360 Colerne Church. 
almost straight with the chapel; it is of the same age as the tower, 
and is divided into four bays by buttresses of two stages; the first, 
third, and fourth bays (reckoning from the west) contain good 
three-light windows, the remaining bay being left blank—a pro- 
vision, doubtless, for a north porch or doorway, which some cause 
prevented being carried out. This aisle has a base-mold of a bold 
form, and is surmounted by a plain parapet, which returns along a 
very depressed gable at the west end; the roof is covered with lead 
and nearly flat. The interior effect of the tower—the lower story 
of which is vaulted with good ribbed groining—has been destroyed 
by boarding up the lofty, well-moulded arch, and inserting a floor 
midway, with a far projecting gallery. 
INTERIOR. 
It is only on entering the body of; the Church we become aware 
of remains, the leading features of which at once proclaim them to 
be Norman. The Nave is of four bays, the pillars are cylindrical 
with circular bases, the three arches (reckoning from the east) on 
the south side with the intermediate piers, respond, and half of the 
western pier are the oldest portions of the church, and though 
presenting some points reconcileable to the “early English” style, 
possess yet so many more characteristic of the Norman period, that 
I consider them to belong rather to the close of the latter than the 
commencement of the former era. The arches are pointed with 
plain soffits, recessed, however, on the nave side, and surmounted 
by a hood-mold with trefoil terminations; the abaci are square 
and of the usual Norman section, and the capitals though designed 
upon what is commonly called the “cushion shaped,” have each a 
different appearance, presenting an interesting exemplification of 
the power of form, even in the most common and simple detail ; 
the bases rest on low square sub-plinths, the upper edge of which 
is chamfered. The three opposite arches on the north side are of a 
later date, they are of two chamfered orders, and spring from 
octagonal abaci with foliaged capitals, each of which also differs in 
design and degree of beauty. The piers are much smaller in cir- 
cumference than those on the south side, but of the same height. 
The westernmost arch on either side yet remains to be described: 
