By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A. 131 



Saxon ceremonial for the dedication of a Church, in Archseologia, 

 vol. xxv., p. 251. 



The height of the walls is also remarkable. In the bema or apse 

 the height from floor to wall plate is 15ft. 5in. In the choros or 

 chancel, 15ft. Din. In the nave, 18ft. 7|in. Smallness and loftiness 

 are characteristics of many Eastern Churches of early date, and also 

 of the little Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts, which has 

 external ornament resembling some Eastern Ch arches. 



It should be noted that the square east end of the little Saxon 

 Church at Bradford is no proof of a later date, nor is the apsidal end 

 of Manningford Bruce in itself a proof of earlier date. Both types 

 co-existed from the earliest ages of Christianity. 



Texier, in his Byzantine Church Architecture, points out that the 

 Christian Church formed out of the Temple of Rome and Augustus 

 at Ancyra, the capital of Galatia, in Asia Minor, is the earliest 

 known example of a square east end, and that this type was common 

 at a very early date in Britain and France, both which countries 

 had a special connection with Galatia, but not in Italy, where the 

 Basilican and apsidal type generally prevailed. The Churches de- 

 picted in the Utrecht Psalter have square east ends. 



Texier's words are: "The usual custom in Greek Churches was 

 to make the apse circular on plan. Since the reign of Justinian 

 this rule had been departed from but little. This apse was generally 

 lighted by three windows, in honour of the Holy Trinity. 1 Here, 

 however, the chancel has a square instead of a semi-circular termi- 

 nation, and this is the most ancient example known of the square 

 east end, of which it is difficult to cite a single example in Italy, 

 but which became common in Normandy and England in the 

 eleventh and twelfth centuries." 3 



Paradoxical as the statement may seem, the small and lofty 

 Churches of Manningford Bruce, Bradford, and the East, were able 

 to accommodate as many worshippers as modern Churches of twice 

 their size, and for this reason, that the very early Churches were 



1 Codimus. Description of Saint Sophia. 

 2 Texier, Byzantine Architecture, p. 91 ; London, Day & (Son, 1864. 



