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On Church Doorways. By the Rev. Reginald A. Cayley, M.A. 

 (Read December 12th, 1888J. 



I fear that the subject of church doorways is one of only- 

 limited interest ; but as the various domains of Mediceval Church 

 Architecture in this country have been so carefully mapped out 

 and discoursed on, in all their leading features, by earnest 

 students both professional and amateur, in the past 50 years, 

 there are only such minor subjects left for us moderns to take up. 



They have however their proper place in the history of the 

 art, and though this one of church doorways cannot compete 

 in attractiveness with many others, it yet, as I hope to show you, 

 is instructive, if it only draws our attention to the general rules 

 which guided the builders of old in their treatment of such 

 necessary parts of a building. 



People, in ridicule, may perhaps compare this subject with the 

 poet's sonnet " To his Mistress's Eyebrow," when he might have 

 extolled in verse the charms of her Avhole face. Be it so. I 

 simply claim for my subject a patient hearing. Ridicule it as 

 much as you please after you have heard what I have got to say. 



In this Paper I will not attempt to describe the architectural 

 designs and details of church doorways, but rather try to 

 give a brief sketch of the various positions that they occupy, and 

 draw from them certain historical deductions to which they point. 



In England, from the fact of our nationality being extremely 

 mixed (more so in fact than is the case of any other nation of 

 Western Europe), we have had in bygone ages architectural 

 influences passing over us in successive waves, each of which has 

 left its mark in the marvellous variety of ground plan, structure, 

 and detail, noticeable not only in E. and VV., N. and S., but even 

 in adjacent counties and dioceses. 



Now, perhaps, I may be ridiculed for holding the opinion, as 

 I do most firmly, that though, after the withdrawal of the Roman 

 legions, a.d. 401, the Brito-Roman civilization and Christianity 

 Vol. 6, No. 4. 



