46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



side of the interior of the Chancel some 14 feet from the 

 Chancel Arch. These just correspond with one another 

 and mark off as it were the first compartment of the 

 Chancel. Outside there is some flat Norman arcading, 

 and at a point which just corresponds with the responds 

 within, this arcading commences to cant inwards and 

 sufficient is left of the turn, or cant, to make it evident 

 and undoubted ; and the later masonry of the square-ended 

 Chancel is butted up against the old arcade. 



The filling in of the arches of this arcading should be 

 noticed. The return or canted portion of the arcade is so 

 short that it is difficuh to say with any degree of accuracy 

 what the form of the Apse may have been, except that it 

 was polygonal ; and from careful measurements taken of 

 the old work it is possible that the building may have been 

 somewhat as indicated on the sketch plan. 



In a letter to my father on the subject of the plan of the 

 East end of the Cathedral and of the Chapels at Glouces- 

 ter, the late J. Fergusson says : 



" It is curious that polygonal forms should be used in 

 " this country in the i Ith century, whilst, at Caen and on 

 "the Continent generally, circular forms prevailed well 

 into the 12th century"; and in Parker the following 

 occurs : 



" On the continent apses were more universally em- 

 " ployed, and continued in use much later than in England, 

 " where the practice of making the East ends of Churches 

 " square began early in the Norman period. In the pointed 

 " styles the form of the apse was soon changed from semi- 

 " circular to polygonal, and this form was, with very few 

 " exceptions, universally given to the Continental 

 " Churches. 



'" In England many Norman apses still exist, and traces 

 " of their former existence may be found in many cases 

 " where the Choirs or Chancels have been subsequently 

 " enlarged, or otherwise altered." 



