added. The nave, which has aisles, is vaulted. The vaulting shafts, which are very bold, form a cluster of three, the central one of which has a rectangular abacus set diagonally, its point corresponding with the direction of the transverse rib. The ribs are triple, and have a pointed section. The clerestory, now blocked up, is of two lights, trefoiled, with a trefoiled circle above; the architrave of the comprising arch having a wide hollow between two small tori. The jambs and mullion are without capitals. There is no triforium, but the mullion of the clerestory is carried down to the string above the pier arches. The aisle windows have only one light, plain pointed. The transept window has four lights, its tracery comprehending two orders. Three circles in the head are all of the second order; the central mullion, with its branches, being of the first. This is an arrangement worth notice, as it does not make the highest circle heavier in its masonry than those in a lower part of the window, which is the case with much of our geometrical tracery, at Lincoln for instance. This window, as well as those in the tower, has shafts in the jambs and mullions. The tower piers are finely clustered, the shafts having the square abacus, which also appears in the rest of the building, and in a fine pointed western door. All the piers are clustered. The church stands well, and deserves attention. (See cuts.)

—Close to the railroad on your left hand, as you go from Clermont towards Paris, about two miles from Clermont. The eastern part, comprising the tower, is early Pointed, with square abacus, and vaulting. The arrangement of the church is curious, from the tower being