Page:The Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury and The Saxon Saints Buried Therein.djvu/43

THE ROMANO-BRITISH AND SAXON CHURCH of St. Thomas, and an eye-witness of the Fire of 1174; his account of the fire and the rebuilding of the Cathedral is printed in the volume of Chronicles entitled the Decem Scriptores; Professor Willis, the most important and illuminating writer on the Cathedral in modern times, calls him "the most remarkable mediæval writer of Architectural History."

We will follow these writers in order of their dates, using where possible their own words:

From Bede we learn that St. Austin, when he had

It is probable that that part of the building, which had been used originally by Christian Britons and desecrated by Pagan Saxons, was but a ruined shell when it was recovered by St. Austin. As it was from this nucleus that the Saxon Cathedral sprang it is necessary that we should try and reconstruct it, if possible, from archæological sources; this can be reasonably accomplished by assuming that it was built upon the same plan as that at Silchester, previously mentioned, which was uncovered and excavated by G. E. Fox and W. H. St. John Hope, in 1892.

This early building was found to consist of an aisled church, only 42 feet long, of three or four bays, with an apse at its west end. Also at the west end were quasi-transepts or portici on either side, only slightly wider than the aisles. At the east end of the building was an atrium or vestibule, extending the width of the building, with entrances probably opening directly into the vestibule at the east. From the vestibule, in a westerly direction, a single entrance would open into the 13