LKSSUNS IN AROHIEBOTUBB 





ui'pr<viation of this grand u.edia>val style, and it* peculiar fitness 

 or the religious purposes for which it WM chiefly designed. 



Wo uiumot li'-r.- |i;mso to traoe its progress from iU earlier 



laments, and in the different i-ountn.'s in which it made its 



way. v ' iko it up mi it- int.r.>diii'ti.ui into our own 



l.iii.l. \\ !.: it followed tin- riiiii- and primitive Saxon and the 



in . pi.li.-hi-l .Y"/-<i<"ii Htyloa. Each of these styles was in its 



character Romanesque, the aroh of Roman shape being the 



in l)i. th. Tin' Saxon churches were generally very 



i *'invfly uny remains of them are now 



;ln- ff\v unquestioned relics of this age 



is the tower at Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire, of whi.-li v.,- 

 give a represcnta- 



i..M. onii.- N.T- 



man stone edition. 

 however, very many 

 lu'iiuuful relics are 

 preserved, ami by 

 these we arc made 

 fully acquainted 

 with both tli' inte- 

 rior ami the exte- 

 rior character of 

 their buildings. 



The Norman style 

 may be dated from 

 the Conquest in 

 10J6, continuing till 

 towards the close 

 of the following cen- 

 tury, and it is there- 

 fore sometimes 

 called the twelfth 

 century style. We 

 have alluded to its 

 Romanesque feature 

 of the round arch, 

 which in Norman 

 churches was 

 supported on short 

 and stout pillars, 

 and generally re- 

 peated from end to 

 end of the building. 

 A fine example exists 

 in the interior of 

 the abbey at Mal- 

 vern, and others 

 may be met in por- 

 tions of our older 

 cathedrals. The 

 walla of the churches 

 were thick and sub- 

 stantial, with small 

 windows, and with- 

 out much adorn- 

 ment, except in the 

 doorways, which 

 were elaborately or- 

 namented. An ex- 

 ample, from Hailoa 

 Church, Norfolk, is 



given in our engraving, and in this the semi-circular archea and 

 their zigzag mouldings, peculiarly characteristic of the Norman 

 style, are well illustrated. The square flat tower crowning the 

 edifice was also a not uncommon feature in the Norman period. 



Towards the close of the twelfth century a wide departure 

 from the Norman style was introduced from the central pro- 

 vinces of France, where it is believed to have originated. It 

 consisted chiefly in the substitution of a pointed arch for the 

 old rounded form; and this style, now known as the Gothic, 

 cade so immediately into acceptance for church architecture, 

 that in a few years after its introduction the Norman style had 

 fallen almost entirely into disuse. The first period of Gothic 

 architecture in this country is known as the Early English, and, 

 as it lasted from about the year 1185 to 1280, it is generally 

 known as the style of the thirteenth century. At first there 

 was, as it were, a struggle for predominance between the round 



INTERIOR OP THE TEMPLE CHURCH, LONDON. 



and the pointed styles, and occasionally, in buildings of what is 

 termed the Transition period, both arches were used in the same 

 edifice. A fine example of thin onion is found in the rotunda of 

 the Temple Church, in London, from which oar illustration of 

 the Gothic 01 pointed arch ia taken. The Gothic arch, it will be 

 seen, occupies the chief position in the utructure. The Norman 

 or Romanesque arch, atill tuted, but declining, occupies only a 

 subordinate position in the upper portion of the building. 



The pointed arch was so picturesque in effect, and gave such 

 an entirely now and more suitable character to edifice* for 

 religious worship, that, as we hare said, but a very little time 

 elapsed before the Norman style was entirely superseded by 



this earlier develop- 

 ment of the Gothic. 

 With the round 

 arch, the short and 

 heavy pillars on 

 which it had rested 

 now disappeared, 

 and were substi- 

 tuted by tall and 

 slender columns. 

 The aules were 

 thrown up to a 

 greater height; 

 loftier and more im- 

 pressive vistas were 

 thus produced ; the 

 small and thick-set 

 Norman windows 

 gave place to others, 

 long and narrow, 

 and pointed like the 

 Gothic arch itself; 

 and the mouldings 

 introduced for orna- 

 ment took a more 

 refined and graceful 

 form. 



The Early Eng- 

 lish form of Gothic 

 architecture was 

 succeeded in the 

 thirteenth century 

 by the Decorated 

 style, which pre- 

 vailed throughout 

 the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. In this, as 

 the name implies, 

 the ornamentation 

 was more profuse, 

 and it was also more 

 graceful. It is, per- 

 haps, the finest pe- 

 riod of Gothic archi- 

 tecture in this coun- 

 try, as the style, 

 while rich in beauty, 

 had not become toe 

 florid, is it did at a 

 lut -r date. Hence 



the term "pure Gothic" is sometimes applied to the architec- 

 ture of this period. 



The Decorated style of the fourteenth century was succeeded 

 by the Perpendicular period, which endured through the fif- 

 teenth century and a portion of the sixteenth. The tracery of 

 the doors and windows now consisted chiefly of perpendicular 

 lines, the pointed arches of the doorways often being inserted 

 in square compartments. The ornaments introduced in this 

 period are more varied but less tasteful than in the Decorated 

 style. But the fine open wooden roofs which are found in some 

 of the Perpendicular churches, and the still more striking stone 

 roofs of Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster and King's College 

 Chapel at Cambridge both belonging to this period most 

 always challenge admiration. A description of the chief details 

 characteristic of the different styles, and of the various internal 

 features of a church, will form the subject of another paper. 



