180 ENGLISH MEDIAEVAL ARCHITECTURE. 



It remains for me now to draw your attention to the 

 Windows. These in Norman times almost invariably had 

 rounded arches and were of single lights, the glass being 

 placed very near to the external face of the wall and the 

 internal thickness was widely splayed, sometimes enriched 

 with shafts, as at Tutbury. The Early English window 

 was that known as the lancet, following in principle its- 

 predecessor in having wide internal splays and its glass 

 near to the outer face, the arched head being of course 

 pointed and not round. These lancets were either single 

 or were placed two or three or more together. The 

 chancels of Eccleshall and Brewood have good examples 

 of these windows. Also those of Gayton, and of Pat- 

 tingham and Croxden, of which we have drawings here. 

 The conjunction of these lancet windows' gave rise to 

 those used in the next period. A very interesting example 

 of this transition is afforded by a fragment from Stoke 

 old church, which I happened to meet with amongst broken 

 materials forming the foundation of a hay-stack not far 

 from the town. You will see by this sketch that the 

 process of change has been thus : Two lancet lights have 

 been brought together with only a slight division (called 

 a mullion) between them, and in the space between the 

 arches of their heads a sunk panel has been formed. A 

 similar window to this occurs in the monks' room over a 

 north chapel at Clifton Campville, of which we also have 

 a drawing. The next step was to pierce this panel and 

 glaze it, and then we arrive at once at the two-light 

 Decorated window, as at Swinnerton. Having a window 

 constructed in this way, the multiplication of its lights 

 followed as a matter of course, and the tracery in their 

 heads gradually became developed. At first it was treated 

 in simple geometrical forms and plainly, as at Swinnerton. 



