234 OLD PORTLAND. 



Godwin, and that it stood on the site of the Norman church 

 of S. Andrew. The only evidence suggested, however, is a 

 portion of " Saxon " work in the north wall of the chancel of 

 the ruined Norman building, and this evidence by itself is 

 very inconclusive. Indeed, until we reach the Norman 

 period we do not really touch solid ground as far as the 

 church history of the Island is concerned. 



Who built the Norman Church of S. Andrew ? The 

 Manor of Portland in Henry I.'s reign and until the year 1296 

 belonged to the Priory at Winchester (it had belonged to the 

 Church of Winchester for a few years in Saxon times), and 

 the monks of S. Swithun may not at this time have been too 

 occupied to take some care for the spiritual needs of their 

 tenantry here. The Norman church was certainly built in 

 the main of Portland stone, although in " Coker's Survey of 

 Dorset " (c. 1630) the stone is stated to have come from Caen, 

 and there are one or two Norman carved fragments still 

 existing which cannot be distinguished from the famous 

 stone of Normandy. The Conqueror, the father of Rufus, 

 was buried at S. Stephen's Abbey, Caen, which he had 

 founded ; the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, 

 who crowned Rufus, was formerly Abbot of Caen ; the 

 Norman Bishop of Salisbury, Roger, a great church-builder, 

 who was Henry I.'s Chancellor, hailed from Caen. Had the 

 monks of Caen, indirectly, a little finger in the church at 

 Portland ? 



What do we know of the Norman church ? It seems to 

 have been erected later than, and near to, Rufus Castle, in 

 order to enjoy its protection. Judging from the ruins, 

 the church was a long narrow edifice, low-built but distinctly 

 well-built in Norman style, consisting of a square-ended 

 chancel with an east window, and nave with a porch and door- 

 way on the south side, and a small narrow side-aisle also on 

 the south side. The chancel-arch appears to have been of a 

 little later date, in the Transition Norman style, and therefore 

 not earlier than 1135. The windows would have been small 

 and placed high up in the Avails, but these had to be rebuilt 



