88 The Architecture of Malmesbury Abbey Church. 



west end of the nave. Of the great doorway a portion of the 

 jamb, which is very rich, is all that remains ; but we can see that 

 a Perpendicular doorway, with a flat head and spandril, was inserted 

 within the Norman opening. We may partly infer from this that 

 the latter had a tympanum ? 



Side Doorways. — The magnificent Norman porch on the south 

 side of the church is probably the feature for which Malmesbury 

 Abbey is most celebrated ; but, as a work rather of sculpture than 

 of architecture, it is the very portion which comes least within my 

 province. Happily the remarkable, I might almost say beautiful, 

 series of sculptures with which it is adorned, have been elaborately 

 treated by Professor Oockerell, in his work on the Sculptures of 

 Wells Cathedral. In my point of view, the outer doorway is 

 simply a grander specimen of the same form as the west door of 

 Iflley, where, instead of legitimate shafts with capitals, we have 

 large continuous bowtels, covered with sculptures. The inner 

 doorway has a sculptured tympanum, and there are also sculptured 

 figures on the sides. There are arches traced out for vaulting, 

 which seems not to have been added. There is a smaller Norman 

 doorway in the extreme east bay on the north side, which led into 

 the cloister. 



The Lantern. — Of the arches under the tower, the northern and 

 western ones remain perfect ; the latter of course being blocked, as 

 the church now terminates at that point. The northern arch is 

 now quite free, except at the north-west angle, and it forms a most 

 striking object especially in the ascent to the abbey from th e lower 

 part of the town. This part of the church should be attentively 

 studied. The choir was doubtless, as is usual in Norman minsters, 

 under the lantern, and this ritual consideration has had some effect 

 upon the architecture. As is so often the case, the eastern and 

 western arches have as little projection in the pier as possible, the 

 shafts being recessed, something in the same way as the curious 

 ones at Leonard Stanley. 1 But on the north and south sides, it 



_ 1 See Mr. Petit's description of that church in the Archaeological Journal, vol. 

 vi., p. 45. I was also struck by the resemblance between the monsters forming 

 the label terminations at Malmesbury and Stanley. 



