1S46.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



23!? 



interlaced arches springinj; from duplicate columns, and above is a corbel 

 table cornice, with the corbels carved intoheads, some of which are in good 

 preservation. The whole is finished by a pyramidical apex. 



"The second story of the Tower is pierced by two blank arches, each 

 enclosing a small duplicate arch, which served as lights to a small gallery, 

 constructed within the thickness of the wall, to permit iif ihe warder's ob- 

 serving what might be going on in the town, 'i^hese lights, wiih the ex- 

 ception of a small loophole in each, were blocked up till Mr. Cottingham's 

 survey, when they were opened, and now add u)uch lo the beauty of the 

 fa9acle. Vilhin the tower on this story, and near lo the western piers, are 

 small doorways on the north and south sides, which communicated by a 

 few steps, still remaining, with the parapet of the embattfed wall that sur- 

 rounded the entire groumls of the Abbey, Their position is indicated on 

 the north and south faces of the tower, liy simicircular apertures in small 

 flat buttresses. There must have been an unbroken communicatiim along 

 Ihe whole line of the Ahbatial walls, and these doorways show where the 

 warders enieredfrom the noiili, and passed to the south battlements. They 

 also render it certain that there must origmully have been a floor, in a line 

 with the string-course, over the arcliway ; and the contrivance by which it 

 was thrown across was developed during a recent survey, by Mr. Cotting- 

 hani. Equilateral spaces were left in tiie ashlaring on one side, for the in- 

 sertion of the floor-beams, and on the other side were obhuig spaces, be- 

 tween two and three feet high, into w liich the beaius were dropped to their 

 level. This plan of flooring furnished the old builders with great facilities 

 for the repair of the floor; and avoided the necessily for those unsightly 

 trusses introduced in modern carpentry. The architraves of the two front 

 arches in this story exhibit some unusual and very beautiful mouldings, 

 with a kind of arabesque and chain work, of a rare and singularly rich 

 character. The masonry above the duplicate arches is oruamented by rows 

 of small cones, resembling sugar loaves. 



" The third story exhibits an arcade of three arches, divided into two 

 stories by a plain transom running through the whole. The lower story is 

 decorated by a duplicate blank arcade ornamented by a net-work. The 

 bases of the two central pillars have groups of caried heads on their faces, 

 and those of the lateral pillars exhibit a single head. 



"The fourth story has an arcade of three lights with a circular panel in 

 ecah base. The architrave is plain. Immediately above this arcade is the 

 tile string-course marking the line of the embattlements, which ai'e pre- 

 sumed to be the original finishing. 



" The ascent to the embattlements is by a circular stone staircase in the 

 north-west pier ; entered through a narrow doorway in the north wall, 

 which was origiually approached by an external flight of steps." 



In speaking of the manner of flooring the second story, the writer tells 

 lis in a note that in one of the caissons for the ends of the floor-beams, Ihe 

 workmen found the perfect mummy of a cat, who had probably taken re- 

 fuge there when the building was in the course of erection, and had been 

 immured by "the ignorance or wantonness of a Norman mason." By the 

 licence of an abominable figure of speech, Ihe caisson in which puss was 

 found is termed a cafacomb. Mention being made of a resica piscis, sup- 

 posed to have formerly adorned the great arch, the following account of 

 Ihe term is given in a note, page 4. 



'• The " Oxford Glossary" describes the vesica piscis *' as a mystical 

 figure, of a pointed oval or egg-shaped form, originating in the figure of a 

 fish, one of the most ancient (Jhristian symbols, emblematically signilicant 

 of the word 'x^vs, which contained the initial letters of the name and titles 

 of our Saviour. The symbolic representation of a fish we find sculptured 

 on s(Mne of liie s^irropliagi of the early Christians, [who, Tertulliau says, 

 called themselves t*isciculi, considering that the Christian life commenced 

 in the waters of baptism] discovered in the catacombs at Home; but the 

 actual figure of Ihe fish afierwards gave place to an oval-shaped compart- 

 iiu'ut, pointed at both extremities, bearing the same mystic signification as 

 Ihe fish itself, and formed by two circles intersecting each other in the cen- 

 tre. This was the must comnmn symbol used in the middle ages." In 

 this country it is loiind in a variety of positions, and of various dimensions, 

 both in stone and on painted glass. It is lo lie seeu over many Norman 

 doorways enclosing the figure of Christ ; in the form of certain windows, 

 as in the beautiful chancel window at Mildenhall parish Church ; in the 

 shiipe of Ihe seals of religious houses; and to it some writers have attri- 

 buted the origin of the pointed style of .4.rchitecture. French antiquaries 

 see nothing in this oval but "a glory;' and IM. Didrou says the term 

 "■ tecisii piscis," which was invented, and is abused, by English antiquaries, 

 ought to be repudiated for its grossness. The term, however, is spoken of 

 by Albert Diirer, at the commencement of the IGth century as one well 

 understood at that time. An interesting paper on this subject, from Ihe 

 pen of Mr. George Godwin, Jun., F.K.S., illustrated by various examples 

 of its use, will be found in the Civil Enginter und Architect's Journal, for 

 April 1842." 



The attempt to derive the forms of arches and plans of churches from the 

 form of the bladder of a fish was made by Mr. Kerrich, of Cambridge, in 

 the Archa;ologia. The able pamphlet from which the preceding extracts 

 are made is, we believe, written by Mr. Tymms, the secretary to the Re- 

 storation Committee, to whom we are indebted for the wood-cut at the 

 head of this paper. 



RAILWAY SYSTEM. 



The following extract is taken from the Evidence of Mr. Cuhitt before 

 the Select Committee of the House of Lords. Instead of recommending 

 for general adoption the gauge of those railways in which he himself ij 

 particularly interested, Mr. Cubitt appears to view the question on its 

 general merits. 



I think an uniform gauge might be made throughout the kingdom, 

 which will be better than either of the present gauges, and at a very mo- 

 derate cost ; at a cost which would be scarcely felt by the railway com- 

 panies. 



Can you make any sort of estimate of what the expense of the altera- 

 tion would be? — Not a decided estimate what it would cost to alter the 

 gauges; but I could stale a minimum and a maximum. I would say it 

 would cost from £500 lo £1,000 per mile to alter Ihe gauges. That is not 

 a large sum. 



Will you state how you would propose to alter the gauges? — It is a 

 thing very easy to do practically; but liicre is a little to be cleared away 

 first. Almost all persons think, or are taught by a certain class of persons 

 to think, that if we were to alter the narrow gauge to a wider gauge it 

 would be necessary to alter the existing bridges and tunnels, and soon, 

 through which the carriages pass. Now that is not at all necessary ; the 

 carriages on the Birmingham line, and the generality of carriages almost, 

 are sudiciently large for any gauge whatever ; their post ofiice carriages, 

 and their large horse boxes, and the very largest trucks, are suflicieiitly 

 wide for any gauge that could be a fair workable gauge. They are big 

 enough for the wide gauge, for I believe their post olTice carriages are as 

 large as the Great Western passenger carriages. That being premised, it 

 will be evident that if we take for example the large carriages ot the Lon- 

 don and Birmingham Railway, which now pass upon that line through the 

 bridges and tunnels, and pass within a certain distance of each other, and 

 pass safely, you have only to suppose the carriages to remain uumoved 

 sideways, and simply to imagine that the wheels are slipped right and 

 left, brought out a little, about six or eight inches. A six feet gauge would 

 work with the wheels set within the breadth of liiose large carriages, and 

 the carriages would run exartly in the track as tliey did before. Conse- 

 quently if you do that there is no necessity for any alteration of the tun- 

 nels, &c., about which so much objection is luade. If we want to make 

 the gauge wider, we have only to bring the rails out about eight inches ou 

 each side, and there is still pleuty of room. 

 You only alter Ihe under carriage? — Yes. 



You put Ihe wheels at a greater distance ? — Yes; and the wheels will 

 still be within the width of the carriages. Therefore, as the carriages 

 pass each other now at a certain distance, they will still coulinue to pass 

 each other at the same distance. The gauge will be a better gauge, aud it 

 will enable us lo bring Ihe centre of gravity of the engine lower down, us 

 well as lo widen the gauge. 



Do you consider that the bringing the centre of gravity of tlie engine 

 lower is a very important point for safety ? — Yes ; but that has never been 

 done yet. 



And practically the carriages now in use upon the narrow gauge are of 

 such a width as to allow of that operation .' — Yes. Since this thing lia^ 

 been rather more upon my mind I have given particular attention to it. I 

 have now ihe prospect of having some control over nearly 1,000 miles of 

 railway between the north aud south, in large and direct lines, and I should 

 be most happy if I could see my way open to improve the gauge which 

 might be udupled in the first instance. 



Vou have staled that there is no difficulty as to bridges and tunnels ; is 

 there any as to embankments? — There is no difficulty as to embaukmeuts ; 

 no carriage overliaugs the embankments. 



It ought not lo do so? — I believe it never does. The means of widen- 

 ing that I should employ would be very simple. The rails are almost all 

 laid upon cross sleepers or upon stone blocks; now witli respect to those 

 which are laid upon cross sleepers, it has been stated that it would cost a 

 great deal to alter the railway because of the cost of taking it up and re- 

 laying it altogether. Now I will undertake lo widen the gauge, if the 

 road is in good order, iu a very little lime and at very little cost, and wiih- 

 out disturbing a single rail on its chair, or a single chair iu its sleeper. I 

 should simply cut with a saw through the sleeper in the middle of llie 

 liue, and just put each out eight inches, and then nail a short piece of 

 wood in to connect the two parts of the sleeper. The thing would cost 

 very little to do. 



Would that leave you with a trustworthy sleeper? — Yes. And we will 

 take the case of stone blocks. A great many miles of some of our great- 

 est lines are laid with stone blocks ; simply a small block upon the bal- 

 last. They will only want removing six or eight luches out. 



The alteration, at all events, of the permanent way could be made with- 

 out stopping the traffic? — Cerlainly. I am now going to relay a line en- 

 tirely ; a new set of rails and fixtures altogether, and I shall not stop the 

 traffic ; yet there are 80 trains a day on that line, or 40 each way. 

 Where is that ? From London lo Croydon. 



Do you consider that there is room for great improvement in the perma- 

 nent way ? — The permanent way is the most defective part of the railway 

 system. 



Are not many of the rails that hare been laid down upon the lines at 

 prtsent at work loo light? — The rails are, many of them, too light ; but we 



