437 



Such an intimate knowledge of architectural details was shown 

 by Mr. Cayley that he hardly dared to criticise anything he had 

 said ; but still he hesitated to accept the statement that when 

 Augustine landed in England he found hundreds of churches in 

 existence. On the contrary, he was of opinion that the ancient 

 churches had well nigh vanished at that time, in England at least. 

 As to the comparative insignificance of our western doorways 

 as compared with those on the Continent, he thought an exception 

 ought to be made in the case of those of the Norman period ; 

 the English examples of doorways of that date not only being 

 unsurpassed by any foreign ones, but, indeed, being far superior. 

 He agreed with Mr. Cayley as to the lateral doorways of our 

 parish churches being situated in accordance with the position of 

 the highway or the contiguity of houses, but asked for the 

 evidence of Cloisters having existed on the south of the Abbey. 

 In conclusion, he thanked Mr. Cayley for his admirable paper, 

 and called upon those present for any criticisms. 



Mr. Browne remarked that the paper went over a large 

 number of illustrations, and was certainly of great interest for 

 the care and research evinced by Mr. Cayley. He referred to 

 the large south-eastern porch at Lincoln as a further illustration 

 of the points mentioned by the reader of the paper. In regard 

 to our parish churches, there could be no doubt that the position 

 of the doorways N., S. or W. was in many cases governed by 

 considerations of convenience for access or conformity to the 

 levels of the ground. As au instance, he mentioned the entrance 

 of Sompting Church, Sussex, on the south side, with several 

 steps up to the nave level, and in what was practically a 

 south transept. With reference to Mr. Cayley's theory of the 

 original Bath Abbey Church being finished at the east end with 

 an apse surrounded by an ambulatory, it was certainly novel and 

 ingenious, but, before accepting it, a more careful study of the 

 Abbey in the light of the new theory was desirable. The 

 Norman remains to be seen in the bases of columns below the 



