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and parish church. In all, however, notwithstanding some 

 marked exceptions of particular periods, we find the lateral 

 doorway to be the principal one, even if there be a west one as 

 well ; and we often find, in by no means large churches, both 

 north, south, and west doorways of pretty nearly the same date. 



The position of the principal doorway (whether lateral or 

 western) depends, to a great extent, upon the date of the 

 original foundation of the church. 



To explain my meaning, I may say broadly that when there are 

 any traces of work previous to the reign of Edward the Con- 

 fessor (the real introducer of the Norman style), we find the 

 tower almost invariably at the west end of the nave, into which 

 it opens through a low narrow arch (sometimes merely a square- 

 headed doorway) ; but the west wall is unpierced by a coeval 

 doorway, though such piercing often took place in the 12th and 

 later centuries, but rarely for a principal one. 



With Norman infiuence, about the middle of the 11th century, 

 a great revolution in the ground plan of our churches was 

 introduced. In lieu of single west towers and lateral portals, flanking 

 west towers, as at Melbourne, in Derbyshire, or a single one 

 between nave and chancel, either with or without transepts, as 

 at Iffley, near Oxford, and Englishcombe, became the rule ; but 

 if the church was a rebuilding on old foundations, the lateral 

 doorway was generally preserved (with a porch) of equal or 

 greater importance, as a sort of survival from the previous style. 



We may gather from this that the lateral entrance was in 

 accordance with the old English and Teutonic custom, in contra- 

 distinction to the Norman, and that when the architectural 

 influence of the latter race waned (as it most undoubtedly did by 

 the middle of the 12th century), the west doorway, though not 

 exterminated, sank into comparative insignificance. 



As in the greater churches above considered, we usually find 

 the lateral doorways in the last or penultimate bay of the nave. 

 Where this is not the case, and the doorway is found further east, in 



