ENGLISH MEDIAEVAL ARCHITECTURE. 167 



other conclusion than that these too are of the same 

 period as that ascribed to the one at Wolverhampton, 

 namely, Early Norman. That they are of Christian origin 

 there can be no doubt, but as our sketch is to be a 

 general and not a detailed one, I will say no more now 

 of these particular works except to remind again, as I 

 have done before, any of our friends who may come from 

 Leek, that against the eastern wall of their churchyard 

 lie, I will not say uncared for, but certainly subject to 

 the will of any one inclined to be mischievous, relics of 

 the past not less than 800 years old, relics as interesting 

 to the antiquary as anything that can be named as belonging 

 to this county. In mentioning this I cling to the hope 

 that the question may be raised in Leek whether it would 

 not be worth the while of those justly proud of their 

 town and of those zealously interested in their church to 

 consider the propriety of re-erecting these ancient monu- 

 ments. 



I have said that the period over which I propose to 

 travel this evening embraces about five centuries, and 

 the first fact I wish to impress upon you is, that during 

 the whole of this time, not only in England but in the 

 greater part of western Europe, but one style of archi- 

 tecture prevailed, namely, that which is now commonly 

 known as Gothic ; and this uniformity of style not only 

 extended to the larger cities and towns but also to 

 every village and indeed to every building that was 

 erected, whether ecclesiastical or civil, throughout the land. 

 In those days there was no difficulty as to the choice 

 of styles. Travellers had not then brought their sketches, 

 nor persuaded their countrymen to the adoption of their 

 fancies from Egypt, China, Greece, or Rome, but as 



