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NORM AN \ ru:K. 



NORMAN AHCHITKCTURE. 



Norman or Transition buildings, like that put of Canterbury cathedral 

 oiled IWvVi t' Crown, (we the cut . where column* partaking 



very much of the Corinthian character, though somewhat bolder and 



more masculine, arc employed M piers to support the arches (not round- 

 head, but pointed) ; or they are rather cnuple 1 columns united bock to 

 back. Within . r pU very short detached single columns were employed 



r of Durham Culhcdral. 



to support the arches of the vaulting, but this deviation from the usual 

 practice would seem to have been occasioned merely l>y the local 

 peculiarities of such subterraneous apartment*. and consequently it can 

 hardly be considered as characteristic of the sty If r 



The plan and general arrangement of a Norman church are the 

 name as have been followed in subsequent styles. [Cai'KCH.] The 

 larger Norman churches are cruciform with a low massive tower rising 

 from the intersection of the arms of the cross. Smaller churches con- 

 sist only of a nave and chancel. Choirs and chancels were frequently 

 apsidal, as were also the chapels attached to the larger churches, but 

 many of these apses have been removed. [Arsi:.] Norwich cathedral 

 affords a good example of the Anglo-Norman ap.v. Sometimes in these 

 apses the high altar was attached to a rercdos, which was fixed 

 between the piers, and a space left behind for the passage of pro- 

 cessions which could thus on solemn occasions make the entire circuit 

 of the church. Numerous examples however occur in which the 

 chancels are rectangular in plan. The aisles were often extremely 

 narrow, and some small churches occur without aisles. Choirs were 

 usually vaulted, but no example we believe occurs of a vaulted nave. 

 Oryptt, some of them of fine proportions, considerably enriched, and 

 excellent specimens of masonry, are common under cathedrals and 



Doorway, Bar i teuton. 



large church** : the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral is one of the finest. 

 [CRTIT.] 



Having spoken of the stylo generally, we shall now briefly describe 



' its principal component parts and separate features ; but though not 

 numerous in themselves, it would occupy some space and require a 

 great number of explanatory cuts, to attempt to notice them with 

 much particularity, for few as are the general forms, and unvaried aa 

 is the general character, the diversity of detail and minutix is ex- 

 ceedingly great. 



Douf in small and otherwise plain Norman buildings, and 



even when small in themselves, seem almost always to have had a 

 great deal of embellishment bestowed upon them; and IIMMV have 



pa I" -en preserved in buildings, in every other part of which 



ill trae.es of the original edifices have been obliterated by sub- 

 sequent alterations : instances occur, however, where the doorways 



i. rely a plain dripstone moulding al.ovc the arch. In many 

 instanc ieeply recessed, and in proportion to th 



apertur iUelf the dressings or deem 



space: this not only aj it latitude in other n^p -els, but 



! the architect to make what would else have been an in 

 cant feature, an important one in the design. In some cases, as at 

 Malmesbury Abbey church, there are no fewer than eight concentric 

 arches recessed one within the other. The tympanum, or stone 

 which in many examples fills the semicircular head of the arch, is usually 



I with sculpt. ire. We give a cut of the doorway of Barfreston 

 church. Kf'u . which, although small, will illustrate the richness and 

 elegance of character of a Norman doorway, and serve as an example 

 of a square-headed door, where the arched space above it i- tilled up 

 with sculptin -rure in the centre ot" the tympanum, it will 



be observed, is that of the Saviour, who is seated within an aureole 

 [Xi.Miu ! his left resting on a Ixiok. This 



>ii on Norman doorways, and is in alln 



the passage "1 am the door," &c. ; but other scriptural, legendary, 

 or symbolical figures are also frequently repress 

 sculpture is indeed very largely introduced in every part of a Norman 

 church of the better class. 



'net had seldom much decoration ; they were generally 

 and placed at a considerable distance from each other ; sometimes they 

 were merely plain apertures in the wall, and rarely more than scantily 

 ornamented. We give two specimens of Norman windows, one con- 

 sisting of a single opMiinr. I >ut more than usually enriched, the 

 divided by a central pillar. Triple windows, and window-like openings 

 in internal galleries, divided by two pillars into thn" which 



the mi i uid loftier than the others, also occur, 



are also windows in this style which, though narrow, are of very con- 

 MdeiaMe dim, nsions as to height, like those at the east end of Can- 

 In regard to this feature, the Norman and I 1 , 

 much, if not more, than the^ 



c form of their respective arches : for besides that w in.i.. 

 very secondary features in the one style, whereas they are among the 

 principal and most characteristic features in the other, Norman 

 windows have neither mnllions nor transoms, nor any trae 

 compartments in the head of the arch; for even where the up 

 is divided into two smaller arches, resting upon a central pillar, 

 the space or head between those arches and the larger one which 

 includes them is never perforated or otherwise decorated Hence the 

 windows themselves were necessarily limited as to size : not but that 

 it would have been very possible to increase the number of openings 

 by means of additional pillars, and by afterwards perforating the 



I head of the window above the small. r arched divisions, 



li not with equal coinisteney as in Pointed Gothic, where the 

 mouldings of the mnllions arc upwards and form the ribs of 



the tracery, however complicate it may be. Sufficient hints for such 



