1902 Noi'Dian Architecture 227 



tage in the cathedrals of Durham, Canterbury, Rochester, 

 Peterborough, Norwich, Oxford, Winchester, &c. ; but for 

 members of field-clubs on their field-day rambles the country 

 churches would naturally be more in their way. Therefore 

 illustrations of country churches will be made use of in this 

 article. 



In the Norman period porches were very rare; yet a Nor- 

 man church doorway is frequently met with beneath a pro- 

 tecting porch of a much later period. The Norman builder 

 preferred to thicken the wall where the door was to be set, 

 and to let this thicker wall stand forward with a slightly pro- 

 jecting gable. The wall immediately under the gable is then 

 made to recede in stages bounded by mouldings, until the 

 decreasing thickness of wall coincides with the thickness of 

 the door-frame. This contrivance not only relieved the 

 weight on the door-frame, but also added dignity and im- 

 portance to the head-arch by reason of rings of mouldings 

 and depth of light and shade in the deep recess. A porch 

 was, therefore, not wanted ; in fact, a porch would only serve 

 to place the Norman light under a bushel ! 



The Normans always strove to make the principal church 

 doorway a very prominent feature of the church. Such door- 

 ways were not always at the west end ; and we find them on 

 the south side, not far from the west end, rather than on the 

 north. It was of no consequence to the Norman builder 

 where the principal entrance to a church was placed ; but it 

 was of great consequence to him that the principal entrance 

 should arrest attention. I look upon the Norman church- 

 builder as a devout Christian, who took great pains to so 

 construct the principal church doorway that it should 

 be a speaking doorway to all church - goers. Accord- 

 ingly, mouldings of doorways were generally ornamented 

 with much carving, either of patterns, or foliage, or strange 

 beasts. During the Transition period pillars and sculptures 

 were inserted to heighten the grandeur and add to the 

 general effect. With regard to sculpture, it may be noticed 

 that early Norman work is always rude and cut in low relief. 

 But deep or shallow carving depend very much upon the 

 quality of the stone employed : on soft stone deeply-cut 

 works were cut ; on hard stone shallow-cut works were cut 



