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Title: The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church
Author: Thompson, A. Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton), 1873-1952
Language: English
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Transcriber's note
Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. An obvious
printer error has been corrected, and it is listed at the end. All
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has
been maintained.
The Cambridge Manuals of Science and
Literature
THE GROUND PLAN OF THE
ENGLISH PARISH CHURCH
LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C.
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
EDINBURGH: 100, PRINCES STREET
BERLIN: A. ASHER AND CO.
LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.
_All rights reserved_
[Illustration: Hedon, Yorkshire: nave from N.W.]
[Illustration]
THE GROUND PLAN
OF THE ENGLISH
PARISH CHURCH
BY
A. HAMILTON THOMPSON
M.A., F.S.A.
Cambridge:
at the University Press
1911
CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
_With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the
title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge
printer, John Siberch, 1521_.
PREFACE
There is as yet no book entirely devoted to the development of the plan
of the parish church in England, and the body of literature which bears
upon the subject is not very accessible to the ordinary student. The
present volume is an attempt to indicate the main lines on which that
development proceeded. It is obvious that, from necessary considerations
of space, much has been omitted. The elevation of the building, and the
treatment of its decorative features, window-tracery, sculpture, etc.,
belong to another and wider branch of architectural study, in which the
parish church pursues the same line of structural development as the
cathedral or monastic church, and the architectural forms of the
timber-roofed building follow the example set by the larger churches
with their roofs of stone. To this side of the question much attention
has been devoted, and of late years increasing emphasis has been laid on
the importance of the vaulted construction of our greater churches,
which is the very foundation of medieval architecture and the secret of
its progress through its various "styles." It is expected that the
reader of this book, in which a less familiar but none the less
important topic is handled, will already have some acquaintance with the
general progress of medieval architectural forms, with which the
development of the ground plan keeps pace.
Some historical and architectural questions, which arise out of the
consideration of the ground plan, and have an important bearing upon it,
are treated in another volume of this series, which is intended to be
complementary to the present one.
The writer is grateful to his wife, for the plans and sketches which she
has drawn for him, and for much help: to Mr C. C. Hodges and Mr J. P.
Gibson, for the permission to make use of their photographs; and to the
Rev. J. C. Cox, LL.D., F.S.A., and the Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, M.A.,
F.S.A., for their kindness in reading through the proofs and supplying
suggestions of the greatest value.
A. H. T.
GRETTON, NORTHANTS
_26 January 1911_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH PLAN IN ENGLAND
SECTION PAGE
1. The basilican church plan 1
2. Problem of its derivation 2
3. Rival theories of its origin 3
4. The Roman basilica: old St Peter's 6
5. Basilicas at Ravenna 8
6. Tomb-churches and baptisteries 9
7. Centralised plans at Ravenna 10
8. Relative advantages of the basilican and the centralised
plan 12
9. The basilican church at Silchester 13
10. Early churches in Kent and Essex 14
11. Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts. 16
12. Escomb church, Durham 16
13. Early Northumbrian churches 18
14. Wilfrid's churches at Hexham and Ripon 20
15, 16. Brixworth, Northants: other basilican plans 21
17. Exceptional occurrence of the basilican plan in
England 24
CHAPTER II
PARISH CHURCHES OF THE LATER SAXON PERIOD
SECTION PAGE
18. The normal pre-Conquest plan 27
19. The western bell-tower 29
20. Plans in which the ground floor of the tower forms the
body of the church 30
21. Barton-on-Humber and the centralised plan 33
22. Centralised planning in England 34
23. The Saxon lateral porch 35
24. Development of the transeptal chapel 36
25. Towers between nave and chancel 37
26, 27. Development of the cruciform plan 38
28. Influence of local material upon the aisleless church
plan 42
CHAPTER III
THE AISLELESS CHURCH OF THE NORMAN PERIOD
29. Survival and development of the aisleless plan after the
Conquest 44
30. The nave of the aisleless church 46
31. Rectangular chancels 47
32. Churches with no structural division between nave
and chancel 49
33. Churches with apsidal chancels 49
34. The quire 53
35. The transeptal chapel 54
36. Cruciform plans: North Newbald and Melbourne 58
37. Later developments of the cruciform plan 60
38. Symbolism in planning 62
CHAPTER IV
THE AISLED PARISH CHURCH
I. NAVE, TOWER, AND PORCHES
SECTION PAGE
39. Survival of the aisleless plan 64
40. The addition of aisles 66
41. Use of aisles for side altars 66
42. Twelfth century aisled plans 69
43. Ordinary method of adding aisles 70
44, 45. Consequent irregularities of plan 74
46. Gradual addition of aisles 77
47. Raunds church, Northants 79
48. Conservative feeling of the builders for old work 81
49. Aisles widened and rebuilt 83
50. Rebuilding of aisles as chantry chapels: Harringworth,
Northants 84
51. Newark, Cirencester, Northleach, and Grantham 87
52. Naves lengthened westward 92
53. The western tower in relation to the plan 94
54. Engaged western towers, etc. 96
55. Rebuilding of towers 98
56. Porches 99
57. Position of the porch in the plan 99
CHAPTER V
THE AISLED PARISH CHURCH
II. TRANSEPTS AND CHANCEL
58. Cruciform churches with aisled transepts 101
59. Addition of transeptal chapels 102
60. Variety of treatment of transeptal chapels 105
61. Transeptal chapels as a key to original ground plans 107
62. Incomplete cruciform plans 108
63. Irregular cruciform plans 110
64. Central towers with transeptal chapels 113
65. Transeptal towers 113
66. Lengthening of chancels 114
67. Encroachment of the chancel on the nave: Tansor 115
68. Chancel chapels 117
69. Churches with one chancel chapel 119
70. Chantry chapels attached to chancels 120
71. Effect of the addition of chapels on the cruciform plan 121
72. The aisled rectangular plan 124
73. Variations of the plan with aisled nave and chancel 126
74. Development of the aisled rectangle at Grantham 129
75. Deviation of the axis of the chancel 131
INDEX OF PLACES 134
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Hedon. Interior of nave _Frontispiece_
FIGS. PAGE
1 Plan of old St Peter's 6
2 Plan of San Vitale, Ravenna 11
3 Plan of Escomb--typical Saxon church 17
4 St Peter's, Barton-on-Humber 31
5 Aisleless plan, 12th cent. 45
6 Birkin, Yorkshire: interior 51
7 Two aisleless plans with central tower 55
8 North Newbald 57
9 Sketch of older wall above nave arcade, Gretton 72
10 Plan of Raunds church 80
11 Plan of Harringworth church 85
12 Two plans, nos. 1 and 2, of Grantham church 88
13 Sketch of arch joining arcade to tower, Gretton 93
14 Plan of 13th cent. church: W. tower, S. Porch, transeptal
chapels 103
15 St Mary's, Beverley. Interior of transept. 111
16 Plans of Grantham church, nos. 3 and 4 130
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH PLAN IN ENGLAND
§ 1. Side by side with the establishment of Christianity as the religion
of the Roman empire, there appeared a fully developed plan for places of
Christian worship. The normal Christian church of the fourth century of
our era was an aisled building with the entrance at one end, and a
semi-circular projection known as the apse at the other. The body of the
building, the nave with its aisles, was used by the congregation, the
quire of singers occupying a space, enclosed within low walls, at the
end nearest the apse. In the apse, raised above the level of the nave,
was the altar, behind which, ranged round the wall, were the seats for
the bishop and assistant clergy. This type of church, of which the
aisled nave and the apse are the essential parts, is known as the
_basilica_. The name, employed to designate a "royal" or magnificent
building, had long been applied to large buildings, whether open to the
sky or roofed, which were used, partly as commercial exchanges, partly
as halls of justice. It is still often said that the Christian basilicas
were merely adaptations of such buildings to sacred purposes. Some of
the features of the Christian plan are akin to those of the secular
basilica. The apse with its semi-circular range of seats and its altar
reproduces the judicial tribune, with its seats for the praetor and his
assistant judges, and its altar on which oaths were taken. The open
galleries, which in some of the earliest Christian basilicas at Rome
form an upper story to the aisles, recall the galleries above the
colonnades which surrounded the central hall of some of the larger
secular basilicas. Again, the _atrium_ or forecourt through which the
Christian basilica was often approached has been supposed to be derived
from the _forum_ in connexion with which the secular basilica was
frequently built.
§ 2. However, while the _atrium_ of the Christian basilica is merely an
outer court, the secular basilica, when planned, like the Basilica Ulpia
at Rome, with direct relation to a _forum_, was a principal building in
connexion with the _forum_, but not a building of which the _forum_ was
a mere annexe. Further, when we begin to seek for a complete
identification of the Christian with the secular basilica, we are met by
the obstacle that the secular basilica had no fixed plan. If we try to
trace any principle of development in its plan, we find that this
development is directly inverse to that of the Christian basilica. The
secular basilica, in earlier examples a colonnaded building with its
central space open to the sky, became at a later time a roofed hall,
either, as in the case of the basilica at Trier, without aisles, or,
like the basilica of Maxentius or Constantine in the Roman forum, with a
series of deep recesses at the side, the vaulted roofs of which served
to counteract the outward pressure of the main vault. The Christian
basilica, if it were a mere imitation of this type of building, would
follow the same line of development; but, as a matter of fact, the
highest type of Christian church is always a colonnaded or aisled
building. And, even if the Christian apse derived its arrangement from
the apse or apses which projected from the ends or sides of the secular
basilicas, there is again a difference. The apse with its altar was the
main feature of the interior of the Christian church: it was the place
in which the chief rite of Christian worship was performed before the
eyes of all. In the secular basilica the apse was devoted to special
purposes which set it apart from the main business of the body of the
building: it was an appendage to the central hall, not necessarily
within view of every part of it. In fact, the relation of the apse to
the main building was totally different in the two cases.
§ 3. It seems probable, then, that the identity between the two
buildings is mainly an identity of name, and that Christian builders,
in seeking for suitable arrangements for public worship, may have
borrowed some details from the arrangements of the secular basilica. It
is natural, however, to look for the origin of a religious plan in
buildings devoted to religious purposes. The Roman temple supplied no
help for the plan of buildings which were required for public worship.
Of recent years, it has been customary to assume that the Christian
basilica took its form from the inner halls of the private houses of
those wealthy citizens who embraced Christianity in its early days. Such
halls may have been used for Christian services; and if their plan was
adopted for the Christian basilica, the mature state of the basilican
plan at its first appearance can be explained. The _atrium_ or entrance
hall of the house is represented on this hypothesis by the forecourt of
the basilica; the peristyle, or colonnade round the inner room, becomes
the aisles and the space screened off at the entrance for those not
entitled to take full part in the service; the colonnade at the further
end survives in the arcaded screen which existed, for example, in old St
Peter's at Rome; the apse takes the place of the _tablinum_, where the
most sacred relics of family life were preserved; and the transept,
which is found in some of the early Roman basilican plans, represents
the _alae_, or transverse space, which existed between the _tablinum_
and the main body of the hall. But these close analogies are the result
of an assumption by no means certain. It is always probable that the
basilican plan had its origin in a plan originally aisleless. Some,
intent on its religious source, explain it as a development of the plan
of the Jewish synagogue. Others, regarding assemblies of Christians for
public worship as, in their essence, meetings of persons associated in
common brotherhood, have derived the basilica directly from the
aisleless _scholae_ which were the meeting-places of the various
confraternities or _collegia_ of ancient Rome. In these there is an apse
at one end of the building; and, if we imagine aisles added by the
piercing of the walls with rows of arches and columns, we have at once
the essential features of the basilican plan. Each theory has its
attractions and its difficulties; and to none is it possible to give
unqualified adherence. It may be stated, as a tentative conclusion, that
the basilican plan probably had its origin in an aisleless form of
building, and thus pursued a course directly opposite to the development
of the secular basilica. But it seems clear that, in many details of the
plan, especially as we see it in Rome, the peristyled hall was kept in
mind; while in two features, the arrangement of the apse and the
occasional appearance of galleries above the aisles, the secular
basilica was taken into consideration. The policy of the early Christian
Church, when its services were sanctioned by the state, was to adapt
existing and familiar forms where they could be suitably reproduced.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Plan of old St Peter's: (1) _atrium_ or
fore-court; (2) nave with double aisles; (3) site of screen-colonnade;
(4, 4) transepts; (5) apse with crypt below.]
§ 4. The plan of the old basilica of St Peter at Rome, founded by
Constantine the Great, and destroyed early in the sixteenth century to
make way for the present church, explains the principal features of the
basilican plan in its developed state. (1) In common with other early
basilicas in Rome, and in other parts of western Europe, the entrance
was at the east, and the altar at the west end, so that the celebrant
faced the congregation during the divine office. (2) The church was
approached through a cloistered _atrium_ or fore-court, in the middle of
which was a fountain, the place of purification for those intending to
enter the church. (3) At the west end of the cloister three doorways
opened into the nave of the church, and one on either side into the
side aisles. (4) The nave communicated with the aisles by a row of
columns beneath an entablature: there were also outer aisles,
communicating with the inner by columns bearing rounded arches. (5) The
side walls of the nave, above the entablature, were not pierced for
galleries, but were covered by two rows of mosaic pictures, one above
the other, on each side, the upper row corresponding to the height of
the space between the outer and inner roofs of the aisle. Above this,
the walls rose into a clerestory, pierced with round-headed windows at
regular intervals; and a high entablature supported the great tie-beams
of the wooden roof. (6) The quire of singers, divided from the rest of
the church by low screen walls, probably occupied the centre of the
western portion of the nave. (7) A tall open arch divided the nave from
the transept, which was of equal height with the nave, and projected
south and north as far as the walls of the outer aisles. Here probably
were places reserved for distinguished persons, near the platform of the
altar. (8) West of the transept, entered by a tall and wide arch, was
the apse. Beneath the arch was a screen, formed by a row of columns,
under an entablature which bore statues of our Lord and the apostles:
this crossed the arch at the foot of the steps leading to the altar and
seats of the clergy. (9) Beneath the altar platform, and entered by
doorways on each side of the flight of steps, was the crypt or
_confessio_, the traditional place of martyrdom of St Peter, and the
resort of pilgrims to the tomb of the apostles. The hallowed place was
immediately beneath the altar.
§ 5. The sixth century basilicas of Ravenna, Sant' Apollinare in Classe
and Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, differ in plan from the Roman basilicas (1)
in the fact that they have always had the altar at the east, and the
entrance at the west end; (2) by substituting, for a colonnaded atrium,
a closed porch or _narthex_ in front of the entrance of the building. In
process of time, two of the greater Roman basilicas, San Paolo and San
Lorenzo fuori le Mura, were enlarged in a westward direction, so that
the positions of the altar and entrance were reversed; and, in several
of the early basilicas at Rome, a space near the entrance of the nave
was screened off, from which penitents and catechumens might watch the
service. But, in the first instance, the eastern chancel and the
structural _narthex_ appear to have been introduced from the eastern
empire. Neither at Ravenna nor at Rome did bell-towers originally form
part of the plan of the basilica: the round _campanili_ of both churches
at Ravenna are certainly later additions. It may also be noted (1) that
ordinarily the aisles were single, not double as at old St Peter's. (2)
The columned screen of the apse at old St Peter's appears to have been
exceptional. The ordinary screen or _cancelli_, from which is derived
our word "chancel" for the space thus enclosed, was a low wall. This is
the arrangement at the basilica of San Clemente, in which the enclosed
quire also remains. (3) The transept, even in Rome, was an exceptional
arrangement, and does not appear in the basilicas of Ravenna.
§ 6. Another type of plan, however, was used in Rome for churches
devoted to the special purposes of burial and baptism. In this case the
buildings were planned round a central point, and at Rome were uniformly
circular. Recesses round the walls of the mausoleum-church contained
sarcophagi: in the centre of the baptistery was the great font. The
church of Santa Costanza, outside the north-eastern walls of Rome,
circular in plan, with a vaulted aisle surrounding the central space,
was built by Constantine the Great as a tomb-church for his family, and
was also used as a baptistery. Both these uses were direct adaptations
of pagan customs. The baptistery, with its central font for total
immersion, was simply a large bath-room, like the great rotunda of the
baths of Caracalla. The mausoleum preserved the form of which the finest
example is the tomb of Hadrian, now known as the castle of Sant' Angelo.
In the course of the middle ages, certain tomb-churches in Rome, with a
centralised plan, were turned into places of public worship. But, for
the plan of the ordinary church, the basilica, with its longitudinal
axis, was general. In the eastern empire, on the other hand, the
centralised plan was employed from an early date for large churches; and
in this way was evolved the magnificent style of architecture which
culminated in Santa Sophia at Constantinople. Here the centralised plan
was triumphantly adapted to the internal arrangements of the basilica.
§ 7. The city of Ravenna, closely connected historically both with Rome
and Constantinople, contains a series of monuments which is of
unequalled interest in the history of the centralised plan. (1) The
mausoleum of the empress Galla Placidia, sister of the emperor Honorius,
who died in 450 A.D., is a building of cruciform shape, consisting of a
square central space covered by a dome, with rectangular projections on
all four sides. The projection through which the building is entered is
longer than the others, and the plan thus forms the Latin cross so
common in the churches of the middle ages. (2) To the same period
belongs the octagonal baptistery, known as San Giovanni in Fonte. (3) In
493 A.D. Theodoric the Ostrogoth obtained possession of Ravenna. To the
period of his rule belongs the Arian baptistery, also octagonal, known
as Santa Maria in Cosmedin. (4) Theodoric died in 526 A.D. His mausoleum
is formed by a polygon of ten equal sides, with a smaller decagonal
upper stage, a circular attic above which bears the great monolithic
dome. In the lower story was the tomb: the internal plan is a Greek
cross, _i.e._ there is a central space with recesses of equal depth on
all four sides. (5) In the year of the death of Theodoric, the octagonal
church of San Vitale was begun. It was consecrated in 547, when Ravenna
had become the capital of the Italian province of Justinian's empire.
Its somewhat complicated plan was clearly derived from an eastern
source, but not from Santa Sophia, which was not begun till 532 A.D. The
central space is almost circular. Between each of the piers which
support the octagonal clerestory at the base of the cupola is an apsidal
recess, with three arches on the ground floor opening into the
encircling aisle, and three upper arches opening into the gallery above
the aisle. On the east side of the central space this arrangement is
broken, and one tall arch opens into the chancel, which ends in a
projecting apse, semi-circular inside, but a half octagon outside. The
aisle with the gallery above thus occupies seven sides of the outer
octagon, the eighth side being occupied by the western part of the
chancel.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Plan of San Vitale, Ravenna: (1) _narthex_ with
flanking turrets, as originally arranged; (2) central nave; (3) chancel
and altar.]
§ 8. Of the two types of plan, which can be studied so satisfactorily at
Ravenna, the ordinary basilican type is the more convenient. The long
nave provides the necessary accommodation for worshippers, the raised
apse gives a theatre for the performance of service within view of
everybody, the aisles facilitate the going and coming of the
congregation, and prevent over-crowding. The centralised plan provides,
it is true, a large central area conveniently near the altar; but the
provision of a chancel or altar-space necessitates the grafting on the
plan of a feature borrowed from the ordinary basilica, which, as at San
Vitale, breaks the symmetry of the design. At Santa Sophia, the
basilican chancel forms an indissoluble part of a centralised plan; but
this feat is beyond the reach of an ordinary architect. Even at San
Vitale the planning is highly complicated, and must be due to an
architect of some genius. In addition to complications of design, the
centralised plan raised questions of roofing which did not trouble the
builders of the long wooden-roofed basilicas. The vaulted half-dome of
the basilican apse was a simple matter, compared with the mighty dome of
Santa Sophia and its cluster of abutting half-domes. It was in the
centralised churches, with their domed vaults and the groined vaults of
their aisles, that the history of medieval vaulting began. But, even
when medieval masons had learned to regard the vaulting of their
churches as the controlling principle of their art, they left the
centralised plan almost entirely alone, and applied what it had taught
them to the work of roofing basilicas with vaults of stone. We shall
trace the influence of the centralised church as we proceed; but the
influence of the basilica will be found to predominate in the history of
medieval planning.
§ 9. In England, as in other portions of the Roman empire, we might
naturally expect to find the basilican plan applied to the earliest
Christian churches. The foundations of a small Romano-British basilican
church have been discovered at Silchester in Hampshire. The apse, as in
the Roman basilicas, was at the west end. The nave had aisles, which, at
the end nearest the apse, broadened out into two transept-like
projections. The entrance front of the church was covered by a
_narthex_, the whole width of nave and aisles. This feature, as has been
shown, is of eastern rather than of Roman origin; while the projections
at the end of the aisles appear to have been, not transepts like those
at old St Peter's, but separate chambers corresponding to those which,
in eastern churches, flank the chancel, and are used for special ritual
purposes. In fact, the basilica at Silchester recalls the plans of the
early basilicas of north Africa more closely than those of the basilicas
of Rome; while it has, unlike them, the Roman feature of the western
apse. This, however, gives rise to questions which, in our present state
of knowledge, are beyond solution.
§ 10. Of the seven churches which are usually connected with the
missionary activity of St Augustine and his companions, five, of which
we have ruins or foundations, certainly ended in apses; and the apse in
each case was divided from the nave, not by a single arch, but by an
arcade with three openings, which recalls the screen-colonnade at old
St Peter's. But only one church in the group, the ruined church of
Reculver, followed the plan of the aisled nave of the basilica. From the
description which remains of the early cathedral of Canterbury,
destroyed by fire in 1067, we can see that it, too, was an aisled
basilica, with its original apse at the west end. But the first
cathedral of Rochester, the plan and extent of which may be gathered
from existing foundations, was an aisleless building with an eastern
apse. The church of St Pancras at Canterbury, the lower courses of the
walls of which in great part remain, had an aisleless nave, divided from
an apsidal chancel by a screen-wall with three openings, that in the
middle being wider than the others. The foundations of two of the four
columns which flanked these openings can still be traced. The walls of
the chancel, which was slightly narrower than the nave, were continued
straight for a little way beyond the screen-wall; and then the curve of
the apse began. St Pancras also possessed a square entrance porch, much
narrower than the nave, at its west end, and two chapels projecting from
the nave on either side, half-way up its length. The church is thus
cruciform in plan. The western porch and the chapels seem to have been
added as the work proceeded, and not to have been contemplated in the
original design. The material of the building is Roman brick, and
buttress projections occur at the western angles of the nave and porch,
in the fragment which remains of the south wall of the chancel, and at
the outer angles of the side chapels. Small buttresses are also found at
the angles and on the sides of St Peter's on the Wall in Essex.
§ 11. In one respect the plan of St Pancras at Canterbury is allied to
that of the church at Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire. At Bradford there
remains one of the two porches, which also were probably side chapels,
projecting from the sides of the nave. But at Bradford the remaining
porch is larger in proportion to the nave than is the case at St
Pancras. There is no entrance porch on the west side. Further, the
chancel at Bradford is rectangular, not apsidal. Instead of a
screen-wall with a central opening nine feet wide, the wall dividing
nave from chancel is pierced by a small arch only 3 ft. 6 in. wide. The
date of this little church is a matter of great difficulty; and the
character of its masonry seems to demand for it a later date than the
early one popularly claimed for it. The contrast with St Pancras is
accentuated further by the fact that the internal measurements of the
nave show a different scheme of proportion. The nave of St Pancras is
some three feet broader in proportion to its length than the much
shorter nave at Bradford.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Plan of Escomb--typical Saxon church.]
§ 12. A closer parallel to Bradford-on-Avon is found in the little
church of Escomb, near Bishop Auckland. No record of the early history
of this building is known; but its masonry is almost entirely composed
of re-used Roman dressed stone-work. In this respect it presents a
contrast to Bradford. In another respect the two churches are unlike.
Both have their entrances in the side walls; but at Escomb there were no
original porches covering the doorways, while there are traces of what
may have been an entrance porch, like that of St Pancras, at the west
end. But they have these points in common: (1) the nave at Escomb is
long in proportion to its width; (2) the chancel is a rectangular
eastern projection, narrower and much shorter than the nave; (3) there
is a solid wall of division between nave and chancel, pierced by a
narrow arch, broader than that of Bradford, but very much higher in
proportion to its width. It may be added that the walls of both churches
are high in proportion to their length and breadth, and that at Escomb
the original windows are small openings with rounded and flat
lintel-heads, and with internal splays.
§ 13. It is, however, with the plan that we are concerned. We now have
met with three separate forms in England, viz. (1) the rare basilican
plan; (2) the "Kentish" plan of aisleless nave with apsidal chancel; (3)
the plan of aisleless nave with rectangular chancel. We also have seen
that the screen-wall is common to (1) and (2), while the single chancel
arch belongs to (3); and that side chapels and western porches are found
incidentally in (2) and (3). Now, the early date of Escomb, apart from
the evidence supplied by its masonry, can be suspected only by its
analogy to the plan of other churches of which the date is practically
certain. Two such churches remain in the same county of Durham. One is
at Monkwearmouth, now a part of Sunderland. Its nave and the lowest
stage of its western tower represent, and in great part actually are,
the nave and western porch of an early Saxon church, which is generally
identified with the church built here by Benedict Biscop for the
monastery which he founded in 672 A.D. The nave was originally
aisleless, long, narrow and lofty: the entrance porch had an upper story
finished with a gabled roof, and a vaulted ground-floor with entrances
on three sides. There was evidently a chancel arch, and probably the
chancel was rectangular. The material of the building was not Roman;
but, in the decoration applied to it, Roman work was imitated. Only a
few miles further north, Benedict founded, in 680 A.D., the sister
monastery of Jarrow. The long and narrow chancel of the present church
of St Paul was the body of a church somewhat similar to that of
Monkwearmouth. Stone-work which may represent the jambs of a broad
chancel arch can be traced in the east wall; but this cannot be stated
with positive certainty. The lower part of the tower, now between the
present chancel and nave, may represent an original western porch; but,
in its present state, it is of much later date than the work east of it,
and its site must have been broadened when the tower was first planned.
At Jarrow there is no Roman stone-work; but one type of Roman masonry
has been imitated by the builders in the walls of the chancel, and small
decorative shafts, turned in a lathe after the Roman fashion, such as
exist at Monkwearmouth, have been found in the building. The inscribed
stone, recording the dedication of the church, is preserved in the wall
above the western tower-arch: the date given is 23 April, 684 A.D. In
this inscription the building, though aisleless, is called a basilica.
The word was now probably used to signify a Christian church,
irrespective of its plan. A third early church in this district is that
of Corbridge, near Hexham. Here, as at Monkwearmouth, the ground story
of the tower was originally a western porch; while the lofty arch
between tower and nave is, like the chancel arch at Escomb, entirely
composed of dressed Roman masonry, and seems to have been removed from
one of the buildings of the Roman station of Corstopitum, as the arch at
Escomb was probably removed from the not far distant station of
Vinovium.
§ 14. The date to which these four northern churches may be assigned is
the half century of the activity of St Wilfrid in England (664-709
A.D.). Bede's account of the architectural work of Wilfrid's friend,
Benedict Biscop, shows that he procured, for the building of the church
at Monkwearmouth, stonemasons and glaziers from Gaul, who were
acquainted with "the manner of the Romans." The account which another
contemporary, Eddius, gives of Wilfrid's church at Hexham, is clear
proof that this important building was a reproduction, in plan and
elevation, of the aisled basilicas of the continent--a fact in keeping
with Wilfrid's life-long aim of bringing English Christianity into
closer touch with the main current of historic Christianity in Rome and
Gaul. The foundations of the outer walls of most of Wilfrid's church
were uncovered when, lately, the new nave of Hexham priory church was
begun; but one of its features has been long known, and is of the
highest interest. The crypt for relics below the apse and high altar
consists of an oblong chamber, with a western vestibule, approached by a
straight stairway from the nave. In addition to the western stair, there
are two stairs which communicated with the apse. That on the south side
remains perfect, and ends in a passage and vestibule, through which the
relic-chamber is entered. The northern stairway leads through a passage
to the western vestibule, at the foot of the stair from the nave. The
crypt of Wilfrid's contemporary basilica at Ripon also remains: here the
arrangement is less complicated; but the arrangement of the main
relic-chamber is equally the chief feature of the plan.
§ 15. The foundations of the Saxon church at Peterborough present many
difficulties, and may be of a later date than the foundation of the
monastery in 655 A.D. But no such difficulties of date or plan exist
with regard to the large Saxon church at Brixworth, between Northampton
and Market Harborough. Its size and the fact that Roman material has
been much re-used in its building have given rise to the tradition that
it is a secular basilica applied to the purposes of a Christian church.
As a matter of fact, the Roman brick-work has been re-used in obvious
ignorance of Roman methods; so that this circumstance alone would make
the legend improbable. The date of the building can hardly be earlier
than about 680 A.D., when a monastery was founded here by a colony of
monks from Peterborough. The plan originally consisted of (1) a western
entrance porch, with a lofty western doorway, and smaller doorways on
north and south; (2) a broad nave, divided from the aisles by arches,
which spring from large square piers of plain brick-work; (3) a
rectangular presbytery, divided from the nave by a screen-wall pierced
with three arches; (4) an apsidal chancel, entered from the presbytery
by a single arch. On each side of the chancel arch, a doorway entered
into a narrow vaulted passage below the ground level, which probably
formed an aisle round a crypt below the apse. At a later date, probably
in the period of quiet following the later Danish invasions, the apse
seems to have been rebuilt, polygonal externally, semi-circular on the
inside, and the central crypt-chamber was then possibly filled up. The
western porch was also used as the foundation for a tower, and the
western arch blocked up with a filling containing a lower doorway,
through which the circular turret for the tower-stair was entered. The
aisles, either then or at a somewhat later date, having probably fallen
into ruin, were removed. The clerestory of the nave remains, with
unusually broad round-headed windows.
§ 16. The original plan of Brixworth has points in common with some of
the other plans which have been noted. In its triple arched screen-wall
it recalls the Kentish type of church; its rectangular presbytery
between nave and apse is a development of the chancel space which
existed west of the spring of the apse at St Pancras. It shares its
western porch with St Pancras and two, if not four, of the northern
group of churches. In the north and south doorways of this porch it has
kinship with Monkwearmouth, and at Brixworth there are definite signs
that these doorways led into passages which may have been connected with
other buildings of the monastery, or possibly even with an _atrium_ or
fore-court. The aisled nave and the traces of a crypt bring it into
relation, not merely with Hexham or Ripon, but with the historical
church plan of western Europe generally. At the same time, the plan,
regarded as that of an English church, is exceptional. The aisled plan
of the parish church was arrived at in spite, not in consequence, of the
few early aisled churches which might have supplied it with a model.
During the epoch which followed the Danish invasions the aisleless plan
was deliberately preferred: the rectangular chancel entirely superseded
the apse. No further example of the structural screen-wall occurs. In
addition to those mentioned, only three more pre-Conquest examples of
crypts are known, and such crypts as occur in parish churches after the
Conquest are exceptional, and are usually due to exigencies of site.
Only three more aisled churches of unquestionably pre-Conquest date
exist above ground. Reculver has been mentioned. The others are Lydd in
Kent, where only indications of an arcade remain, and the complete
basilican church of Wing, near Leighton Buzzard, which has a polygonal
apse with a crypt below. Wing is probably much later in date than most
of Brixworth, but one cannot but be struck by a certain resemblance in
construction between the two naves, and in plan between the crypt at
Wing and the remains of the crypt at Brixworth.
§ 17. These early churches have been treated at some length, because
they contain certain essential elements of planning in a state of
probation. The basilican plan was doubtless the ideal of English
builders during the sixth and early seventh centuries, but an ideal
which was hard to compass where good building material was not
plentiful. Thus Augustine and his companions contented themselves in
most instances with a plan which recalled the aisled basilica, without
following out its more elaborate details. It is remarkable that they
should have departed from the usual Roman custom, and made their
chancels at the east end of their churches: it is also remarkable to
find at St Pancras the western porch, the origin of which appears to be
the non-Roman _narthex_. Models existed, no doubt in the ruins of the
Romano-British churches, which they repaired; and we have seen that at
Silchester there is a regular _narthex_, while, on the other hand,
there is a western apse. These models, however, were probably all of one
general type, in which the chancel end was formed by an apsidal
projection. When Roman Christianity reached the north, it had to contend
with the efforts of Celtic missionaries; and those efforts were not met
by it effectively until, in 664, the energetic leadership of Wilfrid
secured a triumph for his party at the council of Whitby. Of the Celtic
churches of the north we know but little: it seems likely that they were
for the most part plain oratories of stone or wood, with or without a
separate chancel. The simplest form, obviously, which a church can
assume is a plain rectangle with an altar at one end. As the
desirability of a special enclosure for the altar is recognised, a
smaller rectangle will be added at the altar end of the main building,
and so the distinction between nave and chancel will be formed. There
are indications of this natural growth of plan in some of the early
religious buildings in Ireland. In remote districts, as in Wales, the
simple nave and chancel plan is general all through the middle ages; and
the smaller country churches often follow the common Celtic plan of a
single rectangle with no structural division. The ruined chapel at
Heysham in Lancashire, a work of early date, is an undivided rectangle
in plan. This is the form which would suggest itself naturally to the
unskilled builder: the division of nave and chancel into a larger and
smaller rectangle is the next step which would occur to his intelligence
in the ordinary course of things. It is possible that Wilfrid and
Benedict Biscop found that their aims would be best served by adhering
in certain instances to the familiar Celtic plan, and so, while they
hired foreign masons and craftsmen to build and furnish their earlier
churches, and to set the example of building stone churches after the
manner of the Romans, they were careful to avoid the prejudice which
insistence on a new plan would have excited. The simplicity, moreover,
of a plan like that at Escomb, which requires little architectural skill
to work upon, may have been a recommendation; and the fact that the
construction of an apse is more difficult than that of a rectangular
chancel must have weighed powerfully with English masons, both at this
time and later. The fact remains that, in the early age of our church
architecture in stone, the aisled basilica was a rare exception, and the
rectangular chancel was, in the north, at least as common as the apse.
CHAPTER II
PARISH CHURCHES OF THE LATER SAXON PERIOD
§ 18. In later Saxon churches the aisleless plan and the rectangular
chancel were normal. Instances of an aisled plan after the seventh
century have been noted already: it has been seen that there are only
two definite examples, and, although there may be indications of others,
these are few and far between and uncertain. The apsidal chancel again
is exceedingly rare. We have noted it in combination with other
basilican features at Wing: the instances in which it occurs again are
very few, and in these, as in the important monastic church of
Deerhurst, there are other variations from the aisleless plan. In by far
the largest number of examples, the plan adhered to was that simple one
of which we have a complete prototype at Escomb. Late Saxon fabrics
which remain free of later additions are few; but there is a
considerable number of churches which still keep the quoins of an
aisleless Saxon nave _in situ_, although aisles have been added during
the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. Such are St Mary-le-Wigford and St
Peter-at-Gowts at Lincoln, Bracebridge in the western suburb of Lincoln,
St Benet's at Cambridge, and Wittering, near Stamford. At Winterton in
Lincolnshire large pieces of the western part of both walls of the nave
were kept as an abutment to the tower, when aisles were added.
Sometimes, as at Geddington and Brigstock in Northamptonshire, the whole
wall above the nave arcades is the upper part of the wall of the
aisleless building; and instances in which blocked window openings, of a
not improbably pre-Conquest date, remain in walls that have subsequently
been pierced with arcades, are exceedingly common. If an untouched Saxon
nave is a rare thing, an unaltered Saxon chancel is obviously rarer. The
small rectangular chancel of the large medieval church at Repton, in
Derbyshire, is practically unique; it was probably preserved for the
sake of the crypt beneath, which, at first a plain rectangular chamber,
was subsequently, but still in pre-Conquest times, vaulted in
compartments supported by columns. But at Sidbury in Devon, where there
is a small rectangular crypt, the chancel above was rebuilt in the
twelfth, and lengthened in the thirteenth century, without any reference
to the line of the walls of the crypt below it. A good example of an
unaltered late Saxon fabric is the church of Coln Rogers in
Gloucestershire. Here the western tower, built up inside the nave, is a
later addition, but the nave, rectangular chancel, and arch between
them, are still intact. The chancel arch, though by no means broad, is
yet much wider than those at Escomb and Bradford-on-Avon; and its width
probably represents the normal width of a chancel arch of this period.
§ 19. An addition occurs in most of these late Saxon plans, which had a
great influence on the subsequent, and even on the contemporary,
development of the church plan. We have noted that at Rome and Ravenna
towers formed no part of the original basilican plan, but were added
later as _campanili_. In England it appears that the tower formed no
part of the plan until, at any rate, the epoch of the Danish wars.
Western bell-towers were very general by the beginning of the eleventh
century. In most of these towers, the ground floor forms an entrance
porch; but it does not follow that the western tower in England was
generated by the heightening of the western porch. The porches of
Brixworth and Monkwearmouth were probably not heightened until the
western tower had come into existence elsewhere. An origin for the
western tower has been sought in the fore-buildings which occur in some
of the early German churches, and contain separate upper chambers. It
may be that, derived from this source, the western tower superseded the
porch, and, where porches existed, they were adapted to the new
fashion.
§ 20. The towers of Earl's Barton, Barnack, and St Peter's at
Barton-on-Humber, are perhaps the most obviously interesting relics of
Saxon architecture which we possess. All are much larger in area than
the normal western tower of the later Saxon period. Earl's Barton is a
western tower, and its ground floor has probably always served as a
porch: the rest of the church, however, is a medieval building of
various periods. At Barnack, again, the complete plan of the Saxon
church has been lost. Here, however, the western tower was something
more than a porch. The doorway is not in the west, but in the south
wall; and in the west wall, inside the church, is a niche with a
triangular head, which was certainly neither doorway nor window, but a
seat. Whether this implies that the ground floor of the tower was used
for special religious functions, or for some purpose connected with the
common life of the parish, is not clear; but it shows, at any rate, that
there was some good reason for the unusually roomy planning of the
tower. We stand on firmer ground at Barton-on-Humber. Here, again, a
large medieval church exists to the east of the tower. But upon its
western side is a small rectangular building of contemporary date, which
was not a porch in front of the tower, but a westward extension of the
body of the church, the main entrances being on either side of the
tower. The foundations of a similar projecting building have been
discovered to the east of the tower, beneath the floor of the later
nave. It is therefore clear that the ground floor of the tower, or
rather of a high tower-like building, formed the body of the church, and
that the eastern projection was the chancel. There are clear indications
at Broughton, also in north Lincolnshire, that this plan was used, at
any rate, once again. The tower at Broughton is obviously later than
that at Barton: the doorway, whose details are of a post-Conquest
character, is in the south wall; and a large circular stair-turret, like
that at Brixworth, projects from the west wall. Probably there was only
a chancel here, and no western annexe to correspond. A similar
stair-turret occurs at Hough-on-the-Hill, between Grantham and Lincoln:
the tower, now western, has a doorway in the south wall, and probably
stands mid-way in date between Barton and Broughton. It is planned on a
very ample scale, with thin walls and a large floor-space. The main
fabric of the church is altogether of a later date; and there are no
indications, at any rate above ground, of an earlier building east of
the tower. The size of the tower, the provision of a stair-turret, as at
Broughton, to leave the ground floor clear, suggest that here we may
have a third example of the plan in which the tower covered the main
body of the church. The arrangement at Barnack gives grounds for a
suspicion of something of the same kind there. In all these cases the
tower has been a tower from the beginning; but at Barton-on-Humber the
uppermost stage was added towards the end of the Saxon period.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. St Peter's, Barton-on-Humber: from S.W.]
§ 21. In these buildings we seem to discover the influence of the
centralised plan, acting through the channel of German art. It would be
absurd to say that the plan of Barton-on-Humber was inspired by the plan
of the palace-church at Aachen, which was an adaptation, with some
improvement, of the plan of San Vitale at Ravenna. No masterly
intellectual effort, such as the Aachen plan shows, was necessary to
plan a rectangle with two smaller rectangles at either end. But the
church at Aachen had made the centralised plan familiar to the builders
of western Europe. In Germany and in France there are traces of its
influence; and we may reasonably suppose that the builders of
Barton-on-Humber were acquainted with the existence of an alternative to
the usual plan of the church with a longitudinal axis, and did not
arrive by haphazard at their concentration of the plan upon a central
point. One earlier example of the centralised plan is known to have
existed in England. In addition to his basilica at Hexham, Wilfrid had
built another church there in the shape of a Greek cross. The
description of it which we possess shows that the central space was the
actual church, that it was tower-like in form, and nearly circular in
shape, and that the arms were simply porch-like projections. Probably it
was a combination of baptistery with tomb-church. It is not likely that
the simple plan of Barton was derived from that at Hexham. Both were
probably the result of continental influence; but, while the church at
Hexham may have been the work of Gallo-Roman masons in direct
communication with the general current of architectural progress, the
church at Barton was probably built by Englishmen, who adapted the
centralised plan to methods natural to their comparative want of skill.
§ 22. Neither at this time nor later did the centralised plan in England
develop along the lines suggested by Barton-on-Humber. No real
development on such lines was possible. In Germany, the achievement at
Aachen made possible the polygonal nave of St Gereon at Cologne and the
centralised plan of the Liebfrauenkirche at Trier, as well as many
twelfth and thirteenth century churches whose complicated parts are
planned and massed together with relation to a central tower space. In
England, however, the habit of dealing with circular or polygonal forms
made little progress; and our few "round churches," the plan of the
naves of which was a devout imitation of the church of the Holy
Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and our polygonal chapter houses, are almost all
that we have to show in the way of attempts at a definitely centralised
plan. Our church plan develops as the result of an effort to combine a
series of rectangles effectively; and, while this combination can be
attempted in several different ways, it is obvious that the rigid lines
of the rectangle do not admit of that free scope in centralised planning
which is given by the circle or polygon.
§ 23. We have seen, however, that, even in the earliest days, there was
a tendency to admit additions to the simple longitudinal plan, which, in
process of time, were bound to give birth, if not to a definitely
centralised plan, to something, at any rate, in which a central point
counted for much. A feature of the early cathedral and of St Pancras at
Canterbury, was the projection of _porticus_, porches or side chapels,
from the nave. These were entered by archways pierced in the centre of
the lateral walls. In the cathedral they had outer doorways, and formed
the main entrances of the church, on the north from the monastery, on
the south from the city. The south porch contained the altar of St
Gregory, and, as Eadmer tells us, was used as a court of justice to
which litigants, in process of time, resorted from every part of
England. In the north porch, dedicated to St Martin, was held the school
of the monastery. Upon both porches towers were built at a date which
cannot be ascertained, but was probably later than the time of
Augustine. Of the use of the porches at St Pancras, which did not
contain outer doorways, it is impossible to say anything definitely.
Entrance porches, of which one remains, projected from the sides of the
church at Bradford-on-Avon: the outer and inner doorways of the north
porch are extremely narrow, and are placed west of the centre of its
north and south walls. It is possible, therefore, that there was an
altar in this porch, so that it served the double purpose of entrance
porch and side chapel.
§ 24. As time went on, the western porch beneath the tower was disused
as a public entrance. The principal entrance of most churches is on the
south side, west of the centre of the aisle wall, and is usually covered
by a porch. There is a Saxon example of this at Bishopstone in Sussex,
where, as at Bradford, room seems to have been left for an altar on the
east side. However, the main entrance of the ordinary Saxon church was
at the west end, through the ground floor of the tower. The porch in the
lateral wall seems to have been regarded primarily as a side chapel; and
in some later Saxon churches the porches were dissociated from lateral
doorways, and were planned as closed projections from the eastern part
of the north and south walls of the nave. This seems to have happened at
Britford, near Salisbury, where archways remain on both sides near the
east end of the nave. At Deerhurst square projections were entered from
both sides of the nave, immediately west of the chancel arch; and it is
probable that there were somewhat similar projections at Repton. At
Worth in Sussex, where the north and south doorways of the nave are
Saxon, and there is no western entrance or original tower, there are
large Saxon chapels projecting from the eastern part of the nave, and
entered by wide arches. The cruciform plan is sufficiently marked in the
conjectural restorations of Deerhurst and Repton. At Worth it is quite
unmistakable.
§ 25. At Worth, however, in spite of the dignity of the lateral arches,
the chapels are still porch-like excrescences, larger in scale than
usual, but lower in elevation than the nave. In elevation their
transept-like appearance is less noticeable than on plan. Moreover, the
length of the nave remains unbroken from west wall to chancel arch: no
central space is marked off to which these transeptal projections give
emphasis. Nevertheless, a suggestion of an intermediate space between
nave and chancel is given; and this space is definitely marked in the
plans of churches which may be quite as early in date as Worth--_i.e._
about the first half of the eleventh century--by the admission of a
tower between nave and chancel. The eastern part of the walls of the
nave at St Mary's in Dover Castle are continued upwards as a tower, with
small rectangular chapels projecting from the sides of the ground
floor. Externally, no division between the tower and nave is noticeable;
but, inside the church, in addition to the chancel arch and the arches
into the chapels, a fourth arch is pierced in the western wall of the
tower, and so an intermediate space between tower and nave is
effectually created. At Breamore in Hants, a further step is taken. The
tower space, between nave and chancel, is of the same width as the nave;
but, in addition to the necessary internal division, an external
division is also marked by the quoins of the tower, which are complete
to the ground. Only one chapel remains at Breamore, on the south of the
tower, entered by a narrow Saxon archway; but there was originally
another on the north.
§ 26. The chapels which project from these early "central" towers are,
it is to be noted, not true transepts. They are narrower than the tower,
which is built up from the ground, and not upon a system of piers and
arches which require lateral abutments in the form of transepts. The
western tower is transferred, as it were, to a point near the centre of
the church, assumes the width of the nave, and is provided with
transeptal excrescences, to communicate with which its side walls are
pierced. Such excrescences are not necessary. At Stanton Lacy, in
Shropshire, there is only one. At Dunham Magna, in Norfolk, and other
places, such as Waith in Lincolnshire, there are, or were originally,
none at all. The construction of the "central" tower upon piers
connected by arches was beyond the skill of the ordinary Saxon builder;
and its natural consequence, the development of the full cruciform plan,
with transepts of the height and width of nave and chancel, was thus out
of his reach. We know, from contemporary evidence, that one important
abbey church, that of Ramsey, had a central tower which was built upon
piers and arches as early as 974 A.D.; and perhaps this was the case in
other large churches. But, even in the large church of Stow in
Lincolnshire, which is commonly taken on trust, without sufficient
historical evidence, as the cathedral church of the Saxon diocese of
Lindsey, although an advance in transeptal construction was made, the
main principle was imperfectly grasped. This church was made the home of
a community of clergy about the beginning of the reign of Edward the
Confessor, by Leofric, earl of Mercia, and his wife Godiva. It was
restored after the Conquest by Rémi, the first Norman bishop of Lincoln.
The aisleless nave and chancel are Norman work of two periods: probably
the nave was rebuilt upon Saxon foundations. The transepts, however, of
considerable length and equal height with nave and chancel, were
retained from the pre-Conquest building. The tall jambs of the arches of
the central tower also remain on all four sides. The arches which they
bear are of early Norman character; and the present tower is a late
Gothic structure, the arches and piers of which are built up on the
inner side of the older masonry. But the Saxon tower space, including
the area of the arch-jambs, is rather wider than the arms of the cross
which project from it. The tower formed a separate building, with quoins
complete from the ground, and nave, chancel, and transepts, instead of
combining to support it, were mere excrescences from it, entered by
arches in its walls. Possibly the example of Barton-on-Humber may have
had to do with this treatment of the tower as a separate central
pavilion, which may have been deliberately preferred to the arch and
pier treatment. In other respects the plan is an advance upon the plans
of Dover and Breamore. And the necessary advance upon Stow is found in
the church of Norton-on-Tees in south Durham. Here the tower, between
nave and chancel, rests on piers connected by arches. The arches have
been widened; two have been entirely rebuilt at a later date; and the
rest of the church has been subjected at different times to enlargement
and rebuilding. In spite of this, we have at Norton our earliest
surviving example of a plan in which the various portions of the
church--nave, chancel, and transepts--are gathered together in one
structural connexion. The tower is to the east of the centre of the
longitudinal axis of the church; but structurally, it is the central
point with regard to which the building is planned, and the unity of the
composition depends upon it.
§ 27. We have arrived thus at a centralised plan of cruciform shape, of
which the component parts are rectangular, the central space being
approximately a square. The examples which have been given cannot be
proved to follow one another in chronological order, but they represent
successive steps in planning and construction, of which Norton-on-Tees
is the highest. The importance of the inclusion of the tower in the plan
is obvious. In its early appearances, its position is unsettled, but the
natural tendency is to place it above a main entrance; and this is
usually at the west end of the building. Where the builders aim at a
simple centralised plan, the high central rectangle will form, like the
round or octagonal central space of Wilfrid's church of St Mary at
Hexham, _ecclesia ... in modum turris erecta_, and, as at
Barton-on-Humber, will possibly be heightened by a later generation into
a real tower. The distinction of the side chapel from the entrance
porches, becoming more fully recognised, will lead to the building of
transeptal chapels at the east end of the nave; and thus an important
addition will be made to the ordinary longitudinal plan. The need of
some central building, against which these additions may abut, will be
felt. The tower will thus be introduced between nave and chancel, either
as an independent structure, or as an upward extension of part of the
side walls. The transepts thus, as at Stow, can be raised to an equal
height with nave and chancel. From this to a plan in which the component
parts are recognised as interdependent, and are closely knit together in
structural unity, is an obvious step. At this point, architectural
skill, as distinct from mere building ingenuity, comes into play.
§ 28. As we proceed, we shall find survivals of old plans, even at an
advanced period in the middle ages, which prove that progress in
architecture was by no means of an uniform kind. Builders in remote, and
especially in hilly, districts, from Saxon times to the present day,
have naturally restricted themselves to plans which require as little
cost as possible to carry out. Local building material is also an
important consideration. In districts where good building stone is to be
obtained on the spot, or where money is plentiful and water carriage is
possible, the development of plan is naturally rapid, and every fifty
years or so, additions to churches will be made in which the old plan
will become entirely transformed. In woodland districts, the plan will
be controlled to no small extent by the requirements of timber
construction. In such regions, Saxon churches were probably built of
wood. The only wooden church of Saxon times which remains is that of
Greenstead in south Essex, with a rectangular chancel and aisleless nave
constructed of vertical logs placed side by side, and framed originally
into a timber plinth. However, it may be stated as a general rule, that,
whatever may be the helps or hindrances to development provided by local
materials, the real starting-point of the parish church plan of the
middle ages is in every part of the country an aisleless plan; and that
this plan consists either of a nave and chancel with a longitudinal
axis, or of a nave and chancel whose longitudinal axis is intersected by
a transverse axis across transepts. Variations, no doubt, occur; but
these will never carry us far from one or other of these fundamental
plans. The aisled basilica of the continent found no scope for itself in
Saxon England; and it was through an interval of aisleless building that
the aisled plan eventually became acclimatised, and then in a form which
bears only a superficial kinship to the basilican plan.
CHAPTER III
THE AISLELESS CHURCH OF THE NORMAN PERIOD
§ 29. During the century after the Norman Conquest, the great abbey
churches and cathedrals represent the work of a foreign architectural
school, gradually acclimatising itself in England; while, on the other
hand, the parish church continued to be planned by local men, open to
receive the improvements which more skilled foreign masons had
introduced. Consequently, while local art received a continually
increasing refinement, the plan of the church developed upon traditional
lines, and not upon those novel lines which foreign masons would have
laid down for it. The chief proof of this is seen in the persistence of
the aisleless plan with rectangular chancel and western tower. The
tendency of a Norman builder would be to design his church with an
apsidal chancel, transepts, and a central tower; his practice would
vary, but this would be his favourite plan. On the other hand, the
rectangular chancel and western tower remained the favourite
terminations of the parish church in England. But, while a large number
of rubble-built, unbuttressed Norman towers, usually heightened or
otherwise altered in the later middle ages, remain in many parts of
England, their relation to the plan suffers some change. The ground
floor of the Saxon tower was, as we have noticed, the main entrance to
the church. The Norman western tower either contained no western doorway
at all, or provided merely an entrance, which was used only on special
occasions. At Caistor the ground floor was probably the main porch of
the aisleless church; and there are exceptional instances, as at
Finchingfield in Essex, where, in fairly advanced Norman work, the same
arrangement was clearly contemplated. On the other hand, at Laceby,
between Caistor and Grimsby, a south doorway, coeval with the western
tower, has always been the main entrance to the church. Similarly, at
Hooton Pagnell, and at Blatherwycke in Northamptonshire, south doorways,
of the same age as the tower, form the chief entrance. These last three
are early Norman examples; but we may go back even further, to find the
same thing in churches which are usually reckoned as late Saxon work, at
Heapham in Lincolnshire, and Kirk Hammerton, between York and
Boroughbridge. In south Yorkshire there are a few churches of the middle
of the twelfth century whose western towers are noticeably derived, in
their plan and general construction, from the Saxon type--Birkin,
Brayton, and Riccall. But in all three, the main entrance to the church
was made through a south doorway, the arch of which is covered with
elaborate late Norman ornaments. The western tower was thus reduced to
the state of a bell-tower at one end of the church, and, while
increasing in size and in magnificence, was actually a less
indispensable part of the plan than before.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Aisleless plan: 12th century.]
§ 30. The nave of the Norman aisleless church was usually short, and,
where the church was entirely rebuilt, rather wide in proportion to its
length. The naves of churches like Garton-on-the-Wolds or Kirkburn in
Yorkshire, give the effect of spacious halls, of no great length, but
wide and lofty. It cannot be doubted, however, that the fabric of the
Saxon church was frequently kept, or that the church was rebuilt upon
Saxon foundations. It is not unusual, as already stated, to find Saxon
quoins still existing at the angles of naves to which aisles have
subsequently been added. Evidences, on the other hand, of the westward
lengthening of a Saxon nave in the Norman period appear to be rare. At
North Witham in south Lincolnshire, the south and (blocked) north
doorways are Norman work, in the usual position near the west end of the
nave. East of them, however, in the centre of the nave walls, there are
distinct traces of the inner openings of a north and south doorway,
which may belong to the late Saxon period. That we have here a case of
the twelfth century lengthening of an earlier nave may be inferred. The
probability is increased by the fact that, in the neighbouring church of
Colsterworth, where aisles were added during the early Norman period to
a late Saxon fabric, the nave and aisles, towards the end of the twelfth
century, were certainly extended a bay westward. As little architectural
work is done without a precedent, we may assume that the builders at
Colsterworth were following the example of North Witham.
§ 31. The great majority of Norman rectangular chancels have been
lengthened and enlarged; for the plain "altar-house" at the east end of
the nave was too small for the purposes of the ritual of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, and afforded no intermediate space between
nave and chancel. However, short and approximately square chancels were
by no means invariable; and, before the middle of the twelfth century,
oblong chancels of considerable length in proportion to their width were
being built. There is a good early twelfth century example at Moor
Monkton, in the Ainsty of York; and the chancel of the middle of the
twelfth century at Earl's Barton, Northants, is of considerable depth,
and was of ample size for all later purposes. At Earl's Barton the
eastern portion was the chancel proper; while the western portion
supplied that space for a quire which was not provided in less elongated
plans. In by far the larger number of cases, the rectangular chancel had
a wooden roof. There is, however, a fair number of churches in which the
system of ribbed vaulting, as employed in larger buildings, was used.
Thus at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, there is a small square
chancel with a ribbed vault. At Warkworth, there is a long vaulted
chancel of two bays, built during the first quarter of the twelfth
century; and at Tickencote, Rutland, two bays are combined in one by the
use of sexpartite vaulting. In these cases the chancel arches are wide,
forming the western transverse arches of the vaulting: that at
Tickencote is of remarkable magnificence.
§ 32. There are certain cases in which the chancel was of the same width
as the nave, and no structural division existed between them. At Askham
Bryan and at the chapel of Copmanthorpe, near York, the plan, externally
and internally, is a plain undivided oblong. At Tansor, Northants, the
chancel was rebuilt about 1140, when the side walls were set back in a
line with those of the nave. In St Mary's in the Castle at Leicester,
the long and very narrow nave was, as may still be clearly seen,
continued eastward without a break into the long and narrow quire and
chancel. Here the eastern half was used, no doubt, by the college of
dean and canons, while the western half was the parish church. The
beautiful church of St Peter, Northampton, built towards the end of the
third quarter of the twelfth century, gives us a complete example of an
undivided plan, aisled throughout save in the eastern bay, which forms a
projecting chancel east of the aisles of the choir.
§ 33. Hitherto we have dealt merely with the rectangular chancel. But
there are also churches which end in an eastern apse. These are
comparatively few and exceptional. In Yorkshire, where the number of
Norman rectangular chancels is large, and buildings such as Adel exhibit
the aisleless church in its highest state of architectural development,
the number of apsidal chancels can be counted on the fingers of one
hand. In Sussex, where Caen stone was largely used, and we should expect
foreign influence to be noticeable, the proportion of apsidal chancels
is small. In Gloucestershire, the Cotswold district contains several
small Norman churches, which have been little altered: the rectangular
chancel is universal. These are typical districts; and, to state a
general rule, we may say that, while the apsidal chancel is foreign to
no part of England, and occurs in unexpected places, as in the chapel of
Old Bewick, Northumberland, it is never general in any single region.
Its rarity is an important fact. Were our parish churches the work of
masons sent out from the larger churches and monasteries, we should
expect to find it a common feature; for in those buildings the apsidal
plan prevailed. But, in the hands of local masons, its sparing
employment is easily explained. To build an apse needs skill, not only
in planning, but in stone-cutting. The question of vaulting the apse
increases the difficulty and the expense. These difficulties would not
trouble masons who had worked at the building of Durham or Ely or
Winchester; nor would expense trouble the monasteries, which, according
to the popular idea, were so ready to lavish money on the fabrics of
parish churches. Many apsidal chancels have disappeared, no doubt; but,
if we take the bulk of those which remain into account, we shall find
that they have a habit of occurring in small groups, as in Berkshire,
where three occur together within a single old rural deanery, and that
the large majority of the churches in which they are found were not
monastic property. A few belonged to preceptories of Knights Templars in
their neighbourhood; and perhaps we may see in their apses a reference
to the circular form of the Holy Sepulchre. But, as a rule, we may say
that a band of masons in certain neighbourhoods developed some skill in
building apses, that money was forthcoming, and that so a few examples
came into existence. In one curious instance, Langford in Essex, which
is within easy distance of four or five other apsed churches, there is
an apse at the west, and there are foundations of another at the east
end of the building. For this church a Saxon origin has been claimed:
the plan, at any rate, indicates a survival of a plan once common in
western Christendom, and especially in the German provinces. In apsed
churches, like Birkin in Yorkshire, the apse does not spring from points
directly east of the chancel arch. The arch is wide and lofty; behind it
is a nearly square rectangular space, which is divided from the apse by
another arch. At Birkin the apse has ribbed vaulting, which allows the
walls to be pierced freely for windows. At Copford in Essex, Old
Bewick, and other places, the roof is a half-dome without ribs: this
allows for the display of mural painting, but admits of less light.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Birkin, Yorkshire: interior.]
§ 34. The most important feature in the apsidal plan is the provision of
the distinctly marked quire space between the nave and chancel. This
space also occurs in plans where the chancel is rectangular; but in such
cases it becomes the ground story of a tower. There are famous examples
of this at Iffley, near Oxford, and Studland in Dorset, where the
chancels are vaulted. Coln St Denis in Gloucestershire, where the tower
is of very wide area, and projects noticeably north and south of nave
and chancel; and Christon in Somerset, are further instances of the
plan. The tower between nave and chancel, without transepts, is seldom
found in an apsidal plan. It occurs at Newhaven in Sussex, where there
is a small apse. Here the plan is virtually that of some small parish
churches in Normandy, such as Yainville, near Jumièges. The majority of
such plans in England, however, end in a rectangular chancel. Precedent
for the plan is, as we have seen, to be found in Saxon churches. At St
Pancras, Canterbury, we have noticed the westward prolongation of the
apse: at Brixworth a definite presbytery or quire space was planned, on
a large scale, between apse and nave. In later Saxon churches, where the
chancel was rectangular, a tower, with or without transeptal chapels,
was sometimes built between nave and chancel; and here, although
externally the division was not always clearly marked, an internal quire
space was divided off from the nave by the western arch of the tower.
The aisleless plan, therefore, with a tower above the quire, and a
rectangular chancel, points to a development along old-fashioned lines,
even in churches in which, as at Iffley, the builders have acquired
great skill in expressing themselves in Norman terms. In certain
districts, as in Gloucestershire, this plan was a favourite one. Even in
the fourteenth century, Leckhampton church, near Cheltenham, was rebuilt
in faithful adherence to this tradition. Here the tower is narrower than
the small chancel, and the nave has a south aisle.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Two aisleless plans with central tower: (1) tower
between nave and chancel; (2) tower over crossing of transepts with nave
and chancel.]
§ 35. In the cases of Dover, Breamore, Stow, and Norton, we have watched
the gradual evolution of the cruciform plan with central tower. It must
be noted once more that to the cruciform plan the central tower built on
piers and arches is essential. It is possible, as in the Gloucestershire
churches of Almondsbury and Avening, to pierce the north and south walls
of a tower and add transeptal chapels: the plan will have a cruciform
appearance, but will still be only an elongated plan with lateral
additions. It is possible, in a church where there is no central tower
at all, to extend the side walls at right angles north and south, and
so form transepts; but here again the transepts have no structural
reference to a central point in the plan, but are mere widenings of the
nave or aisles. The thirteenth century aisleless churches of Potterne,
in Wiltshire, and Acton Burnell, in Shropshire, are both cruciform in
plan. The church at Potterne was planned throughout with reference to
the crossing of transepts, nave, and quire, above which its central
tower rose: the tower space is the central point of the whole. But, at
Acton Burnell, there is no central tower or space: the body of the
church consists of a long aisleless nave and an aisleless chancel
beyond; and the transeptal chapels are simply stuck on, as it were, to
the eastern part of either wall of the nave. This is at once noticeable
in elevation, when the chapels are seen to be mere excrescences, with
roofs lower than the nave. Moreover, where there is a true central
crossing, with a tower above, such as we find in almost all our
cathedrals, a transept on either side is necessary for the support of
the tower. The transepts need not be wholly symmetrical, although in
most cases they are; but they must be there. On the other hand, where
there is no central tower, and the crossing is merely apparent, symmetry
of treatment is quite unnecessary. While there are two transeptal
chapels of similar size at Acton Burnell, or at Achurch in
Northamptonshire, there are far more instances in which a less regular
treatment was adopted. Thus, at Childs Wickham in Gloucestershire, and
Montacute in Somerset, there is only one transeptal chapel, in each case
on the north side. At Corbridge in Northumberland, transeptal chapels,
extended outwards from the aisle walls, are of different lengths. At
Medbourne in Leicestershire, a long aisleless transeptal chapel was
built out from the north side of the nave in the thirteenth century.
Within the next fifty years a south chapel was built, but, instead of
copying the proportions of the northern chapel symmetrically, the
builders gave their new chapel a much greater width, and placed its
altars in an eastern aisle. The plan is thus accidentally cruciform. At
Acton Burnell and Achurch it is, no doubt, designedly cruciform; at
Montacute and Childs Wickham, imperfectly cruciform. But all three
varieties belong to one class, the longitudinal plan with transeptal
extensions. The structural feature which makes the truly cruciform plan,
the central tower upon arches and piers, is wanting. And this
distinction between churches planned from a centre, and churches whose
plan follows a longitudinal axis, although often overlooked, is
essential.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. North Newbald, Yorkshire: tower arches, chancel
and S. transept, from N.W.]
§ 36. A noble example of a Norman cruciform church, whose plan has
suffered little alteration, exists at North Newbald in the east Riding
of Yorkshire. At each angle of the crossing are masses of shafted piers,
connected by wide and lofty rounded arches. The nave, as is usual, is
the longest arm of the four, so that the plan is a Latin cross. It has
north and south doorways: there are also doorways in the end walls of
the transepts, placed in the western part of each wall. In the east
wall of each transept is an arch, now blocked up, the filling being
pierced with fifteenth century windows. These arches are the openings of
original apses, which contained the transept altars. The chancel,
probably always rectangular, was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. As a
corollary of the true cruciform plan, the four arms are all of equal
width. At Bampton-in-the-Bush, Oxon, where the plan of the church was
greatly altered in the thirteenth century by the addition of aisles, the
Norman plan was very similar to that of North Newbald. The cruciform
plan of Melbourne, Derbyshire, with its aisled nave, was probably
inspired more directly by continental examples. The aisleless chancel
was vaulted, and ended in an apse, which was squared in later times by
the addition of a rectangular piece east of its springing points. Out of
the east walls of the short transepts opened wide apses, the walls of
which joined the western ends of the walls of the chancel. Thus,
externally, the plan of the eastern part of the church was closely
allied to the plan with three apses which, in some of our larger
churches, was derived from Normandy. At Melbourne, however, there are
important variations from this plan. The chancel is short, there are no
quire aisles, and the transept apses were rounded externally. In the
larger churches of Normandy, the side apses were at the end of
the quire aisles, and were usually squared externally, while the
apses projecting from the east walls of the transepts, as at
Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville, were left rounded. At Newbald and Bampton
there seems to have been no attempt to give complete unity of design, as
at Melbourne, to the rectangular chancel and transeptal apses. In any
case, transeptal apses were the exception in the plans of our Norman
cruciform churches, although their convenience for holding altars is
obvious.
§ 37. The cruciform plan, beautiful as it is, was never generally
adopted. It was inconvenient for purposes of public worship, as long as
the rounded arch remained fashionable. In our own day, even in churches
where the central tower is carried on high pointed arches, and the view
of the altar is practically unhindered, the chancel is cut off from the
nave by the crossing, and the acoustic problem, which in modern church
planning is so necessary a consideration, is almost insurmountable. In
the middle ages, this problem was not so acute; but it was undesirable
that the interior of the chancel should be nearly invisible from the
nave. At Newbald the tower arches are planned upon a liberal scale: at
Bampton, on the other hand, where the eastern tower arch is left, the
others having been rebuilt in the thirteenth century, it is very low.
The low tower arches at Burford, Oxon, and the narrow arches at St
Giles, Northampton, are examples of the way in which the supports of
the Norman central tower interfered with the internal convenience of
churches. It was not until much later that this difficulty was solved,
and then only in one or two cases, when the cruciform plan had become
exceptional. The plans of Bampton, Burford, and Witney, show how the
builders of west Oxfordshire experimented in cruciform planning. The
division between chancel and nave is felt much less at Witney than in
the other two churches; for the great thirteenth century tower and
spire, resting upon massive piers joined by pointed arches, throw a
considerable portion of their weight upon nave and transept arcades,
whose exceptional massiveness gives unity to the whole design. In the
fifteenth century, however, the rebuilders of the aisleless church of
Minster Lovell, between Witney and Burford, solved the problem by
removing the supports of their square central tower from the angles of
the crossing to points entirely within the church, and building arches
from the piers thus formed to the angles of the crossing. The
comparatively light piers, instead of hindering the view, allow of easy
access from the nave to the transepts, and there is hardly a point in
the body of the church from which seeing and hearing alike are in any
way impeded. With the earlier builders, however, the natural course was
to leave the piers where they were, and endeavour to lighten them as
far as possible; and, in aisled churches, the difficulties involved
often led to the abandonment of the complete cruciform plan.
§ 38. The cruciform church gives occasion for a brief remark on one
aspect of medieval building which is often exaggerated. The revival of
interest in medieval architecture, in the early part of the nineteenth
century, was accompanied by an insistence on symbolism in the plan and
design of churches. A minute symbolism, which often was the fruit of
pious imagination, or was derived from the fancies of post-medieval
writers on ritual, was read into every detail of the medieval church
fabric. It is true that, as has been said, some builders worked
imaginatively, imitating in the round naves of a few churches the
rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre. Other instances of devout imitation might
be found, if we looked for them. But the imitation of a concrete model
is a different thing from translating abstract mysteries into the plan
and elevation of a building. And, although the ground plan with nave,
transepts, and chancel, certainly forms a cross; and, although, as time
went on, the resemblance to the chief symbol of the Christian faith was
no doubt recognised and valued, the plan itself, as we have shown, came
into being from entirely natural causes. Where the central tower was
introduced, the plan was dictated by structural necessity. Where there
was no central tower, transeptal chapels provided accommodation for
altars, for which the body of the church afforded no convenience. In
this and in other cases, medieval builders were impelled by practical
common sense and the requirements of the services of the church; and
symbolism, if it was a consideration at all, was purely secondary.
CHAPTER IV
THE AISLED PARISH CHURCH
I. NAVE, TOWER, AND PORCHES
§ 39. The variations of the aisleless plan, which have been indicated,
are all of which it is capable. Naturally, after the twelfth century,
many aisleless churches were still built, and are common in country
districts. In their humblest form we find them in the small churches of
highland regions, the masonry of which is so rough that their date is
often a matter of doubt. Sometimes they have been rebuilt, with a
lengthened chancel, as at West Heslerton, near Scarborough. In many
instances, we have aisleless country churches rebuilt in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, with western towers. This, uncommon in no part
of England, is especially common in Norfolk and Suffolk; and some of
these churches, like Ranworth in Norfolk, have much dignity and
spaciousness of proportion. In some late Gothic churches the structural
division between nave and chancel is left out, and the building has been
deliberately planned as a spacious aisleless rectangle, of which the
eastern bay is allotted to the chancel. This happens at Temple Balsall
in Warwickshire and the chapel of South Skirlaugh in Yorkshire.
Aisleless plans with one or two transeptal chapels are to be found all
through the middle ages: Acton Burnell represents a thoroughly
symmetrical employment of this type. On the other hand, aisleless
cruciform plans with central towers are by no means common after the
twelfth century. Potterne is a perfect development of this plan in the
thirteenth century. There is a complete aisleless cruciform plan at
Othery, near Bridgwater, where the tall central tower is quite out of
proportion to the humble church above which it rises, and has
necessitated substantial outer buttressing. Here probably the church was
rebuilt on earlier foundations, transepts being possibly added. In many
instances an aisleless cruciform church seems to have been rebuilt on
the lines of a complete Norman plan. This was with little doubt the case
at Acaster Malbis, near York, where the church is planned with direct
relation to the central space, but without a tower; and the foundations
of earlier walls can be traced all round the building, at the foot of
the walls built in the fourteenth century. The absence of the tower is
an anomaly, but is one method of solving the problem of the connexion
between nave and chancel in the cruciform plan.
§ 40. Thus, if here and there we can detect novelties which make for
improvements upon the aisleless plan, the plan itself is subject to no
general development upon its own unelastic lines. The real course of
development is to be traced in the gradual addition of aisles to the
church. Just as the basilica may have come into existence by the
addition of aisles to an aisleless building, so the parish church was
enlarged by the piercing of its walls for columns and arches, and the
incorporation of aisles with the main building. The usefulness of aisles
is at once apparent. They afford greater space for the distribution of
the congregation. The aisleless church may be inconveniently crowded
from wall to wall: on the other hand, where spaces are left between the
nave and side walls, the congregation will mass itself in the nave, but
the aisles will be left free until the nave is filled, and thus there
will be free access through the side doorways for as long a time as
possible. Aisles also afford a clear space for processions, and allow
them to turn inside the church at a certain point and without
difficulty. In addition to this, aisles form a convenient situation for
the smaller altars of a church, and, from an early date, were added with
this view.
§ 41. A parish church usually contained more than one altar, even if
served by a single priest. In the small aisleless church of Patricio in
Breconshire, in addition to the altar in the chancel, there were two
smaller altars, which still remain in place, on either side of the
central doorway of the rood screen. Such altars were dedicated in honour
of various saints; and mass would be said at them on the festivals of
those saints and on other occasions. The various popular devotions which
came into being in the middle ages, led to the multiplication of special
altars and chapels. In cathedral and abbey churches, where there were
many priests, the provision of a number of altars was, from the first, a
necessity. To this is due the adoption, from the beginning, of the
aisled plan in our larger churches, where it is a direct inheritance
from the basilican plan. At Norwich and at Gloucester, for instance, the
apse was provided with an encircling aisle, which gave access to small
apsidal chapels. The transepts also had eastern chapels ending in apses.
At Durham each transept had an eastern aisle, containing a row of such
chapels; and the abnormal development of the transepts in thirteenth
century churches, as at York, Lincoln, and Salisbury, and the occasional
provision of an eastern transept, or of a great transverse eastern arm,
like the Nine Altars at Fountains and Durham, was made with a view to
the continually growing number of altars and daily masses. In Cistercian
abbeys, the churches of which were wholly devoted to the uses of the
monastery, the aisles of the nave were divided into chapels by
transverse walls. In the secular cathedral of Chichester, where the
aisles had to be left free, outer aisles, similarly divided, were made.
Great French cathedrals, like Amiens, not only have a complicated series
of chapels opening from the aisles of the apse, but have their naves
lined with chapels, which were formed by removing the outer walls of the
aisles to a level with the outer face of the buttresses. The ordinary
parish church had no need of these elaborate arrangements, although in
towns and in districts where money was plentiful and its possessors
recognised its true source, plans hardly less spacious than those of the
cathedral and monastery churches came into being. But it is obvious
that, in a church where there were no more than two or three altars,
space would be gained by removing them from the body of the church to
the end of the aisles. In some twelfth century churches there were
probably altars against the wall on either side of the narrow chancel
arch; and, in later days, as at Ranworth and Patricio, when the rood
screen filled the lower part of a broad arch, altars were placed against
the screen. In the first case, the chancel arch might have been widened;
in the second case, the sides of the screen would have been freed, by
the addition of aisles into which the altars could have been removed.
§ 42. The most common plan of the aisled church is formed by an aisled
nave with a long aisleless chancel, western tower, and south porch. So
common is this that it may be spoken of as the normal plan of the larger
English parish church. There must have been, we already have said, a
very large number of aisleless churches in England at the time of the
Conquest. Where Norman builders reconstructed parish churches, they
showed a distinct preference for the aisleless plan. But, in many
churches, built about or soon after the beginning of the twelfth
century, aisles were planned and executed. The walls of earlier churches
were entirely taken down, and new arcades built in their place, not
necessarily on the precise line of the old foundations. Aisled twelfth
century naves on a magnificent scale may be seen, for example, at
Melbourne in Derbyshire, and Sherburn-in-Elmet, between York and Leeds.
Both places were important episcopal residences: Melbourne belonged to
the bishops of Carlisle; the manor of Sherburn was the head of a barony
of the archbishops of York, who, all through the middle ages, did much
to promote architecture on their domains. Another twelfth century nave
of great magnificence is that of Norham-on-Tweed, which belonged to the
cathedral priory of Durham; and, although we must not assume that it was
built at the expense of the monastery, it doubtless owes its stately
proportions to the influence of the mother house. Less imposing in
elevation, but richer in refined detail, are such aisled naves as those
of Long Sutton in south Lincolnshire, and Walsoken in west Norfolk,
which belong to the later part of the twelfth century. The plans in each
case are very regular; and the new arcades were probably built, at any
rate in part, on older foundations. These naves reach the extent,
unusual in a parish church, of seven bays. The nave of Norham is of five
bays. Melbourne has five bays, but the plan of the church was as
exceptional at the west as at the east end. Western towers were planned,
but not completed, at the end of either aisle: this feature, probably
imitated from Southwell minster, was also contemplated at Bakewell in
Derbyshire. Between the towers was an extra western bay of the nave,
divided into two stories, the lower forming a vaulted return aisle, the
upper forming a gallery. There are only four bays at Sherburn, but here
the aisles were continued as far as the western face of the tower. The
tower is thus engaged within the aisles, and its vaulted ground floor
forms, like the western bay at Melbourne, a return to them.
§ 43. But, when the question of adding aisles to a church arose, the
builders were met by the difficulty that the church was wanted
constantly for service. The taking down of the walls and the building of
new arcades interfered with this necessary use of the fabric. In our
own day a congregation, driven out by builders or restorers, can resort
to a school room or mission room. In the middle ages, these alternatives
were unknown; and the church was positively indispensable. With this in
view, the builders were obliged to add their aisles without touching
more of the main fabric than they could help. Usually, then, they took
the length of the existing aisleless building for the length of their
aisles. They then set out the aisles upon either side of the church,
building the outer walls, and dividing them into bays by external
buttresses. Then, opposite each buttress, they proceeded to break
through the walls of the church. Leaving a piece of the old wall to
serve as a footing for each column, they built up the columns in the
thickness of the wall, the masonry being gradually removed as each rose
in height. The arches were made in the same way, the wall being removed
by degrees until the two sides of each arch met at the key-stone. The
aisles were then roofed, and, finally, the masses of wall which still
remained beneath each arch were broken down, and the nave and aisles
thrown into one. The old masonry could be removed through the doorways
of the aisles; and sometimes one of the end walls of either aisle was
left unbuilt to the last, so that the masons could have free entrance
for new, and exit for old, material. The old walls of the nave, above
the columns and arches, were left untouched. In this way the upper parts
of the walls of several Saxon naves--more, probably, than we have
opportunity of discovering--remain to us. The north wall at Geddington
in Northamptonshire is the most striking instance. The practice was so
common as to be general. In hundreds of country churches the plinths on
which the columns of the nave rest are probably pieces of the foundation
of the older wall, refaced, or even left in the rough. Instances are
nearly as common in which the heads of the new arches have blocked
earlier windows; for, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when glass
was rare and expensive, and the openings were usually closed by latticed
shutters, the windows were set high in the wall. There is a remarkable
example of the retention of old work at Seamer, near Scarborough. To
this fine twelfth century aisleless church a north aisle was added in
the fifteenth century. The builders, possibly wishing to avoid expense,
employed the old method, which in those days of prosperity and general
rebuilding had fallen into disuse. In order not to interfere with the
older windows, they deliberately made their arches very low: the result
is that, from the interior of the aisle, one can see that the old wall
was almost entirely kept, the new columns being built up on the line of
the flat pilaster buttresses, which were left unaltered above the
capitals. Sometimes, the connexion between nave and aisles was made by
cutting arches at intervals in the wall, without building columns. The
north arcade at Billingham in Durham, and the thirteenth century arcades
at Tytherington in Gloucestershire consist of arches with large masses
of the earlier wall left between them. Such a method was economical, as
much less dressed stone was required; and we find it employed at Copford
in Essex, where good building stone was hard to get. Nevertheless, it
prevented the free circulation of light from the windows of the aisles,
and practically shut off the aisles from the church.
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Gretton, Northants: arcade of nave showing
blocked window head.]
§ 44. There is one obvious consequence of the setting out of aisles on
either side of an existing building which, although an imperfection in
itself, contributes greatly to the variety of the parish church plan.
The builders cannot see both their aisles at one and the same time: the
older church comes in between. In fact, until the nave and aisles are
actually joined, at the close of the work, by the breaking down of the
walls beneath the arches, there can be no opportunity of appreciating
the full effect of the work. There is a famous instance at Beverley
minster of the mistakes to which the presence of the older building may
lead. The aisles of the nave were set out in the fourteenth century on
either side of an older and shorter nave. The south aisle was set out
first, the width of the eastern bay being measured from a new buttress
in the angle of nave and transept. On the north side there was a
thirteenth century buttress in this position: the builders, in setting
out their north aisle, overlooked the fact that this buttress was of
less projection than the newly built one on the other side, with the
result that their buttress measurements throughout varied on both sides,
while the standard of width between the buttresses, which had been
employed on the south side, was retained. Consequently, as the columns,
in a vaulted church, have to be built in line with the buttresses of the
corresponding aisle walls, the columns were not opposite one another,
and the discrepancy increased as the church advanced westward. When the
builders got clear of the intervening building, in the western bays of
the nave, they were able to rectify their mistake slightly; but the
effect is unpleasantly noticeable in the obliquity of the transverse
arches of the vaulting.
§ 45. If errors like this could take place in churches where the width
of the bays of the aisles was calculated, they were much more likely to
take place where builders worked with less accurate ideas of
measurement. In an unvaulted church, where the pressure of the roof is
not a serious factor in the construction, the exact correspondence of
pier to buttress need not be taken into account; and there are many
churches in which the spacing of the aisles is quite independent of that
of the arcades. This happens at Melbourne, where the church was not
planned for stone vaulting. The builders seem to have thought that they
could get in six bays between the transept and the space planned for
one of the western towers; but found that, on the measurements they had
adopted, there was room only for five. They corrected their
miscalculation by broadening the division of the wall between the fourth
and fifth bay of the aisles. When they came to build the arcades, they
were conscious of their previous error, and planned them in five equal
bays irrespective of the plan of the aisles. In churches of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, especially in districts like Norfolk
or south Lincolnshire, where much rebuilding was done, the regularity of
plan is often remarkable. The nave of the famous church of Heckington,
near Sleaford, was planned with an exact correspondence between aisles
and arcades: pier is opposite buttress, window opposite window. Islip
and Brampton Ash in Northamptonshire show an equal accuracy. But, while
such agreement is desirable, it is neither necessary nor general. And,
where the arcades are broken through earlier walls, the correspondence
is seldom very precise. The central line of the east walls of the
aisles, as set out first, will usually correspond to a line drawn across
the centre of the chancel arch: similarly, the line of the west walls
will be an extension of the west wall of the nave, or of a line drawn
across the tower arch. The aisles will be spaced into as many equal, or
nearly equal bays, as can be got in between the buttresses at either
end. When, however, the building of the arcade is taken in hand, the
responds or half-piers at either end will seldom be built directly
against the piers of the chancel arch, or against the west wall of the
nave; but projecting pieces of the old walls will be left as a backing
to them. It follows that, although the arcade may be divided into the
same number of bays as the aisles, the standard of spacing will be
different, and consequently, unless a very regular system of planning is
adopted, the piers will not be exactly opposite the solid portions of
the aisle walls, and consequently the centres of the arches will be out
of line with the centres of the windows. Again, it may be that, by
accident or design, the backing for the responds may project more on one
side of the nave than on the other, at either or both ends. The result
will be that the piers of one arcade will be out of line with those of
the arcade opposite. That discrepancies of this kind were sometimes the
result of intention cannot be denied; but there is generally some
practical reason to be found for the intention, and the discrepancies
themselves were a _pis aller_ which the builders would have avoided, if
they could. That deliberate irregularity with which medieval masons are
sometimes credited is a fancy, which careful consideration of the
circumstances will dispel.
§ 46. Hitherto we have spoken of the aisled nave as though both aisles
were planned at one and the same time. This, however, was by no means
always the case. At Gretton in Northamptonshire, the north aisle was
built soon after the beginning of the twelfth century: the south aisle
followed twenty or thirty years later. The north arcade at Northallerton
is of massive twelfth century work, with rounded arches: the south
arcade was added in the thirteenth century, and has slender columns with
pointed arches. In such cases, the north aisle may have been built
first, to avoid interference with the burial ground south of the church.
Very often only one aisle was added. The little church of Whitwell,
Rutland, has a south aisle, added in the fourteenth century, with a
chapel at its east end. No north aisle was built: but a drain in the
north wall of the nave shows that there was a third altar against the
north side of the rood screen. Usually, when one aisle was built long
after another, the spacing of the new arcade was made to correspond with
that of the old. If the old arcade had heavy twelfth century columns,
the new one, with its lighter columns, would have broader arches. But it
sometimes happens that the old spacing was disregarded, for very good
reasons. The north arcade of Middleton Tyas church, in north Yorkshire,
consists of six bays: the columns are heavy, the arches low and round
headed, and very narrow. The interior of the church must have been very
dark; and the builders of the south aisle, in the fourteenth century,
aimed at throwing more light upon it. They therefore planned their new
arcade, with broad pointed arches springing from octagonal columns, in
four instead of six bays, and so, from broad windows in the aisle,
introduced the necessary light. Something of the same kind happened at
Theddingworth in Leicestershire: the effect is, of course, one-sided,
but in both cases the light admitted enhances the merits of the earlier
arcade, which, until then, had to be taken on trust.
§ 47. But there are further instances--and these, perhaps, are the most
instructive--where aisles were not merely built at two different
periods, but where the growth of one or both aisles was gradual. As an
instance of this, may be cited the beautiful church of Raunds in
Northamptonshire. Raunds seems to have been one of those cases in which
the Norman chancel and nave were of the same width, and possibly were
undivided by any chancel arch. In the thirteenth century the west tower
and spire were built, and a broad south aisle was added to the nave.
This aisle was of four bays, and the point at which it stopped probably
marked the dividing line between the nave and chancel. However, the
builders certainly intended to carry on the aisle eastward, as a south
chapel to the chancel, which they now rebuilt and lengthened. Early in
the fourteenth century, the south aisle was continued eastward, an
arcade of five bays being added to the four bays already existing. The
new bays were made rather narrower than those in the earlier part of
the arcade. A strange feature of the new work was the insertion of a
chancel arch, the south pier of which bisects one of the new arches.
Thus, while three bays and a half of the new arcade belong to the
chancel and quire, a bay and a half belong to the nave. The arch
dividing the south aisle from the chancel chapel springs from the pier
between the end of the old arcade and the inserted pier of the chancel
arch. At the same time, the outer wall of the south aisle seems to have
been practically rebuilt, although much of the older work was retained.
There may have been a thirteenth century north aisle as well. Whether
this was the case or no, a new north aisle and arcade were built during
the fourteenth century. The aisle was set out in seven bays, six of
which contained broad three-light windows, while a north doorway was
made in the third bay from the west end. The east wall was built on
foundations in a line with the chancel arch, while the west wall was in
a line with the tower arch and west wall of the south aisle. It is
obvious, therefore, that the planning of the new aisle was totally
different from that of the older aisle and chapel. However, when the
builders came to their arcade, instead of building it in seven bays, as
the new aisle demanded, they built it in five, setting their new columns
in a line with those on the opposite side. But while, on the south side,
there was an awkward half-bay between the end of the arcade and the
chancel arch, a solid piece of wall was left between the north pier of
the chancel arch and the eastern respond of the new arcade. A compromise
was thus effected between the aisles, and an appearance of regularity
was ensured. Directly, however, one begins to examine the plan of the
church, and to trace the transverse lines from window to window, and
buttress to buttress, it will be found that only in one place can a line
be drawn which will pass straight from the centre of one buttress to
that of the buttress opposite, and will pass through the centre of the
intervening columns on its way.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. Plan of Raunds church, Northants.]
§ 48. It already has been shown that builders were very unwilling, in
making their additions to churches, to destroy old work altogether. At
times they displayed an extraordinary conservatism in their re-use of
old material in their new work. This was not invariable. In the splendid
churches of south Lincolnshire, during the fourteenth century, their aim
seems to have been complete rebuilding; and such examples as the
magnificent nave at Swaton, near Sleaford, or the neighbouring church of
Billingborough, show how old work must have been swept away by the
enthusiasm for lofty arcades, elaborately traceried windows, and walls
of dressed stone-work. On the other hand, half the charm of the hardly
less beautiful churches of Northamptonshire is the result of the clever
way in which the masons dove-tailed all the old stone-work which was
worth preserving into their new additions. Such churches as Tansor and
Oundle are, for that reason, unexcelled in interest, offering, as they
do, almost inexhaustible problems as to the development of their plan.
In all parts of England we find that builders, whatever else they
destroyed, carefully kept, as a general rule, the doorways, and
especially the south doorway, of the buildings which they enlarged. This
accounts for the large number of handsome Norman doorways which remain
in the walls of aisles obviously later than the doorways themselves. At
Birkin in Yorkshire, the south aisle was not built till the middle of
the fourteenth century, but the doorway was removed to its new position
from the wall of the aisleless church. One very exceptional case occurs
at Felton in Northumberland. Towards the beginning of the thirteenth
century, the west part of the south wall of the church was cut through,
a chapel was added, and, east of the chapel, a porch was built. Rather
more than fifty or sixty years later, it was determined to add a south
aisle the full length of the nave. The width of the aisle was taken from
that of the existing chapel and porch. To connect the chapel with the
new work, the side walls of the porch were cut through. The outer
doorway of the porch became the new south doorway, while the inner
doorway was kept unaltered, as an arch in the new arcade.
§ 49. Features which have been touched upon in connexion with Raunds
bring us to two new features in the plan--the rebuilding of aisles and
the lengthening of churches westward. In most parish churches, aisles,
when they were added at first, were extremely narrow. The west wall of
Hallaton church in Leicestershire, for example, shows that, in the
fourteenth century, originally narrow aisles were heightened and
widened. The roof lines of the earlier aisles remain; they were clearly
under the same roof as the nave of the church, and had very low side
walls. This was not always the case. At Raunds the thirteenth century
south aisle was always broad and lofty, and must have had its own roof
from the first. And, as the principles of Gothic construction became
more familiar, and the larger churches began to exercise a more
wide-spread influence upon the parish church, aisles began to increase
in breadth and elevation. The small and narrow windows of churches of
the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries gave way to the broad
mullioned and traceried windows of fully developed Gothic work. For
these, with their advantage of increased light, more headway was
necessary. Aisle walls were consequently heightened or altogether
rebuilt. The acutely pointed roof of the nave could no longer be
continued downwards to cover these higher aisles. The aisle was
consequently covered with a lean-to roof, or with a separate gabled roof
of its own. A free increase in width was thus possible. The church of
Appleton-le-Street in Yorkshire has a short nave with north and south
aisles. The north aisle, added in the early part of the thirteenth
century, is narrow, and the roof of the nave was continued over it. The
south aisle, which was probably rebuilt a little before 1300, is broader
and has a separate lean-to roof. The wide east window of this aisle
could not have been introduced, had the south aisle been built to match
the scale of the north aisle.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. Plan of Harringworth church, Northants.]
§ 50. The introduction of more light, however, was not the only reason
for the rebuilding and heightening of aisles. The east end of an
aisle, as has been said, provided a convenient place for one of the side
altars of the church. This was the case even in the narrow aisles of the
twelfth and thirteenth century, many of which, like the north aisle of
Great Easton church in Leicestershire, provided with a drain, aumbry, or
a corbel for a statue, bear witness to the existence of a contemporary
altar. At Harringworth in Northamptonshire there had been an aisleless
church, to which a tower had been added at the end of the twelfth, and
aisles early in the thirteenth century. On 24 October 1305 Edward I
granted letters patent to William la Zouche, by which he had licence to
assign a certain amount of land to two chantry chaplains in the chapel
of All Saints. This may have been his private chapel, but was possibly
in the church. A little earlier than this, to judge by the character of
the architecture, a new north aisle had been built, with a new altar at
the east end. Very soon after the granting of the licence, it would
appear that the whole of the south arcade was taken down, and a new
south aisle and arcade built. The work was done in a very conservative
spirit, for the old thirteenth century porch and inner doorway were
rebuilt on the new site, and an old string-course was re-used
internally, beneath the new windows. The piscina and the three sedilia,
which belonged to the altar at the end of the aisle, remain in the
south wall, and there are corbels for statues on either side of the east
window. However, rebuilding did not stop here; for it seems that, during
the next few years, the north arcade was entirely rebuilt so as nearly
to match that on the south. Thus the work, beginning with the north
aisle, and extending over some thirty or forty years, finished on the
side on which it began. Numerous examples of a closely parallel kind,
fortified by documentary evidence, might be given.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Plans of Grantham church: (1) probable
arrangement about 1190; (2) at beginning of 14th century.]
§ 51. The rebuilding of the south aisle, about 1313, at Newark, was the
prelude to an entire rebuilding of the church, which extended over many
years. The builders began by setting out their aisles as usual, and by
the middle of the fourteenth century the south aisle was finished, and
the lower courses of the north aisle and the new aisled chancel were
built. However, in 1349, the Black Death interrupted the work. The north
aisle and chancel were not completed, and the new arcades of nave and
chancel were not built until the fifteenth century. In this case there
were certainly older, and almost certainly narrower aisles. The
rebuilding included aisles on a larger scale, and new internal arcades
whose spacing corresponded to the spacing of the aisle walls. All
systematic rebuilding, in the full development of Gothic art, began with
the planning of the aisles. The naves of Cirencester and Northleach
churches, rebuilt at the end of the middle ages, are examples of this
method. The arcades at Cirencester are known to have been built about
1514-5; but the aisles were obviously completed first, and their
remodelling may have been begun in the second quarter of the fifteenth
century. At Northleach the nave was finished about 1458; and there seems
to have been a break of some years between the building of the aisles
and the destruction of the older church which, no doubt, lay within
them. But it did not always happen that the full intention of the
builders was carried out. One of the most splendid schemes which we
possess for the enlargement of a parish church was the great enterprise
begun at Grantham soon after the middle of the thirteenth century. An
aisleless Norman church had been enlarged at the end of the twelfth
century by the addition of aisles to the nave, the connexion being
formed by arcades of rounded arches springing from very elegant
clustered columns. Above the arcades were low clerestories, lighted by
round-headed windows. About 1230, the neighbouring church of Newark was
taken in hand by masons, who built a new west tower up to a certain
height, and, as an afterthought, planned aisles to engage the tower
completely. As we have seen, the building of the aisles at Newark upon
their present scale did not begin till much later. The work of
rebuilding at Grantham was clearly inspired by that already begun at
Newark. A tower was planned on a site much to the west of the nave, and
was engaged within very broad aisles. The tower and north aisle were set
out first. The north aisle was divided into seven bays, with a large
traceried window in each bay, the western bay being much wider between
the buttresses than the rest, owing to the greater space taken up by the
tower and its piers internally. The remaining six bays were set out with
equal widths between the buttresses, the middle bay of the aisle being
covered by a porch. The eastern bay overlapped the western part of the
aisleless chancel, its western buttress being in a line with the
division between chancel and nave. The western bay of the south aisle
was set out about the same time, and there was, no doubt, an intention
of proceeding with the rest on the same lines as in the north aisle.
There can also be little doubt that the builders intended to take down
the old arcades, and build new arcades, with spacing corresponding to
that of their aisles, and to lengthen the chancel eastwards, while
bringing its western portion into the nave. The tower and north aisle
were built on the intended scale; and, when the tower had risen to a
certain height, the ambition of the builders was fired to add to it an
extra stage, hitherto uncontemplated, below the spire with which it was
to be crowned. This project of giving their church a tower and stone
spire, which remained, for many years, the loftiest in England,
evidently curtailed the full accomplishment of their earlier plan. The
columns of the old arcades were kept, and the tower was connected by
arcades of two bays with the angles of the west wall of the old church;
while an arch was pierced through the north wall of the chancel, to give
access to the east bay of the new aisle. The new arches were pointed: in
order to match them, the older round-headed arches were taken down, and
pointed arches built, which cut into and blocked the clerestory windows.
This change was made with great economy of material, the springing
stones of some of the old arches being kept to afford footing for the
new. When the south aisle was seriously begun, about 1300, similar
economy was shown. Four bays, in addition to the western bay, were
spaced out, without regard to the plan of the north aisle. The fourth
bay from the west was covered by a porch, smaller than that on the north
side; and the east wall of the aisle was probably built on a line with
the division between nave and chancel. Half a century later, the east
wall was taken down, and the south aisle was extended to the full length
of the chancel; but this later development was not contemplated by the
thirteenth century builders. These hesitations and changes, consequent
upon the expense entailed by the north aisle and by the alteration in
the elevation of the tower and spire, make Grantham second to no English
church in interest.
§ 52. Grantham also provides us with a lengthened nave. The position of
its earlier west wall is clearly shown by the masses of masonry which
occur between the eastern bay of the new, and western bay of the old,
arcade on either side. The responds on the eastern side of these pieces
of wall are twelfth century work: on the west side, they belong to the
later part of the thirteenth century. Such lengthening was probably very
common in later Gothic times, and we may surmise that it took place in
many instances where arcades were entirely rebuilt, and no visible trace
of the process was left. However, there are many churches in which one
or more extra bays have been added to the nave, and the join of the old
and new work is marked as at Grantham. Whaplode church in south
Lincolnshire had its early twelfth century nave lengthened by three bays
about 1180. At Colsterworth, near Grantham, a western bay was added to
the nave about the same time, and an earlier north aisle lengthened.
Above the piece of wall which occurs between the older and newer work,
the quoins of the aisleless church remain entire. Usually, as at
Grantham, the lengthening of the nave was undertaken in connexion with a
new western tower, which was built up outside the church, and then
connected with it by one or two bays of arcading. Almost contemporary
with the tower and spire of Grantham are those of Tilney All Saints,
near Lynn. Here a single bay was added west of the late twelfth century
nave; and, as no new aisles were contemplated, the old arcades, with
their rounded arches, were left intact. Bubwith in Yorkshire, and
Caunton in Nottinghamshire, are later examples of churches where the
tower was built west of the end of an earlier nave, and a bay was built
to connect it with the older work. Sometimes, as at Gretton in
Northamptonshire, where the slope of a steep hill forbade extension far
to the west, a new tower was built only a few feet beyond the limit of
the old nave. In such a case, the side walls of the nave might be
carried solid westwards to meet the tower, or, as happened at Gretton,
narrow arches might be made between the tower and the west end of the
older wall. The beautiful tower and spire at Oundle were built just
outside the west wall of the thirteenth century nave; and were doubtless
intended to be followed by a complete rebuilding of the arcades--such a
rebuilding as took place at Lavenham in Suffolk, towards the end of the
fifteenth century. The idea, however, was abandoned, and the space
between the arcades and the tower filled in solid with rather rough
masonry.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Gretton, Northants: extension of 12th century
arcade to meet 15th century tower.]
§ 53. The position of the western tower in the plan is normally at the
west end of the nave, with which it is connected by an arch, low at
first, but loftier as time goes on, until, in later Gothic churches, its
height frequently is nearly that of the whole nave. The remaining three
walls are usually external, and clear of the aisles. But sometimes,
owing to a freak of planning, or, more frequently, owing to the
conditions of the site, the tower is, as at Bibury, at the west end of
one of the aisles. At Gedling in Nottinghamshire the tower and spire are
at the end of the north aisle. The tower of St Michael's, Cambridge, is
at the west end of the south aisle: probably the western extension of
the church was prevented by the neighbourhood of the street, a
circumstance which often accounts for the irregularity of plan in some
town churches. At St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, built on the edge of the
"red cliff" from which it takes its name, the tower and spire are at the
end of the north aisle: had they been planned in the usual place, a full
bay of the nave would have been sacrificed. The tower at Spalding was
planned, in the first instance, to stand against the south wall of the
west bay of the south aisle: subsequently a new south aisle was built
east of it. One of the most curious instances is that of St Mary's at
Leicester, where the tower, subsequently, as at Spalding, heightened by
a spire, was planned in the thirteenth century, outside a very narrow
south aisle. A tower at the west end of the nave would have encroached
upon the inner ward of the adjacent castle. The chancel of St Mary's was
used for collegiate services, and parochial accommodation was limited.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century, a very wide south aisle, a
parish church in itself, was built the full length of the nave, and
overlapping the chancel at the east end. The tower was left standing on
piers entirely within the west end of the new aisle. It may be added
that, where towers occur at the end of aisles, they seldom project
beyond the west wall of the nave, but open into the nave by an arch in
the north or south wall, as the case may be. Plans with two western
towers, as at Melbourne or St Margaret's at Lynn, are of very rare
occurrence; and, where they are found, the plan was probably designed on
more ambitious lines than those of the ordinary parish church.
§ 54. The plan in which the western tower is engaged within the
aisles--that is, where the aisles are brought up flush with the west end
of the church--is not very common. Still, instances occur in all parts
of England. At Grantham, the plan is deliberate. It was imitated, as has
been said, from Newark, where the side walls of the tower had been
pierced with arches as an after-thought. Newark, in turn, may have taken
the design from Tickhill in south Yorkshire; and the design at Tickhill
may have been taken from the early and unpretentious example at
Sherburn-in-Elmet. Grantham probably suggested other similar designs,
such as Ewerby, near Sleaford. Several of our finest late Gothic
churches, like St Nicholas at Newcastle, have plans in which the aisles
are continued up to the west face of the tower. The method affords full
development to the aisles, and, as at Sileby in Leicestershire, has an
imposing interior effect. Outside, however, the aisles crowd the base of
the tower too much, and the fine effect of a lofty, free standing tower
is lost. Sometimes aisles were extended westwards, so as to engage an
earlier tower, as at Sleaford, where the low tower and spire are almost
overwhelmed by a pair of wide fourteenth century aisles. At Brigstock
and Winterton, late Saxon towers have been left without alteration
inside aisles which have been brought westward in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. The nave of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, was much
widened in the fourteenth century, and a small tower and spire of
earlier date were brought entirely within the new nave, as happened in
the south aisle at St Mary's, Leicester, and were left without
sufficient abutment. As a consequence, the arches of the ground story
had to be strengthened about a century later with additional masonry.
Cases occur, as at Coln Rogers in Gloucestershire, where a tower has
been built within the west end of an earlier church. In most of such
instances, the churchyard boundary probably allowed of no further
building westward. The nearness of the churchyard boundary also seems to
have given cause to a peculiarity which may be seen at Wollaton, near
Nottingham, Dedham in Essex, and in a few other places, where the west
tower is in its usual position, but is pierced from north to south by an
archway. It is possible that this gave facility to processions, which
could thus pass round the church without leaving consecrated ground. The
tower of old All Saints, Cambridge, now destroyed, projected over the
public foot-way of the street, which passed through its ground story;
while St John's, Bristol, is built on the city wall, and the tower and
spire, which it shared with the adjoining church of St Lawrence, are
over the south gate of the city.
§ 55. Sometimes, as at Oundle, the tower was rebuilt with a view to the
reconstruction of the whole church. But, as also at Oundle, the design
was often abandoned, or was altered. The magnificent tower of St
Michael's, Coventry, was built, between 1373 and 1394, at the west end
of an older nave: its spire was not begun till 1430. Whether the
rebuilding of the nave was contemplated when the tower was begun, it is
impossible to say. A new nave was actually begun in 1432, and finished
in 1450. A thoroughfare immediately south of the church prevented
extension on that side. The old south porch was retained in place as the
principal entrance, so that the line of the wall of the south aisle
follows closely that of the original church. The new south arcade was
set out, not in a line with the south-east buttress of the tower, but
somewhat to the north of it, so that the buttress is external; while,
for the width of the nave, a space approximating to twice the internal
breadth of the tower was taken. The tower is thus placed almost wholly
south of the central axis of the nave produced westward. Here, once
more, we may note the influence of site on the plan.
§ 56. The people's entrance to the church was ordinarily through a
porch, covering the north or south doorway of the nave. The south
doorway is usually covered by a porch. Frequently, as at Hallaton in
Leicestershire, or Henbury in Gloucestershire, there is a north as well
as a south porch. At Warmington, near Oundle, where there is a beautiful
doorway in the west tower, the vaulted south porch is the principal
entrance; but there is also a somewhat smaller north porch, also
vaulted. The chief porch at Grantham is on the north side; but there is
also a large porch on the south. At Newark, there is only a south porch,
on the side of the church next the market place. The south porch of St
Mary Redcliffe, at Bristol, is the ordinary entrance of the church; but
the chief entrance of the building, until the fifteenth century, was on
the north side, at the head of the abrupt slope towards the city. In the
fourteenth century, this entrance was covered by a large and lofty
octagonal porch, approached by a flight of steps. There is an octagonal
south porch at Chipping Norton, and a hexagonal south porch at Ludlow.
The magnificent porches of the fifteenth century, as at Burford in
Oxfordshire, Northleach in Gloucestershire, Worstead in Norfolk,
Walberswick in Suffolk, St Mary Magdalene's at Taunton, or Yatton in
Somerset, are usually on the south side of the church.
§ 57. The positions of the porch and doorway in the wall of the aisle
vary. At St Nicholas, Newcastle, where the west tower is engaged within
the aisles, there is a porch in the western bay of each aisle. Usually,
however, the porch will be found in the second bay of one of the aisles,
counting from the west end. Sometimes, especially in larger churches,
the porch occurs a bay further east. At Warmington and at Grantham, the
two porches of either church are nearly opposite each other, and project
approximately from the centre of the walls of the aisles. Where the
porch has been pushed eastward in this way, the west end of the aisle
seems to have been occupied by one or more chapels. There are
indications of this at Warmington; while, in the neighbouring church of
Tansor, where the porch is in the usual place, but the aisle has been
lengthened somewhat to the west, there was certainly an altar west, as
well as east, of the porch. There was at least one chantry chapel west
of the south porch at Grantham. The south porch at Ludlow covers the
wall of the third bay of the aisle from the west: here there were two
chapels in the western part of the aisle. There was another chapel at
the west end of the north aisle. It can hardly be proved that the
position of porches was actually planned with this use of the aisles in
view; but there can be no doubt that advantage was frequently taken of
the space thus added to the aisle.
CHAPTER V
THE AISLED PARISH CHURCH
II. TRANSEPTS AND CHANCEL
§ 58. The aisled nave, with its usual appendages of porch and tower, has
now been described at length. Before we proceed to the development of
the chancel, the transepts or transeptal chapels of the parish church
invite discussion. The distinction between true transepts, in churches
with central towers, and the transeptal chapels which are nothing more
than northern and southern extensions of the aisles, has been made
already; and it has been seen that the cruciform plan with central tower
reached a very full state of perfection during the twelfth century.
Further dignity was given to some cruciform churches by the addition of
aisles to the transepts. St Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, the plan of which
is that of a large collegiate or cathedral rather than a parish church,
has transepts with eastern and western aisles: there is no central
tower, but the transepts form a definite cross-arm to the church, which
was designed with regard to the central point formed by the crossing of
a longitudinal and a transverse axis. There are few churches in England
as beautiful as that of Melton Mowbray, with its aisled transepts and
tower above the crossing: had the chancel only been planned on a larger
scale and with aisles, the unrivalled beauty and dignity of St Mary
Redcliffe might have been approached here. The cruciform plan with
central tower is the most noble of all church plans, when carried out by
builders with large ideas. Churches like Ludlow, Nantwich, Holy Trinity
and St John's at Coventry, St Mary's at Beverley, excite an admiration
which is the natural result of the fact that the plan, instead of
straggling in the ordinary way from east to west, is brought to a focus
beneath the central tower.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Plan of 13th century church: west tower, south
porch, unequal transeptal chapels.]
§ 59. Apart, however, from the tower above the crossing, the transept
had a value of its own. It gave additional room for the side altars of
the church. The transeptal chapels at Worth allowed of greater width for
the chancel arch: the altars, which naturally would have stood against
the wall on either side of the chancel arch, could be placed within
these excrescences from the north and south walls of the church, and the
central space was thus left clear. This method of extension of the
church by adding north and south chapels to the nave was pursued
throughout the middle ages. The thirteenth century plan of Acton Burnell
is virtually identical with the tenth or eleventh century plan of
Worth. In aisled churches, such transeptal additions are simply
outgrowths of the aisle walls, and were not necessarily planned with any
regard to the spacing of the arcades of the nave. They may, of course,
be placed symmetrically at the east end of the aisles, the width of each
chapel corresponding to the width of the arch of the arcade which is
opposite its opening. Thus Exton church in Rutland, rebuilt about the
beginning of the thirteenth century, has north and south transeptal
chapels whose width is that of the eastern bay of each arcade. A
transverse arch was thrown across each aisle at its junction with the
adjacent chapel. Here the chapels form quasi-transepts in perfect union
with the design of nave and aisles. Symmetrical plans in which it is
clear at a glance that the transeptal chapels are developments of the
aisles, and have no necessary relation to the nave, are those of
Kegworth in Leicestershire, rebuilt in the fourteenth century, and
Aylsham, Cawston, and Sall in Norfolk, which belong to the fifteenth
century. But even more obvious than these are the plans in which
transeptal chapels have been thrown out at different periods, or even at
one and the same period, without the least regard to symmetry. A small
aisleless nave at Stretton in Rutland received a north aisle about the
beginning of the thirteenth century. Soon after, the eastern part of the
side walls was taken down, and chapels built out to north and south. The
width of the south chapel was determined by that of the old chancel
arch, which was rebuilt between the chapel and the nave, there being no
aisle on that side. The north chapel, on the other hand, was formed
simply by returning the wall of the aisle northward, and throwing a
transverse arch across the aisle from the wall above the arcade. Its
width corresponds roughly with that of the south chapel, but has no
correspondence with that of the adjacent bay of the arcade. Examples of
this form of growth of plan, dictated by convenience and the necessity
of the moment, are common in every part of England.
§ 60. It is quite clear that the transeptal chapel, being nothing more
than an excrescence from the wall of a nave or aisle, is a feature which
may be treated with some freedom. Its width and length are dependent
upon the convenience and will of the builders. The north chapel of the
aisleless church of Clapton-in-Gordano, Somerset, is entered by an arch
in the east part of the north wall: the chapel itself, however, extends
some distance westward, so that its longer axis is parallel to the
longer axis of the nave. The south chapel, again, at Lowick in
Northamptonshire has its longer axis from east to west, although its
roof is at right angles to that of the adjacent aisle. Externally, its
transeptal character is apparent; internally, it has the appearance of
an additional south aisle. A chantry was founded in this chapel in 1498.
Very often, where special chantry chapels were built, they took the
position of transeptal chapels. Cases in point are the late Gothic
chantry chapels in All Saints and St Lawrence's at Evesham. Such chapels
may obviously be lengthened westward, like the chapel at
Clapton-in-Gordano, so that they become additional aisles. The Milcombe
chapel at Bloxham in Oxfordshire, the Greenway aisle at Tiverton in
Devonshire, and the side chapels of the north and south aisles at St
Andrew's, Plymouth, and Plympton St Mary are the logical outcome of the
habit of adding transeptal chapels to the plan. Two transeptal chapels
of the ordinary type are found in other Devonshire churches rebuilt in
the fifteenth century, as at East Portlemouth: the Kirkham chapel at
Paignton, famous for its carved stone-work, is transeptal. From this it
is but a step to the chapels at Plymouth and Plympton, with their longer
axes from east to west: while the aisle at Tiverton (1517) develops
naturally, in the churches of Cullompton (1526) and Ottery St Mary
(before 1530), into a vaulted aisle the full length of the nave. At
Bloxham, on the other hand, the Milcombe chapel, which extends from the
east wall of the south aisle as far as the porch, was probably grafted
upon an earlier and smaller transeptal chapel. A comparison with the
neighbouring church of Adderbury shows that the fabric of the transeptal
chapels at Adderbury is largely of the twelfth century. The north chapel
at Bloxham is, in its present state, much later; but the similarity of
plan to that of Adderbury leads to the justifiable conclusion that it
was rebuilt on old foundations, and that there was a similar south
chapel. About 1290 the aisles at Bloxham were widened, and a beautiful
arcade of two bays was built at the east end of the north aisle, between
it and the north chapel. Within the next few years, the aisles at
Adderbury were also widened, and arcades similar to that at Bloxham,
though coarser in detail, were built at the east end of either aisle.
The projection of the transeptal chapels from the side walls was now
very slight; and, in the fifteenth century, the projection of the south
chapel at Bloxham was absorbed by the building of the Milcombe chapel,
between which and the south aisle an arcade of two bays was made. There
is more intrinsic interest in this gradual development of plan than in
the Devonshire plans we have noticed, which are all due to fifteenth
century rebuildings; and the mutual influence exercised throughout the
middle ages by two neighbouring churches like Bloxham and Adderbury
gives us an insight into the progress of local art which the energy of
fifteenth century masons in certain districts has somewhat obscured.
From the arrangement of the south transept at Adderbury, there appear to
have been two altars in each of the chapels.
§ 61. Transeptal chapels occasionally appear in unusual positions. For
example, at Branscombe in south Devon, there is a tower between nave and
chancel. There are, however, no transepts; but transeptal chapels are
built out from the walls of the aisleless nave, west of the tower. These
chapels appear to be enlargements of earlier transeptal chapels; while
the tower seems to have been built over the chancel of the earlier
church. Heckington church in south Lincolnshire was rebuilt in the
fourteenth century. The nave has aisles with transeptal chapels, very
regular and symmetrical in plan, but is continued beyond the opening of
the transeptal projections by an aisleless bay, east of which comes the
chancel arch. At Bottesford in north Lincolnshire, where much rebuilding
was done in the thirteenth century, the transeptal chapels open from the
bay east of the chancel arch. In the case of Heckington, the earlier
church was probably cruciform: when the rebuilding came to pass, the
ground plan of the western portion of the church was kept, while the
chancel was built on an extended plan, and the site of the western part
of the old chancel thrown into the nave. The case of Bottesford is
probably accounted for in the opposite way: the site was not enlarged
eastwards, but the chancel was lengthened by the absorption of the
eastern part of the old nave.
§ 62. There are a number of cases in which transeptal chapels have been
kept from an earlier cruciform plan, in which they may have formed true
transepts. The fine church of Oundle, whose western tower and spire
already have been mentioned as built about 1400, has very fully
developed transeptal chapels. The nave and aisles, and the greater part
of the chapels, are, in their present state, work of the thirteenth
century; but the eastern bay of the present nave was entirely remodelled
about 1350, when a clerestory was added. This bay had evidently been
designed to carry a central tower: the nave arcades stop west of it, and
there is a thick piece of wall between them and the arches opening from
it into the chapels. These arches and the chancel arch were entirely
reconstructed at the time just mentioned. The western arch, however, was
removed, and an original crossing was thus converted into a bay of the
nave. Whether there ever was a central tower is, of course, an uncertain
point; but the building of a west tower on a new site not many years
after this reconstruction is a fact which makes the previous existence
of a central tower probable. The removal of a central tower would be due
to one of two causes. Either its supports were weak, or it blocked up
the space between nave and chancel too much. The central tower of
Petersfield in Hampshire was taken down; but its east wall still remains
between nave and chancel. However, if there are cases in which a central
tower was removed, and a west tower built, there are probably more in
which a central tower was planned, and then abandoned. Campsall church,
near Doncaster, has unmistakable signs of a projected cruciform plan
with a central tower, and has a regular crossing with transepts. But it
is probable that the builders changed their minds before the nave was
finished; and, although they doubtless left the arches, which were
intended to bear their tower, for a later generation to remove and
rebuild, they went westward and built a tower at the other end of the
nave. This tower was finished towards the end of the third quarter of
the twelfth century. The builders of Newark church, who were peculiarly
susceptible to after-thoughts, apparently planned a central tower in the
later part of the twelfth century. It is difficult to explain otherwise
the slender clusters of shafts which project into the nave from the
first pier west of the chancel arch on either side. Such piers were
hardly capable of bearing the weight of a tower; and so the builders
must have thought. Early in the thirteenth century, they began the
present west tower, the first stage of a rebuilding which, with long
intervals, continued into the sixteenth century. The final step by which
the church reached its present plan was the addition of a transeptal
chapel to either aisle, opposite the site which, more than three
centuries before, had been chosen for the piers of the abandoned central
tower.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. St Mary's, Beverley: arcades of quire and S.
transept, from S.W.]
§ 63. Even in strictly cruciform churches, transepts were sometimes
treated with a freedom which was more appropriate to the transeptal
chapel. It is not unusual to find one transept longer than the other, as
at Felmersham in Bedfordshire. Here, however, the transepts are not only
of different lengths, but the south transept is loftier, as well as
shorter, than the north, which is little more than a chapel-like
excrescence from the tower. At Witney in Oxfordshire both transepts are
of great projection, but the north transept is slightly longer than that
on the south. Both have considerable traces of thirteenth century
work; but, in the fourteenth century, the north transept was lengthened
by an addition divided into two stories, the upper of which was a
chapel, while the lower was probably a vaulted bone-hole. The south
transept was also lengthened; and a chapel was built, projecting from
its east wall near the south end. Both transepts have western aisles:
that of the north transept, which stops short of the two-storied
extension, contained an altar near the north end. There are traces of at
least three other altars in the transepts, so that there was excellent
reason for their somewhat unusual projection. At St Mary's, Beverley, an
eastern aisle was added to the south transept in the fifteenth century,
to provide more room for altars. The north transept already had a large
chapel of two stages upon its eastern side, so that the plan was treated
unsymmetrically. The tower of St Mary's at Stafford rests on heavy piers
and narrow arches, and is flanked by north and south transepts. However,
while the south transept, of good thirteenth century work, is rather
small and short, the north transept was rebuilt with great magnificence
in the fourteenth century, and its internal effect is that of a large
side chapel rather than a transept. Aisled transepts are never common,
even in large churches. Instances in which a transeptal chapel is aisled
are even less common. The aisled south chapel at Medbourne in
Leicestershire has been mentioned in an earlier chapter. Oakham and
Langham churches in Rutland have large transeptal chapels with western
aisles: the north chapel at Langham was removed in the fifteenth
century, when the aisles of the nave were widened.
§ 64. Reference has also been made to those plans in which the side
walls of a tower between chancel and nave have been pierced with arches,
and quasi-transepts have been constructed. This is very noticeable at
Almondsbury in Gloucestershire, where the transeptal chapels, turned at
a later date into burial-places for two local families, are very large
and roomy. The cross-plan of Burford church in Oxfordshire was formed in
this way, early in the thirteenth century. Plans like this, in which the
chapels grow out of the central space, instead of being planned from the
first in relation to it, are imperfectly cruciform; but are highly
characteristic of the irregular methods of development pursued by the
builders of medieval parish churches.
§ 65. Towers above transeptal chapels are not uncommon. The two
transeptal towers at Ottery St Mary in Devon were doubtless copied from
the arrangement at Exeter cathedral: there was an altar against the east
wall of each chapel. The tower at Coln St Aldwyn, Gloucestershire, rises
above a south chapel projecting from an aisleless nave. This addition
was made in the fifteenth century. At Duddington in Northamptonshire the
ground floor of the tower virtually forms, in its present state, an
eastward extension of the south aisle parallel to the western part of
the chancel: the original plan was probably similar to the present plan
of Coln St Aldwyn. The noble church of Whaplode had transeptal chapels
projecting from the east end of either aisle: the thirteenth century
tower is above the south chapel. At Clymping in Sussex the arrangement
is very peculiar. The church, which is almost entirely of the thirteenth
century, has north and south transeptal chapels, and only a south aisle
to the nave. The tower, which is at the end of the south chapel, is
earlier than the rest of the building, but is clearly in its original
position.
§ 66. The early progress of Gothic art in parish churches was marked by
a general lengthening of chancels, analogous to that elongation of the
eastern arm which is characteristic of cathedrals and monastic churches.
This may be seen very clearly at Iffley, near Oxford, and Avening in
Gloucestershire, where vaulted chancels of the twelfth century were
lengthened in the thirteenth century by an eastern bay. Sometimes, as at
St Mary's, Shrewsbury, where successive generations of builders were
very faithful to the remains of earlier work, the old sedilia of a
twelfth century chancel have been left in place. But, as a rule, the
enlargement of the chancel implied an entire reconstruction, or the
entire transformation of old work by the insertion of new windows or
buttresses. From the end of the twelfth century onwards, the normal
chancel of the parish church has a length which is from a half to
two-thirds of the length of the nave, the nave being slightly broader
than the chancel. This is the case with most of those Norfolk churches,
which may be regarded as the ideal examples of parish church planning.
Room was in this way secured both for the altar and the quire stalls,
for which the ordinary rectangular chancel offered a very restricted
space.
§ 67. Sometimes a new chancel encroached upon the nave. This happened at
Skipwith in Yorkshire, where the church underwent some alteration about
the middle of the fourteenth century. The new chancel was made of the
same width as the nave; and apparently the old chancel arch was entirely
removed, and its site, with the part of the nave immediately west of it,
made into an extra bay of the chancel. No new chancel arch was built.
One of the most curious and perplexing instances, in which additional
westward room has been given to the chancel, and there is no structural
division between chancel and nave, is at Tansor in Northants. The
perplexity which arises here is due to the plentiful re-use of old work
by the builders, the presence of which in unexpected places makes the
history of the building a nearly insoluble puzzle. The church reached
its present length about 1140, when probably the Saxon nave was left as
the west part of a church, which was now of the same width the whole way
through, and had no chancel arch. Some forty years later, narrow aisles
of three bays were added to the nave; and, about the same time, a
transeptal chapel may have been thrown out from the south wall,
immediately east of the south aisle. As the church stands on southward
sloping ground, there seems to have been no room for another chapel on
the north side. In the thirteenth century, the aisles were lengthened
eastwards, to flank the western part of the chancel. The builders moved
back the eastern responds of the old arcades to the points from which
the lengthened arcades were to start. They set themselves, however, a
difficult problem when they reserved a space at the end of the north
aisle for a sacristy, and set the respond on the west side of this
narrow bay. Their north aisle thus consisted of five bays and a very
narrow eastern bay for the sacristy. On the south side no space
corresponding to the sacristy was marked out, although the eastern
respond was placed in a line with the east side of the opening of the
sacristy. The number of bays on the south side had to be five, as there
was no room for six. The result is that the pillars of the arcades,
with the exception of those of the two bays furthest west, which were
left unaltered, are not opposite each other. In the meantime, the old
transeptal chapel was left standing between a south aisle and a short
south chapel of the chancel. About 1300, the aisle and chapel seem to
have been widened to the full length of the transeptal chapel, and thus
a broad south aisle was formed. In this plan, the chancel proper
projects for some distance east of the aisles; but, for ritual purposes,
the eastern part of the nave, corresponding to the eastern bay of the
north aisle and the sacristy bay beyond, forms, and has formed since the
twelfth century, a western extension of the chancel.
§ 68. The addition of aisles to chancels was an even more gradual
process than the addition of aisles to naves; and, as a rule, the aisles
were at first mere chapels. Chancel aisles or chapels of twelfth century
date are not very common in smaller churches. But a plan like that at
Melbourne, where the apsidal chapels east of the transepts flank the
chancel very closely, leads naturally to the provision of chapels
communicating directly with the chancel. The logical consequence of such
a plan is seen at Oundle, at the close of the twelfth century, where
rectangular chapels were built along the north and south walls of the
western part of the chancel. The walls were pierced with broad, low
arches, and arches were built between the chapels and the transepts. The
chapels, in this instance, are at the back of the quire stalls; and a
long projecting piece of aisleless chancel was left beyond them, to
which, in the fifteenth century, a large northern vestry was added. This
plan, where both chancel chapels were added at much the same time and on
the same scale, is symmetrical. But, as a rule, chancel chapels were
built just when they were needed. At Arksey, near Doncaster, where, as
at St Mary's, Shrewsbury, the walls of late twelfth century transepts
have been largely preserved inside the church in spite of many
alterations, the chancel is a long aisleless twelfth century building
east of a central tower. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the
north chancel wall was pierced, and a narrow chapel built, which was one
bay shorter than the chancel itself. In the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries the nave was enlarged, and the south aisle was widened to the
full length of the south transept. A south chapel was added to the
chancel: its outer wall was continued from the south wall of the
transept, and carried eastwards for a little distance beyond the east
wall of the chancel. Thus chancel, south chapel, and north chapel, are
all of three different lengths and breadths, the south chapel being the
longest and widest. When the south chapel was built, a considerable
portion of the old chancel wall was left untouched on its north side. It
is obvious that the methods of building employed in such additions were
those which have been described in connexion with the addition of aisles
to a nave. It is no uncommon thing to enter, as at Tamworth, a chancel
aisle or chantry chapel, and find substantial remains of the old outer
wall of the chancel, which has been pierced with one or more arches of
communication.
§ 69. As the relative dates and proportions of chancel chapels vary so
greatly, it is obvious that in many cases only one will be found. We
frequently meet with churches which have only one aisle to the nave; but
these are for the most part small buildings, and one aisle usually, in
larger buildings, presupposes another, although symmetry of proportion
need not be expected. However, many important churches have one chancel
chapel, and no more. Raunds in Northamptonshire, and Leverington in
Cambridgeshire, have south, but not north, chapels. Stanion in
Northamptonshire, and Hullavington in Wiltshire, have north, but not
south chapels. In both these last cases, the chapels are simply
continuations of the aisles, without a break or intermediate arch; and
the chapel at Stanion is neither more nor less than a second chancel. As
the dedication of Stanion church is to St Peter and St Paul, it is not
unlikely that the prominence given to the north chapel may be due to the
provision of altars for both saints. The same consideration may have
influenced the building of the church at Wisbech, which is also
dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. Here, the twelfth century chancel had
a south chapel; but when, at the end of the thirteenth century, the
chancel was lengthened, the south chapel was also enlarged into what is
practically a second chancel. Not only this, but the south aisle of the
church was rebuilt on the scale of a second nave, a second south aisle
was built out beyond it, and the whole church, which afterwards was
enlarged towards the north and otherwise altered, was more than doubled
in size.
§ 70. Where chantry chapels are attached to one side or other of a
chancel, their variations in size and plan are almost infinite. In the
smallest examples, they are mere projections from the wall of the
chancel, and little more than tomb recesses, such as the Cresacre chapel
at Barnburgh, near Rotherham, or the Booth chapel on the south side of
the chancel at Sawley in Derbyshire. The little north chapel of the
chancel at Clapton-in-Gordano in Somerset may have served as a vestry.
At Brancepeth, near Durham, where there is a long chancel and an aisled
nave with transeptal chapels, a south chantry chapel adjoins the east
side of the south transeptal chapel, while a north chantry chapel forms
an independent excrescence from the north wall, and is shut off from the
chancel by a doorway. Brigstock in Northamptonshire has a very large
north chancel chapel, which is virtually the eastern portion of a
widened aisle: the south chapel, on the other hand, is of much later
date, and is so small that there must have been room in it for an altar
and little more. These smaller chantry chapels, like the beautiful south
chapel at Aldwinkle All Saints, Northants, have often great
architectural beauty of their own, and give great variety to the plan of
the church. But chancel chapels are often larger and more important,
like the fourteenth century south chapel at Leverton, near Boston, which
is practically a separate building, separated from the chancel by a wall
without an arcade, or like the very spacious north chapel of the priory
church at Brecon. The south chapel of the chancel at Berkeley in
Gloucestershire, and the Clopton chapel at Long Melford in Suffolk, are
shut off from the adjacent parts of the church, and belong to that class
of chantry chapel of which our cathedrals furnish many examples. In this
case, the chapel is a small separate building, attached to the fabric of
the church, but hardly forming an integral part of it.
§ 71. One very important consequence of the addition of aisles and
chantry chapels to chancels, at any rate on a large scale, is seen where
they are applied to plans originally cruciform. We have already seen
that at St Mary's, Shrewsbury, and at Arksey, although much of the
fabric of the old transepts was left, broad chancel chapels tended to
obliterate the cruciform character of the building. The transepts at
Spalding almost escape notice, owing to the double aisle on the south
side of the nave, the aisle and north chapel on the opposite side, and
the large chapel east of the south transept. Moreover, when, in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, aisles were rebuilt or widened,
there was always, as at Tansor, a tendency to decide the width of the
aisle by the length of an existing transept or transeptal chapel, and to
build the new outer wall flush with its gable wall. In this case, the
aisle would be planned to communicate with the transept, and the west
wall of the transept would have to be cut through. Where, as at Arksey,
there was a central tower, the old transept was structurally necessary,
and only as much of its masonry would be removed as was absolutely
necessary. But we have seen that there were cases in which it was
thought advisable to take down the central tower altogether, and build a
new one at the west end, in which case the transepts were of no
structural use; and there were far more cases in which the transeptal
excrescences were merely projecting chapels. In these instances, the
transept was felt to intervene awkwardly between the aisles of nave and
chancel. Accordingly, its side walls and gabled roof were taken down,
its end wall was remodelled, and it was placed under one roof with the
adjacent aisles, in which it became merged. The cruciform plan was thus
lost in certain churches, becoming absorbed in the ordinary elongated
plan, with aisles to nave and chancel. Tamworth church in Staffordshire,
and Marshfield in Gloucestershire, had twelfth century central towers.
These were removed or destroyed, at Tamworth in the fourteenth, at
Marshfield in the fifteenth century, and the aisles and chancel chapels
were widened to the original length, approximately, of the transepts.
The north and south arches of the crossing, however, remain in a blocked
condition, and tell the tale of what has happened. Wakefield cathedral
is another instance of a large parish church whose aisleless cruciform
plan has gradually disappeared within the aisles, until the plan is--or
was till the additions of a few years ago--an aisled rectangle, the
origin of which is certainly not obvious at first sight. The
transformations here described must clearly be understood not to apply
to cruciform churches generally, but merely to churches which, with an
originally cruciform plan, needed enlargement. Many handsome late Gothic
buildings, like the churches of Rotherham and Chesterfield, or St Mary's
at Nottingham, are regular cruciform churches with central towers; and
sometimes, as at Newark, transeptal chapels were the latest of all
additions to a church. But, where the transeptal chapel cramped
necessary space, it had to disappear. At St Margaret's, Leicester, the
arches into the transeptal chapels remain; but the chapels themselves
have entirely disappeared, and the arches merely form part of the arcade
between the nave and its broad aisles.
§ 72. The aim of restorers and rebuilders from the middle of the
fourteenth century onwards was to convert the church into a rectangle
with aisles. As we have seen, the chancel was constantly, in late Gothic
churches, an aisleless projection from the main fabric; but, where it
was aisled, the old haphazard methods were often abandoned, and the
aisles were made of approximately equal size. The old distinction
between nave and chancel, marked by the chancel arch, and the arches
between chapels and aisles, begin to vanish. Where the chancel arch was
kept, as at Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, new chancel chapels were
prolonged westward on each side of the nave, in place of the old nave
aisles. Fairford church in Gloucestershire was rebuilt towards the end
of the fifteenth century, to contain the splendid stained glass which
had just been acquired for it. A central tower was built on strong
piers, as a concession to the old plan; but the aisles of the nave were
continued on either side of the tower and along the sides of the chancel
till within a bay of the east end. But, in a great many churches, not
merely the aisles, but the nave and chancel also became continuous,
without a structural division. This feature, common in East Anglia and
the south-west of England, was the result of the importance of carved
and painted wood-work in late Gothic churches. The rood screen,
stretching across nave and aisles, appeared to full advantage, when
unbroken by the chancel arch. The splendid timber roofs of nave and
aisles gained in effect, if they formed, as at Southwold, or in the
churches of Norwich, an unbroken covering to the church from end to end.
In Norfolk and Suffolk, where the work of rebuilding began in the
fourteenth century, as at Cawston, Worstead, or Tunstead, the chancel
arch was often kept. At Worstead and other Norfolk churches the method
pursued by the builders was precisely opposite to that which we have
seen employed by Gloucestershire masons at Cirencester and other places,
and may see in most of the fifteenth century churches of Somerset. The
arcades were rebuilt first, and the aisles followed. Many of these
churches were doubtless enlarged from much smaller buildings. The south
aisle at Ingham was probably the nave of the earlier church, to which
the present nave, north aisle, chancel, and west tower, were added. The
aisles in most cases continued at a uniform width eastward as chancel
chapels. The north aisle at Worstead was continued by a two-storied
sacristy to the level of the east wall of the chancel. The south aisle
stops at a bay short of the east wall, leaving the end of the chancel
projecting as an altar space. Whether the chancel arch was retained or
not, the projection of this aisleless eastern bay became a very general
feature of the larger churches of East Anglia, and, in churches like
Trunch, Southwold, and Clare, its tall side windows flood the space with
light The most striking example of this plan is at Long Melford in
Suffolk, where there is no chancel arch, and the actual chancel projects
beyond the aisles. Here, however, it is flanked on the north by the
Clopton chapel, and on the south by the vestry, which forms a covered
way to the detached lady chapel further east. The Long Melford plan,
with a projecting altar space, and without a chancel arch, is nearly
universal in Cornwall, and is common in south Devon, where, as at
Totnes, the aisles of the chancel are usually little more than
comparatively short chapels, and sometimes, as at West Alvington, near
Kingsbridge, extend only a bay beyond the screen. Its great advantages,
apart from the display of wood-work which it permits, are the gain of
internal space permitted by the reduction of the solid portions of the
building to a minimum, the additional light admitted by the same means,
and the long uninterrupted clerestory which forms a wall of glass, with
thin stone divisions, on each side of the upper part of the church.
§ 73. The tendency to give the whole church aisles of equal width
throughout, and extending along its whole length, was irresistible,
especially in East Anglia. The church of North Walsham, rebuilt towards
the end of the fourteenth century, is a great rectangle of three
parallel divisions, with axes from east to west, and of nearly equal
breadth. The chapel of St Nicholas at Lynn, rebuilt in 1419, is an even
more striking example of the same design: in both cases the simple and
somewhat monotonous plan is varied by the projection of a handsome south
porch. At Lynn, the thirteenth century west tower, with a spire, was
kept at the south-west corner of the aisled building. But the aisled
rectangular plan, if it attained its highest development in East Anglia,
had been reached already in other parts of England by gradual methods.
It has sometimes been fathered upon aisled naves of friary churches,
which, like the great nave of the Black friars at Norwich, afforded
space for large congregations who came to hear sermons. But it is
probable that the first churches which followed the course of expansion
into the aisled rectangle were directly influenced by the example of the
larger churches, like Lincoln, or, at a later date, York, which, in
extending their eastern arms, aisled their quires, presbyteries, and
eastern chapels, right up to the east wall. Thus the whole quire and
chancel of Newark, with aisles extending their whole length, were
planned in the early part of the fourteenth century, when the great
eastern chapel, the "Angel Quire," of Lincoln, was little more than a
generation old; and, although the progress of the work was long
delayed, the eventual arrangement, in which the high altar was brought
two bays forward from the east wall, and a spacious chapel was left at
the back, exactly recalls the arrangements of Lincoln and York.
Similarly the quire and chancel of the cruciform church of Holy Trinity
at Hull are aisled to their full length: the arrangement, again, is that
of a cathedral rather than a parish church. The influence of cathedral
plans is clearly visible in St Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, and in the
collegiate churches of Ottery St Mary and Crediton: but here the type
followed is not that of Lincoln and York, but that more usual in the
west and south of England at Hereford, Wells, Salisbury, Exeter, and
elsewhere, where the aisles of the chancel are returned at the back of
the east wall, and form a vestibule to a projecting aisleless lady
chapel. This type of plan occurs outside its regular district at
Tickhill, on the borders of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. But it is
naturally exceptional, and would be used only where there was plenty of
money and space to spare: it demands for its full effect a considerable
elevation, involving a large clerestory, and a church could seldom, if
ever, be found whose original plan invited expansion on these lines. On
the other hand, the aisling of the chancel throughout was simply the
logical development of the ordinary church plan: if the plans of
cathedrals may have suggested the later developments at churches like
Newark or Hull, the simple aisled rectangle, with its three parallel
divisions, and without any clerestory to distinguish the nave from the
aisles--a plan remarkably characteristic of Cornwall--came into
existence in the ordinary course of things, by an extension of the wings
of the building until they flanked the whole of the nave and chancel.
§ 74. The work done at Grantham in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries illustrates the purely natural development of the ordinary
aisled church into the aisled rectangle. We have seen, in an earlier
chapter, that, soon after 1300, the church consisted of an aisleless
chancel, which was, however, overlapped at the west end by the north
aisle of the nave; a nave, the north and south aisles of which followed
different systems of spacing; a western tower and spire, engaged within
the aisles; and north and south porches. Several chantries were founded
in the church during the fourteenth century. Not long after the Black
Death of 1349, the south aisle was extended eastward to the whole length
of the chancel. The south wall of the chancel was pierced by an arcade;
and the lady chapel thus formed was raised upon a double crypt. It was
not until more than a century later that the east wall of the north
aisle was taken down, and the "Corpus Christi chancel" built out,
continuing the north aisle without a break, and completely flanking
the north wall of the chancel, through which an arcade was made. Here
the reason of expansion was obviously the growth of chantry chapels; and
the expansion follows the simplest course. The last addition to the
fabric was the present vestry, in which was a chantry founded by the
Hall family. This was built out at right angles to the north aisle, at
the point where the old work was met by the later extension. Not until
the church had been fully aisled, and afforded no further room for new
altars, were chantry chapels usually added in the shape of excrescences
from the fabric.
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Plans of Grantham church: (3) about 1350; (4)
present day.]
§ 75. One interesting feature in the planning of chancels, which has
been much discussed, is worth a note. This is the fact that the axis of
the chancel is frequently out of line with the axis of the nave, and
generally has a slight northward inclination. Sometimes, as at Henbury
in Gloucestershire, the inclination is very considerable, so that, from
the west end of the church, nearly a quarter of the east wall is out of
sight. Usually, the inclination is very slight; and there are many cases
in which it is not northward, but southward--Sidbury and Salcombe Regis,
near Sidmouth, Eastbourne in Sussex and Aldwinkle St Peter in Northants,
are cases in point. The popular explanation is that it symbolises the
leaning of our Saviour's head upon the cross. Like most symbolical
explanations, this is founded entirely upon fancy: the inclination is
by no means confined to churches with cross plans, and, if it were, the
theorists who argue from this standpoint confound the symbolism of the
cross-plan between the cross itself and the Body which it bore. Others
have sought to explain the phenomenon by suggesting that the orientation
of the chancel followed the direction in which the sun rose on the
morning of the patronal feast. A succession of visits at sunrise to
churches on appropriate dates has not hitherto been attempted upon a
comprehensive scale: if it were undertaken, it probably would be found
that the sun, instead of rising obediently opposite the middle light of
every east window, as the theory requires, would have many puzzling
exceptions in reserve. The marked divergence of axis at Henbury is
explained by the site of the building, which is on a gentle slope, with
the axis of the nave distinctly from south-east to north-west. When the
chancel was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, the masons kept as high
upon the slope as they could, and so twisted the axis of the chancel a
little further east. But we must also remember that, when chancels were
lengthened and rebuilt, the work was done while the old chancels were
still standing. The axis of the old chancel might be out of line with
that of the nave. Unless very careful measurements were taken, the new
east wall would probably be not quite parallel with the old east wall of
the chancel. The side walls would be set out at right angles to the new
east wall; and thus, when the new chancel was joined to the church, the
divergence of axis would be more palpable than before. Or, for the same
reason, a divergence of axis might be created for the first time. This
seems to be the common sense explanation of a very common feature. But
it must be added that there are instances in which the inclination is so
decided that one is tempted to conclude either that the masons had very
crooked sight, or that they were playing tricks with their perspective.
The feature, where it is at all marked, is something of a deformity. In
our own day it has been introduced, apparently by design, into the plan
of Truro cathedral. In medieval work, however, it will seldom be found
in a chancel where no enlargement upon an early site has taken place;
and it seems safe to conclude that, like so much else in medieval
building which is irregular, it generally arises from the rebuilding of
a fabric upon an encumbered site.
INDEX OF PLACES
Aachen, Rhenish Prussia, palace church, 33, 34
Acaster Malbis, Yorks., 65
Achurch, Northants., 56, 58
Acton Burnell, Salop., 55, 56, 58, 65, 102
Adderbury, Oxon., 106, 107
Adel, Yorks., 49
Africa, basilicas in north, 14
Aldwinkle, Northants., All Saints, 121;
St Peter, 131
Almondsbury, Glouces., 54, 113
Alvington, West, Devon, 126
Amiens, France (Somme), cathedral, 68
Appleton-le-Street, Yorks., 84
Arksey, Yorks., 118, 121, 122
Askham Bryan, Yorks., 49
Avening, Glouces., 54, 114
Aylsham, Norfolk, 104
Bakewell, Derby, 70
Bampton-in-the-Bush, Oxon., 59, 60, 61
Barnack, Northants., 30, 32
Barnburgh, Yorks., 120
Barton-on-Humber, Lincs., St
Peter, 30, 32, 33, 34, 40, 41
Berkeley, Glouces., 121
Beverley, Yorks., minster, 74, 75;
St Mary, 102, 111, 112
Bewick, Old, Northumb., 50, 52
Bibury, Glouces., 94
Billingborough, Lincs., 82
Billingham, Durham, 73
Birkin, Yorks., 46, 51, 52, 82, 83
Bishopstone, Sussex, 36
Blatherwycke, Northants., 46
Bloxham, Oxon., 105, 106, 107
Bottesford, Lincs., 108
Bracebridge, Lincs., 28
Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts., 16, 29, 36
Bradwell-juxta-Mare, Essex, St Peter's on the Wall, 16
Brampton Ash, Northants., 76
Brancepeth, Durham, 120
Branscombe, Devon, 107
Brayton, Yorks., 46
Breamore, Hants., 38, 40, 54
Brecon, priory church, 121
Brigstock, Northants., 28, 97, 120, 121
Bristol, St John Baptist, 98;
St Lawrence, 98;
St Mary Redcliffe, 95, 99, 101, 102, 128
Britford, Wilts., 36
Brixworth, Northants., 21, 22, 23, 24, 29, 32, 53
Broughton, Lincs., 32
Bubwith, Yorks., 93
Burford, Oxon., 60, 61, 99, 113
Caistor, Lincs., 45
Cambridge, All Saints, 97, 98;
St Benedict, 28;
Holy Trinity, 97;
St Michael, 94, 95
Campsall, Yorks., 109, 110
Canterbury, Kent, cathedral, 15, 35;
St Pancras, 15, 16, 23, 24, 35, 36, 53
Caunton, Notts., 93
Cawston, Norfolk, 104, 125
Chesterfield, Derby, 123
Chichester, Sussex, cathedral, 68
Childs Wickham, Glouces., 56, 58
Chipping Norton, Oxon., 99
Christon, Som., 53
Cirencester, Glouces., 87, 88, 89, 125
Clapton-in-Gordano, Som., 105, 120
Clare, Suffolk, 126
Clymping, Sussex, 114
Coln Rogers, Glouces., 28, 29, 97
Coln St Aldwyn, Glouces., 113, 114
Coln St Denis, Glouces., 53
Cologne, Rhenish Prussia, St Gereon, 34
Colsterworth, Lincs., 47, 92
Constantinople, Sta Sophia, 10, 12, 13
Copford, Essex, 52, 74
Copmanthorpe, Yorks., 49
Corbridge-on-Tyne, Northumb., 19, 20, 56
Corstopitum, _see_ Corbridge-on-Tyne
Coventry, Warwicks., Holy Trinity, 102;
St John Baptist, 102;
St Michael, 98
Crediton, Devon, 128
Cullompton, Devon, 106
Dedham, Essex, 97
Deerhurst, Glouces., 27, 36, 37
Dover, Kent, St Mary in the Castle, 37, 38, 40, 54
Duddington, Northants., 114
Dunham Magna, Norfolk, 38
Durham, cathedral, 50, 67, 69
Earl's Barton, Northants., 30, 48
Eastbourne, Sussex, 131
Easton, Great, Leices., 86
Ely, Cambs., cathedral, 50
Escomb, Durham, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 29
Evesham, Worces., All Saints, 105;
St Lawrence, 105
Ewerby, Lincs., 96
Exeter, Devon, cathedral, 113, 128
Exton, Rutland, 103, 104
Fairford, Glouces., 124
Felmersham, Beds., 110
Felton, Northumb., 83
Finchingfield, Essex, 45
Fountains abbey, Yorks., 67
Garton-on-the-Wolds, Yorks., 46
Geddington, Northants., 28, 72
Gedling, Notts., 94
Gloucester, cathedral, 67
Grantham, Lincs., 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 96, 99, 100, 129, 130, 131
Greenstead, Essex, 43
Gretton, Northants., 72, 78, 93, 94
Hallaton, Leices., 83, 99
Harringworth, Northants., 85, 86, 87
Heapham, Lincs., 46
Heckington, Lincs., 76, 107, 108
Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumb., 48
Henbury, Glouces., 99, 131, 132
Hereford, cathedral, 128
Heslerton, West, Yorks., 64
Hexham, Northumb., priory church, 20, 21, 23;
St Mary, 33, 34, 41
Heysham, Lancs., 25
Hooton Pagnell, Yorks., 46
Hough-on-the-Hill, Lincs., 32
Hull, Yorks., Holy Trinity, 128, 129
Hullavington, Wilts., 119
Iffley, Oxon., 53, 54, 114
Islip, Northants., 76
Jarrow-on-Tyne, Durham, St Paul, 19
Jerusalem, Holy Sepulchre, 34, 52, 62
Kegworth, Leices., 104
Kirkburn, Yorks., 46
Kirk Hammerton, Yorks., 46
Laceby, Lincs., 45
Langford, Essex, 52
Langham, Rutland, 113
Lavenham, Suffolk, 94
Leckhampton, Glouces., 54
Leicester, St Margaret, 123, 124;
St Mary in the Castle, 49, 95, 97
Leverington, Cambs., 119
Leverton, Lincs., 121
Lincoln, cathedral, 67, 127, 128;
St Mary-le-Wigford, 28; St
Peter-at-Gowts, 28
Lowick, Northants., 105
Ludlow, Salop., 99, 100, 102
Lydd, Kent, 24
Lynn, King's, Norfolk, St Margaret, 96;
St Nicholas, 127
Marshfield, Glouces., 123
Medbourne, Leices., 56, 58, 113
Melbourne, Derby, 59, 60, 69, 70, 75, 76, 96, 117
Melford, Long, Suffolk, 121, 126
Melton Mowbray, Leices., 102
Middleton Tyas, Yorks., 78, 79
Minster Lovell, Oxon., 61
Monkwearmouth, Durham, 18, 19, 20, 23, 29
Montacute, Som., 56, 58
Moor Monkton, Yorks., 48
Nantwich, Cheshire, 102
Newark-on-Trent, Notts., 87, 89, 96, 99, 110, 123, 127, 128, 129
Newbald, North, Yorks., 57, 58, 59, 60
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumb., St Nicholas, 96, 100
Newhaven, Sussex, 53
Norham-on-Tweed, Northumb., 69, 70
Northallerton, Yorks., 78
Northampton, St Giles, 60, 61;
St Peter, 49
Northleach, Glouces., 87, 88, 89, 99
Norton-on-Tees, Durham, 40, 41, 54
Norwich, cathedral, 67;
church of Black friars, 127
Nottingham, St Mary, 123
Oakham, Rutland, 113
Othery, Som., 65
Othona, _see_ Bradwell-juxta-Mare
Ottery St Mary, Devon, 106, 113, 128
Oundle, Northants., 82, 94, 98, 108, 109, 117, 118
Paignton, Devon, 106
Patricio, Brecon, 66, 67, 68
Peterborough, Northants., Saxon abbey church, 21, 22
Petersfield, Hants., 109
Plymouth, Devon, St Andrew, 105, 106
Plympton St Mary, Devon, 105, 106
Portlemouth, East, Devon, 106
Potterne, Wilts., 55, 56, 65
Ramsey, Hunts., Saxon abbey church, 39
Ranworth, Norfolk, 64, 68
Raunds, Northants., 79, 80, 81, 83, 84, 119
Ravenna, Italy, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, 10;
of Theodoric, 10, 11, 12;
Sant' Apollinare in Classe, 8, 9;
Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, 8, 9;
San Giovanni in Fonte, 10;
Sta Maria in Cosmedin, 10;
San Vitale, 11, 12, 13, 33
Reculver, Kent, 15, 24
Repton, Derby, 28, 37
Riccall, Yorks., 46
Ripon, Yorks, cathedral, 21, 23
Rochester, Kent, cathedral, 15
Rome, Basilica of Maxentius, 3;
Basilica Ulpia, 2;
Baths of Caracalla, 9;
Castle of Sant' Angelo, 9;
San Clemente, 9;
Sta Costanza, 9;
San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, 8;
San Paolo, 8;
old St Peter's, 4, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15;
_scholae_, 5
Rotherham, Yorks., 123
St-Georges-de-Boscherville, France (Seine-Inf.), 60
St Peter's on the Wall, _see_ Bradwell-juxta-Mare
Salcombe Regis, Devon, 131
Salisbury, Wilts., cathedral, 67, 128
Sall, Norfolk, 104
Sawley, Derby, 120
Seamer, Yorks., 73
Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorks., 69, 70, 96
Shrewsbury, Salop., St Mary, 114, 118, 121
Sidbury, Devon, 28, 131
Silchester, Hants., 14, 24, 25
Sileby, Leices., 96
Skipwith, Yorks., 115
Skirlaugh, South, Yorks., 65
Sleaford, Lincs., 82, 97
Southwell, Notts., cathedral, 70
Southwold, Suffolk, 125, 126
Spalding, Lincs., 95, 122
Stafford, St Mary, 112
Stanion, Northants., 119
Stanton Lacy, Salop., 38
Stow, Lincs., 39, 40, 42, 54
Stretton-in-the-Street, Rutland, 104
Studland, Dorset, 53
Sutton, Long, Lincs., 70, 124
Swaton, Lincs., 82
Tamworth, Staffs., 119, 123
Tansor, Northants., 49, 82, 100, 115, 116, 117, 122
Taunton, Som., St Mary Magdalene, 99
Temple Balsall, Warwicks., 65
Theddingworth, Leices., 79
Tickencote, Rutland, 48
Tickhill, Yorks., 96, 128
Tilney All Saints, Norfolk, 92, 93
Tiverton, Devon, 105, 106
Totnes, Devon, 126
Trier, Rhenish Prussia, basilica, 3;
Liebfrauenkirche, 34
Trunch, Norfolk, 126
Truro, Cornwall, cathedral, 133
Tunstead, Norfolk, 125
Tytherington, Glouces., 73
Vinovium, _see_ Escomb.
Waith, Lincs., 38, 39
Wakefield, Yorks., cathedral, 123
Walberswick, Suffolk, 99
Walsham, North, Norfolk, 127
Walsoken, Norfolk, 70
Warkworth, Northumb., 48
Warmington, Northants., 99, 100
Wells, Som., cathedral, 128
Whaplode, Lincs., 92, 114
Whitwell, Rutland, 78
Winchester, cathedral, 50
Wing, Bucks., 24, 27
Winterton, Lincs., 28, 97
Wisbech, Cambs., 120
Witham, North, Lincs., 47
Witney, Oxon., 61, 110, 112
Wittering, Northants., 28
Wollaton, Notts., 97
Worstead, Norfolk, 99, 125
Worth, Sussex, 37, 102, 103
Yainville, France (Seine-Inf.), 53
Yatton, Som., 99
York, cathedral, 67, 127, 128
Ythanceaster, _see_ Bradwell-juxta-Mare
* * * * *
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
* * * * *
Transcriber's note
Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. An obvious
printer error has been corrected, and it is listed below. All
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has
been maintained.
Page 36: "a Saxon ex-example" changed to "a Saxon example".
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Ground Plan of the English Parish Church" ***
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