208 EVOLUTION* Otf THE COUNTRY CHURCHES. 



General Notes on the Architecture of the Country 

 Churches of Guernsey. 



In the course of my wanderings round the country churches, 

 and the consequent examination of the details of each one, a few 

 points presented themselves to me as being worthy of notice. 



One point was : Who were the actual builders of our Churches ? 

 and my answer to this question is that the nucleus in all cases 

 even of the Vale Church was a small plain building built by 

 local hands, and that the general view of the original church 

 was very much like one of our older farm houses, minus of 

 course the chimney stacks which were replaced at one end, the 

 eastern, by a window and at the western by a door. The windows 

 were square headed, just of the same pattern we see everywhere, 

 with a stone lintel, plain coigns, and a plain stone cill. 

 Sometimes but not always the angles of the windows were 

 chamfered and rarely moulded and no tracery was to be found 

 in any : in fact it was hardly necessary as the widest window 

 did not exceed three feet. I will return to these windows when 

 I deal with the details of the structure. 



The additions necessitated by the growth of population 

 were generally a production of local craftsmen. The rude arches 

 we see in most of the Churches, built for strength and not for 

 appearance, many times stronger than necessary, due to the 

 ignorance of the early builders of strains and stresses, all show 

 this, and in some cases such as at the Catel and St. Sampson's, 

 the whole fabric was due to the work of local craftsmen. It 

 is true that the east windows and gables show signs of skilled 

 handicraft, but it is not at all unlikely that this part being the 

 most venerated part of the structure was imported piece by piece 

 from France and that the general body of the church was made 

 an annexe to the eastern gable. It is certain that inside St. 

 Sampson's church there is not a single moulding or feature with 

 traces of craftsmanship and only one column at the Catel church. 

 I do not refer in this case to details such as piscinae or other 

 minor additions which can be added at any time, but to details 

 which form part of the body of the church. 



The country churches as far as craftsmanship is concerned 

 are divided into three groups. 



The first group contains one church only, the Vale, which 

 stands unique amongst our country churches, as being the work 



