Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/170

Rh those of the choir in their proportions and in their ornamental details only.

All the arches of this interior, except those of the windows of the aisles, have hood-mouldings which add to the effect of subdivision of the arch orders—an effect that was pleasing to the Anglo-Norman taste even as early as the time of the construction of the archivolts of Malmesbury. The vaults of the aisles are in five cells as are those of the choir also, there being a half intermediate transverse rib on the wall side. This half-rib is carried by a monolithic detached shaft resting on a corbel placed just above the string-course which runs along the wall at the level of the window sills. The main transverse ribs of the aisle vaults are carried by responds consisting of five closely grouped monolithic shafts; and a cusped arcade lightens the wall space beneath the window string.

The buttress system is, like the internal vaulting system, largely wanting in structural completeness and functional efficiency. The clerestory wall is unbroken externally by pier buttresses. It has a continuous arcade of alternate groups of three wide arches, which open into the nave, and three narrow arches which are blind. The central blind arch in each group occupies the place of a pier, and into it the head of the flying buttress abuts, with the effect, to the eye, of piercing the wall. The level of the abutment is but little above the line where the aisle roof meets the wall, and