2S8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



* skill, and whom we might therefore naturally expect to 

 ' find at the head of the artistic developments of his age." 



" If, then, we accept this date we may recognise in the 

 foundation of this Church one of the most memorable 

 epochs in the history of architecture in this island, for 

 we may safely set it down as exhibiting the first English 

 example, not indeed of the incidental use of the pointed 

 arch, when any special necessity rendered it desirable, 

 but, what is a very different matter, the first instance of 

 its distinct preference on aesthetical grounds in the main 

 arcades of a great Church." 



'■ When this point had been gained, the battle between 

 Romanesque and Gothic was really won by the latter ; 

 every Gothic detail now^ followed as a natural develop- 

 ment in its natural order.'" 



" Malmesbury, however, happily exhibits the style just 

 after this first and greatest change had been accomplish- 

 ed, and no other commenced ; every other feature is 

 still Romanesque." 



" In short, while in a history of English architecture, 

 we ought to speak of Malmesbury as the earliest of 

 Transitional examples, it will, in practically describing 

 the building itself, be far more convenient, and indeed 

 far more accurate, to speak of its earliest portions as a 

 specimen of the pure Norman style." 



" One remark, however, I must make. I mentioned 

 1 135 as the date assigned to the commencement of the 

 Church. We must on the one hand remember that 

 great churches were not, least of all in the reign of 

 Stephen, finished in a year or two, and that the west end 

 would probably be the last part finished ; consequently 

 Malmesbury nave may well be twenty or thirty years 

 later than 1135." 



This is such an important point in the architectural 

 history of this Church that I venture to quote the words 

 of so great an authority in full. 



