The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture Part 2

Q. What other kinds of arches are there worthy of notice?

A. Those which are called foiled arches, as the round-headed trefoil (fig.

10), the pointed trefoil (fig. 11), and the square-headed trefoil (fig.

12). The first prevailed in the latter part of the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth century, chiefly as a heading for niches or blank arcades; the second, used for the same purpose, we find to have prevailed in the thirteenth century; and the latter is found in doorways of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. In all these the exterior mouldings follow the same curvatures as the inner mouldings, and are thus distinguishable from arches the heads of which are only foliated within.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY. St. Thomas's, Oxford, circa 1250.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Anglo-Saxon Doorway, Brixworth Church, Northamptonshire.

(7th cent.)]

CHAPTER III.

OF THE ANGLO-SAXON STYLE.

Q. During what period of time did this style prevail?

A. From the close of the sixth century, when the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons commenced, to the middle of the eleventh century.

Q. Whence does this style appear to have derived its origin?

A. From the later Roman edifices; for in the most ancient of the Anglo-Saxon remains we find an approximation, more or less, to the Roman mode of building, with arches formed of brickwork.

Q. What is peculiar in the constructive features of Roman masonry?

A. Walls of Roman masonry in this country were chiefly constructed of stone or flint, according to the part of the country in which the one material or other prevailed, embedded in mortar, bonded at certain intervals throughout with regular horizontal courses or layers of large flat Roman bricks or tiles, which, from the inequality of thickness and size, do not appear to have been shaped in any regular mould.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portion of the Fragment of a Roman Building at Leicester.]

Q. What vestiges of Roman masonry are now existing in Britain?

A. A fragment, apparently that of a Roman temple or basilica, near the church of St. Nicholas at Leicester, which contains horizontal courses of brick at intervals, and arches constructed of brickwork; the curious portion of a wall of similar construction, with remains of brick arches on the one side, which indicate it to have formed part of a building, and not a mere wall as it now appears, at Wroxeter, Salop; and the polygonal tower at Dover Castle, which, notwithstanding an exterior casing of flint, and other alterations effected in the fifteenth century, still retains many visible features of its original construction of tufa bonded with bricks at intervals. Roman masonry, of the mixed description of brick and stone, regularly disposed, is found in walls at York, Lincoln, Silchester, and elsewhere; and sometimes we meet with bricks or stone arranged herring-bone fashion, as in the vestiges of a Roman building at Castor, Northamptonshire, and the walls of a Roman villa discovered at Littleton, Somersetshire.

Q. Have we any remains of the ancient British churches erected in this country in the third, fourth, or fifth centuries?

A. None such have yet been discovered or noticed; for the ruinous structure at Perranzabuloe in Cornwall, which some a.s.sert to have been an ancient British church, is probably not of earlier date than the twelfth century; and the church of St. Martin at Canterbury, built in the time of the Romans, which Augustine found on his arrival still used for the worship of G.o.d, was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, but, to all appearance, with the same materials of which the original church was constructed.

Q. Do any of our churches bear a resemblance to Roman buildings?

A. The church now in ruins within the precincts of the Castle of Dover presents features of early work approximating Roman, as a portal and window-arches formed of brickwork, which seem to have been copied from those in the Roman tower near adjoining; the walls also have much of Roman brick worked up into them, but have no such regular horizontal layers as Roman masonry displays. The most ancient portions of this church are attributed to belong to the middle of the seventh century. The church of Brixworth, Northamptonshire, is perhaps the most complete specimen we have existing of an early Anglo-Saxon church: it has had side aisles separated from the nave by semicircular arches constructed of Roman bricks, with wide joints; these arches spring from square and plain ma.s.sive piers.

There is also fair recorded evidence to support the inference that this church is a structure of the latter part of the seventh century. Roman bricks are worked up in the walls, in no regular order, however, but indiscriminately, as in the church at Dover Castle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pilaster Rib-work Arch, Brigstock Church.]

Q. What peculiarities are observable in masonry of Anglo-Saxon construction?

A. From existing vestiges of churches of presumed Anglo-Saxon construction it appears that the walls were chiefly formed of rubble or rag-stone, covered on the exterior with stucco or plaster, with long and short blocks of ashlar or hewn stone, disposed at the angles in alternate courses. We also find, projecting a few inches from the surface of the wall, and running up vertically, narrow ribs or square-edged strips of stone, bearing from their position a rude similarity to pilasters; and these strips are generally composed of long and short pieces of stone placed alternately. A plain string course of the same description of square-edged rib or strip-work often runs horizontally along the walls of Anglo-Saxon remains, and the vertical ribs are sometimes set upon such as a bas.e.m.e.nt, and sometimes finish under such.

Q. What churches exhibit projecting strips of stonework thus disposed?

A. The towers of the churches of Earls Barton and Barnack, Northamptonshire, and the tower of one of the churches at Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, are covered with these narrow projecting strips of stonework, in such a manner that the surface of the wall appears divided into rudely formed panels; the like disposition of rib-work appears, though not to so great extent, on the face of the upper part of the tower of Stowe Church, Northamptonshire, of St. Benedict's Church, Cambridge, on the walls of the church of Worth, in Suss.e.x, on the upper part of the walls of the chancel of Repton Church, Derbyshire, and on the walls of the nave and north transept of Stanton Lacey Church, Salop.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Anglo-Saxon Masonry, Long and Short Work.

Burcombe, Wilts. Wittering, Northamptonshire.]

Q. Where do we meet with instances where long and short blocks of ashlar masonry are disposed in alternate courses at the angles of walls?

A. Such occur at the angles of the chancel of North Burcombe Church, Wiltshire; at the angles of the nave and chancel of Wittering Church, Northamptonshire; at the angles of the towers of St. Benedict's Church, Cambridge, of Sompting Church, Suss.e.x, and of St. Michael's Church, Oxford, and in other Anglo-Saxon remains. The ashlar masonry forming the angles is not, however, invariably thus disposed.

Q. How are the doorways of this style distinguished?

A. They are either semicircular, or triangular-arched headed, but the former are more common. In those, apparently the most ancient, the voussoirs or arched heads are faced with large flat bricks or tiles, closely resembling Roman work. Doorways of this description are to be met with in the old church, Dover Castle; in the church of Brixworth, Northamptonshire; and on the south side of Brytford Church, Wiltshire. The doorway, however, we most frequently meet with in Anglo-Saxon remains, is of simple yet peculiar construction, semicircular-headed, and formed entirely of stone, without any admixture of brick; the jambs are square-edged, and are sometimes but not always composed of two long blocks placed upright, with a short block between them; the arched head of the doorway is plain, and springs from square projecting impost blocks, the under edges of which are sometimes bevelled and sometimes left square.

This doorway is contained within a kind of arch of rib-work, projecting from the face of the wall, with strips of pilaster rib-work continued down to the ground; sometimes this arch springs from plain block imposts, or from strips of square-edged rib-work disposed horizontally, and the jambs are occasionally constructed of long and short work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Anglo-Saxon Doorway, St. Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber.]

Q. Mention the names of churches in which doorways of this description are preserved?

A. The south doorways of the towers of the old church at Barton-upon-Humber and of Barnack Church, the west doorway of the tower of Earls Barton Church, the north and south doorways of the tower of Wooten Wawen Church, Warwickshire, the east doorway of the tower of Stowe Church, Northamptonshire, the north doorway of the nave of Brytford Church, Wiltshire, and the north doorway of the nave of Stanton Lacey Church, Salop, though differing in some respects from each other, bear a general similarity of design, and come under the foregoing description.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Belfry Window, north side of the Tower of Wyckham Church, Berks.]

Q. How are we able to distinguish the windows of the Anglo-Saxon style?

A. The belfry windows are generally found to consist of two semicircular-headed lights, divided by a kind of rude ball.u.s.ter shaft of peculiar character, the entasis of which is sometimes encircled with rude annulated mouldings; this shaft supports a plain oblong impost or abacus, which extends through the whole of the thickness of the wall, or nearly so, and from this one side of the arch of each light springs. Double windows thus divided appear in the belfry stories of the church towers of St. Michael, Oxford; St. Benedict, Cambridge; St. Peter, Barton-upon-Humber; Wyckham, Berks; Sompting, Suss.e.x; and Northleigh, Oxfordshire. In the belfry of the tower of Earls Barton Church are windows of five or six lights, the divisions between which are formed by these curious ball.u.s.ter shafts. The semicircular-headed single-light window of this style may be distinguished from those of the Norman style by the double splay of the jambs, the s.p.a.ces between which spread or increase in width outwardly as well as inwardly, the narrowest part of the window being placed on the centre of the thickness of the wall; whereas the jambs of windows in the Norman style have only a single splay, and the narrowest part of the window is set even with the external face of the wall, or nearly so. Single-light windows splayed externally occur in the west walls of the towers of Wyckham Church, Berks, and of Stowe Church, Northamptonshire, Caversfield Church, Oxfordshire, and on the north side of the chancel of Clapham Church, Bedfordshire; but windows without a splay occur in the tower of Lavendon Church, Buckinghamshire. Small square or oblong-shaped apertures are sometimes met with, as in the tower of St.

Benedict's Church, Cambridge; and also triangular-headed windows, which, with doorways of the same form, will be presently noticed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Anglo-Saxon Single-light Window, Tower of Wyckham Church, Berks.]

Q. Of what description are the arches which separate the nave from the chancel and aisles, and sustain the clerestory walls?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Anglo-Saxon Arches, St. Michael's Church, St. Alban's, A. D. 948.]

A. They are very plain, and consist of a single sweep or soffit only, without any sub-arch, as in the Norman style; and they spring from square piers; with a plain abacus impost on each intervening, which impost has sometimes the under edge chamfered, and sometimes left quite plain. Arches of this description occur at Brixworth Church, between the nave and chancel of Clapham Church, and between the nave and chancel of Wyckham Church. The arches in St. Michael's Church, St. Alban's, which divide the nave from the aisles, have their edges slightly chamfered. There are also arches with single soffits, which have over them a kind of hood, similar to that over doorways of square-edged rib-work, projecting a few inches from the face of the wall, carried round the arch, and either dying into the impost or continued straight down to the ground. The chancel arch of Worth Church, and arches in the churches of Brigstock and Barnack, and of St. Benedict, Cambridge, and the chancel arch, Barrow Church, Salop, are of this description. Some arches have round or semicylindrical mouldings rudely worked on the face, as in the chancel arch, Wittering Church; or under or attached to the soffit, as at the churches of Sompting and St.

Botulph, Suss.e.x. Rudely sculptured impost blocks also sometimes occur, as at Sompting and at St. Botulph; and animals sculptured in low relief appear at the springing of the hood over the arch in the tower of St.

Benedict's Church, Cambridge.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tower Arch, Barnack Church, Northamptonshire.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chancel Arch, Wittering Church, Northamptonshire.]

Q. How are some of the doorways, windows, arched recesses, and panels of Anglo-Saxon architecture constructed?

[Ill.u.s.tration: Doorway in the Tower of Brigstock Church.]