* 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 ON 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. T. WARTON, 
 REV. J. BENTHAM, 
 CAPTAIN GROSE, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 REV. J. MILNER. 
 
 ( WITH A LETTER TO THE PUBLISHER. J 
 
 \ 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 TWELVE PLATES OF ORNAMENTS, &c. 
 
 SELECTED FROM 
 
 ancient 'Builtrinpf; 
 
 CALCULATED TO 
 
 EXHIBIT THE VARIOUS STYLES OF DIFFERENT PERIODS, 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 A LIST OF THE CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND, WITH THEIR 
 
 DIMENSIONS. 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 Et nos aliquod nomenque decusque 
 
 Oessimus — Virgil. JEn. lib, 0$ 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. TAYLOR, AT THE ARCHITECTURAL LIBRARY, 
 HIGH HOLBORN. 
 
 1808. 
 
» - 
 
 Printed by Barlow and Child, 
 S, Knowlest Court, Little Carter Lane. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 PUBLIC approbation having rendered a 
 Second Edition of these Essays necessary, 
 the opportunity has been embraced of ren- 
 dering the volume further interesting and use- 
 ful, by the addition of two new plates, and 
 the dimensions of all the Cathedrals in Eng- 
 land. Of the plates, one is an interior view 
 of Durham cathedral, from a drawing by 
 Mr. Turner; the other, of Westminster 
 Abbey, from a drawing by Mr. Barrow. The 
 points of view here shewn are intended to 
 exhibit the difference of character and effect 
 Of the circular and of the pointed styles of 
 ancient English architecture, 
 
 Durham cathedral is justly considered one 
 of the best and purest specimens of the early, 
 
 a 
 
*1V ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 circular, or Saxon style. This view, taken 
 from near the west entrance, looking down 
 the nave towards the east, exhibits an inte- 
 resting specimen of circular arches springing 
 from massive round pillars, decorated with 
 appropriate ornaments, the zig-zag, billet, 
 Sec. 
 
 The view in Westminster Abbey is taken 
 from near the principal entrance into the 
 choir, looking up the great aisle or nave ; and 
 shews the lightness of highly-pointed arches, 
 springing from slender clustered columns, 
 from which issue mouldings and ribs fanci- 
 fully spreading over the adjoining parts and 
 the vault of the roof. A view is also given 
 of the elegant tracery and magnificence of 
 the great western window. 
 
 An attentive inspection and comparison of 
 these prints will give a pretty clear and accu- 
 rate idea of the two styles, in which consist 
 the distinguishing characters of our ancient 
 architecture. 
 
 The measurements of the Cathedrals, it is 
 
TO THE SECOND EDITION. *V 
 
 presumed, will be particularly acceptable; 
 their real or comparative magnitude is very 
 interesting, and is closely connected with our 
 ideas of the grand and sublime: I know of 
 no book in which the same can be found 
 entire. For ease of consulting, they are 
 arranged alphabetically; and every endea- 
 vour has been used to be accurate in the 
 dimensions, which have been taken princi- 
 pally from Willis's Survey of the Cathedrals, 
 and the Mitred Abbies: however, every sub- 
 sequent authority has been examined, and 
 every possible inquiry amongst an extensive 
 acquaintance has been exercised; so that it is 
 presumed the measurements may be relied 
 upon with considerable certainty, and from 
 which the absolute or comparative magni- 
 tude of any of our Cathedrals may easily be 
 known. 
 
 The regular Cathedrals only of England 
 are noticed in this list, with the exception of 
 Westminster Abbey, which, for its elegance 
 and magnitude, it would have been unjust to 
 
 a 2 
 
*vi ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 have omitted: if needful, it may be pleaded 
 it was once numbered among our Cathedrals. 
 The dimensions of old St. Paul's, London, 
 are added, from Dugdale, as highly curious, 
 and without which the subject would not 
 have been complete. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE want of a concise historical account of 
 Gothic architecture has been a just cause of 
 complaint: the subject is peculiarly interesting 
 to every Englishman, as his country contains 
 the best specimens of a style of building not 
 unequal in grace, beauty, and ornament, to 
 the most celebrated remains of Greece or 
 Rome. This style of architecture may pro- 
 perly be called English architecture, for if it 
 had not its origin in this country, it certainly 
 arrived at maturity here 3 ; under the Saxon 
 dynasty this style of building was introduced, 
 
 a Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I 
 am highly gratified by a note which has appeared to the 
 account of Durham Cathedral, which accompanies the Plans, 
 &c. of that structure, published by the Antiquarian Society. 
 *' It is much to be wished that the word Gothic should not 
 be used in speaking of the architecture of England, from the 
 thirteenth to the sixteenth century. The term tends to give 
 false ideas on the subject, and originates with the Italian 
 writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ; who applied 
 the expression of ' La Maniera Gotica,' in contempt to all 
 the works of art of the middle ages. 
 
 " From these writers it was borrowed by Sir Christopher 
 Wren, the first English writer who has applied it to English 
 architecture. There is very little doubt that the light and 
 elegant style of building, whose principal and characteristic 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and under the Norman dynasty it received 
 its ultimate degree of beauty and perfection. 
 
 To remedy this want of a convenient ma- 
 nual on this interesting subject, it appeared 
 best to collect what had been already said by 
 several authors of celebrity, in detached 
 works, and which had been received as 
 authorities. In this view, the Rev. Mr. 
 Bentham's Essay on Saxon and Norman 
 architecture, in his elaborate History of Ely 
 Cathedral, stood foremost for selection, ar- 
 rangement, and accurate discrimination of 
 historical facts: next to this, Captain Grose's 
 Preface on Architecture to his Antiquities of 
 
 feature is the high-pointed arch struck from two centres, was 
 invented in this country: it is certain that it was here brought 
 to its highest state of perfection; and the testimonies of other 
 countries, whose national traditions ascribe their most beautiful 
 churches to English artists, adds great weight to this assertion, 
 and peculiar propriety to the term English, now proposed 
 to be substituted to the word Gothic. 
 
 " The architecture used by the Saxons is very properly 
 called Saxon. The improvements introduced after the Norman 
 Conquest, justify the application of Norman to the edifices of 
 that period. The nation assumed a new character about the 
 time of Henry II. The language, properly called English, 
 was then formed; and an architecture founded on the Norman 
 and Saxon, but extremely different from both, was invented 
 by English artists: it is, surely, equally just and proper to 
 distinguish this style by the honourable appellation of English. 
 This term will therefore be used instead of Gothic, in the 
 course of the work ; and it is hoped no English antiquary will 
 be offended at the substitution of an accurate and honourable 
 name, in the place of one which is both contemptuous and 
 inappropriate." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 England is to be valued; which, although 
 founded in a great degree on Mr. Bentham's 
 opinions, yet contains some new points and 
 authorities; in particular, his copious notes 
 will be found very interesting, and to contain 
 nearly all that has been said by Sir Christopher 
 Wren on the subject, which, being dispersed 
 through many pages of the Parentalia, could 
 not be given as a regular narrative. The con- 
 cise history by Professor Warton, in his notes 
 on Spenser's Fairy Queen, has received too 
 much applause to be neglected ; his words, 
 though few, are important on the subject* 
 To these the liberality of the Rev. Mr. Milner 
 has allowed me to add, for the gratification 
 of the public, the History of the origin and 
 progress of the pointed arch, lately published 
 by that gentleman, in his learned work on 
 the History and Antiquities of Winchester. 
 He also has been pleased to superintend the 
 selecting of the series of examples on Plates 
 VIII. IX. and X. which tend strongly to 
 corroborate the opinions he maintains. 
 
 This gentleman has further been pleased 
 to address to me an important letter, which 
 is given in this volume, in which the inquiring 
 antiquary will find many hints worthy his 
 deliberate attention, respecting an accurate 
 classification of styles, characters, and facts. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 whereby to ascertain dates, and on which 
 principle only can be accomplished that great 
 desideratum, the adopting such terms and 
 definitions as shall be applicable to the several 
 characters, and which consequently may be- 
 come of universal acceptance and usage. 
 The anxious enquirer also is kindly guarded 
 against certain errors which else he may be 
 led into, in perusing the productions of the 
 several celebrated pens now laid before him. 
 
 These Essays are arranged according to the 
 priority of their publication, that whoever 
 shall read the whole may receive the argu- 
 ments in the chronological order wherein they 
 have fallen from the pens of their several 
 writers. They are also printed without any 
 variation from the original texts: and to ren- 
 der this edition completely useful for refe- 
 rence, the pages of Mr. Bentham's quarto 
 volume are retained in this work. 
 
 By rendering the laborious researches of 
 these celebrated antiquaries on the ancient 
 architecture of England easy of access, and 
 at a small cost, it is hoped many persons who 
 are anxious for information on this interesting 
 subject, will be led to a higher relish for and 
 obtain more just ideas of a branch of anti- 
 quarian study peculiarly interesting to every 
 Englishman, whether considered historically 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 or nationally; for though many persons 
 eminent in the study of the arts may differ, 
 as taste or fancy inclines them, respecting the 
 inferior or superior grace and beauty of the 
 Gothic or Grecian styles of architecture, yet 
 few, very few, on entering the stupendous 
 fabrics of our pious ancestors, but have felt 
 and acknowledged their superior skill in pro- 
 ducing on the human mind those religious 
 and sublime ideas fully correspondent with 
 the holy intent of the structure. 
 
 It may be proper to say a word or two 
 respecting the title of this volume, Essays on 
 Gothic Architecture. In this instance, the 
 word Gothic is used, being, as I conceive, at 
 present more general and better understood 
 than any other, when applied to our ancient 
 architecture ; and as the motive for this selec- 
 tion is general information, it appeared neces- 
 sary to speak in language generally under- 
 stood: at the same time it is much to be 
 wished some term or terms more appropriate, 
 and of general use, were adopted, which 
 should convey correct ideas of this peculiar 
 species of architecture. The term Gothic 
 architecture does not occur in any of our 
 ancient historians, it must therefore be of 
 modern introduction; and it has been well 
 
ViU 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 conjectured by several eminent antiquaries 
 was applied solely for the purpose of casting 
 an opprobrious epithet on it, at the period of 
 introducing the Greek or Roman style into 
 this country ; and when the ancient religion 
 was to be exploded, so also was the ancient 
 style of its sacred edifices: the more appro- 
 priate terms, I conceive, would be, to call 
 that species of it distinguished by the circular 
 arch, Saxon, and that distinguished by the 
 pointed arch, Norman ; for under the guidanee 
 of these nations did each principally display 
 its grandeur and peculiarities. Mr. Milner 
 has endeavoured with some skill to ascertain 
 this point. There naturally will be much 
 blending of characters in the period, before 
 one style had completely taken the place of 
 the other. 
 
 Having no desire to shine in borrowed 
 plumes, it is necessary to say the subjects of 
 the first six plates are chiefly selected from 
 the delineations by Mr. Wilkins, of Cam- 
 bridge, as given by the learned Society of 
 Antiquaries, in the 12th volume of their 
 Archaeologia; of the accuracy of these repre- 
 sentations I have no doubt, and being taken 
 from really ancient examples, they appear 
 better calculated to convey correct ideas of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 the several ornaments and parts, characteristic 
 of the different periods and styles, than any 
 inventions possibly could be; besides which 
 they are representations of so many existing 
 specimens of antiquity, often exhibiting much 
 more than the mere part referred to. The 
 print of Bigod's tower is given to show entire 
 a beautiful example of the ancient circular 
 arch, or Saxon style, and that of the tower of 
 York cathedral, to show, in contrast, a beau- 
 tiful example of the more modern pointed 
 arch, or Norman style. 
 
 It may be of use to observe, that whoever 
 wishes to see a large assortment of both Saxon 
 and Norman ornaments will have much plea- 
 sure in examining the volume of Archaeologia, 
 whence these were taken. Many also of the 
 buildings referred to as authorities in the fol- 
 lowing Essays may be found delineated in 
 Mr. Carter's publication on the ancient archi- 
 tecture of England; a work of great research 
 and industry, in which the skill and taste of 
 our ancient builders will be handed down to 
 posterity in defiance of the destroying hands 
 of time, or modern innovators. The elegant 
 plates of the C^rnaments of York Cathedral, 
 by Mr. Halfpenny, afford a great variety of 
 curious and elegant examples of ornaments 
 in the florid style, accurately displayed, and 
 
 b 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 selected with taste. Of the same kind is the 
 work of Specimens of Gothic Ornaments, 
 selected from the Church of Lavenham in 
 Suffolk. Mr. Murphy's publication of the 
 Plans, Elevations, &c. of the Monastery of 
 Batalha in Portugal, will afford many accu- 
 rate and interesting examples, and much 
 important information to the inquiring anti- 
 quary b . 
 
 The selection here presented, it is hoped, 
 will be found fully sufficient to illustrate the 
 subject, and give clear ideas of the parts and 
 their peculiarities, as referred to by the several 
 writers. Thus, with an ordinary degree of 
 attention, it is hoped every person may obtain 
 clear notions on this subject, who perhaps 
 would not have bought, or even examined, 
 the costly and bulky works whence this little 
 volume has been extracted ; if so, it may be 
 hoped the mite of labour will not have been 
 bestowed in vain. 
 
 J. T. 
 
 b Since this volume was first published, an elegant and im- 
 portant work, on English Antiquities, has been published by 
 Mr. Britton, called <c The Architectural Antiquities of 
 England" which is well adapted to elucidate the reasoning 
 and observations contained in this volume. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE MEANS NECESSARY FOR FURTHER ILLUSTRATING 
 
 THE 
 
 Ecclesiastical Architecture of the Middle Ages, 
 
 IN 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 FROM THE REV. JOHN MILNER, M.A. F.S.A. 
 
 TO 
 
 MR. TAYLOR. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I CONGRATULATE the Public on jour 
 attempt to elucidate the architecture of the 
 middle ages, by the collection of Essays 
 which you are about to publish on this sub- 
 ject; and I cannot refrain from pointing out 
 to those antiquaries, who, like myself, delight 
 in this branch of their characteristical science, 
 certain matters, which seem to me particu- 
 larly deserving of their attention, for pro- 
 moting its progress, for fixing it on clear and 
 sure principles, and for furnishing artists with 
 rules to go by, when constructing and re- 
 pairing works in the style in question. 
 
 The first requisite for the better illustration 
 of this subject is, that those persons who 
 treat of it should come to a right under- 
 
 b 2 
 
Xll REV. J. MILNER S 
 
 standing, and agree in the use of the same 
 terms for conveying the same ideas relative to 
 it. In proof of the confusion which still pre- 
 vails on this subject among men who are most 
 conversant with it, I may refer to these Essays, 
 in one of which the celebrated cathedral of 
 Salisbury is declared to be, not properly a 
 Gothic structure 3 , while in two others it is as 
 positively asserted to be entirely Gothic b . 
 Again, one of these eminent authors testifies, 
 that " some writers call all our ancient archi- 
 tecture, without any distinction of round or 
 pointed arches, Gothic; though of late," he 
 adds, " the fashion has been to apply the 
 term solely to the latter c " The other has 
 much the same observation d ; and they both 
 agree in condemning the opprobrious term 
 Gothic, as applied to that " light, neat, and 
 elegant form of building, with arches pointed, 
 and pillars small and slender \" which, in fact, 
 was not invented until about 600 years after 
 
 a " The style which succeeded to this (the Saxon) was 
 not the absolute Gothic, or Gothic simply so called, but a 
 sort of Gothic Saxon, in which the pure Saxon began to 
 receive some tincture of the Saracen fashion. — In this style 
 is Salisbury cathedral." Warton's Essay, p. 4, 5. 
 
 b " The cathedral of Salisbury consists entirely of that 
 style which is now called (though I think improperly) 
 Gothic." ~Bentham's Essay, p. 73. " The present cathedral 
 of Salisbury is entirely in the Gothic style." Grose's Essay, 
 p. 116. 
 
 c Bentham's Essay, p. 74,75. 
 A Grose's Essay, p. 9-5. 
 e Bentham, p. 73, 74. 
 
LETTER. 
 
 xm 
 
 the Goths disappeared from the theatre of 
 the world. Finally, they all describe the 
 Saxon and the Norman styles as agreeing in 
 their form and differing only in their dimen- 
 sions^ whereas some ingenious and re- 
 spectable writers of the present day, by way 
 of, exploding the term Gothic, make use of 
 the word 'Norman, to signify the pointed style. 
 The confusion that must arise in the minds 
 of uninformed readers from the use of these 
 leading terms, in contradistinguished senses 
 by eminent writers, is easily conceived. My 
 present object, Sir, is merely to suggest the 
 necessity of an agreement amongst the learned 
 in the use of scientific language on the pre- 
 sent subject, and not to dictate the conditions 
 of that agreement. I flatter myself, however, 
 that, : when speaking of that light and elegant 
 species of architecture which properly began 
 in the reign of our first Plantagenet, and 
 finished in that of our first Tudor, I call it 
 the pointed style ; and when describing this, 
 in conjunction with the heavy circular Order 
 which preceded it, in the time of the Saxons 
 and first Normans, I term them both together, 
 the architecture of the middle ages, I say, I 
 flatter myself that I am clearly understood by 
 persons of information, and that the subjects 
 
 f Warton, p. 4. Bentham, p. 61, 62, 63, 64. Grose, 
 p, 100. 
 
xiv 
 
 REV. J. MILNEE's 
 
 themselves are characteristically denomi- 
 nated. 
 
 The next point which, I think, requires to 
 be clearly ascertained amongst architectural 
 antiquaries is, the true origin of the pointed 
 style. I have already exposed in part the 
 absurdity and contradictions into which those 
 persons fall who derive it from the Goths and 
 Vandals of the North, or from the Saracens 
 of the East, or, finally, from the Moors of 
 the West, rather than admit our own an- 
 cestors to have been capable of inventing it. 
 I shall farther observe, that whatsoever has 
 been advanced in support of any one of these 
 systems, is the produce of mere conjecture, 
 without a shadow of any kind of historical 
 evidence. For example, we no where read 
 of any architect from Arabia, Morocco, or 
 Spain, arriving in England, France, or Italy, 
 to teach the inhabitants how to construct 
 their churches : nor do we hear of any English- 
 man, Frenchman, or Italian, that ever tra- 
 velled into those countries in order to learn 
 architecture. But we find, on the other hand, 
 such an emulation amongst the prelates and 
 princes of the times in question, in our own 
 and the neighbouring countries, but chiefly 
 in our own, to outvie each other in the mas:-, 
 nificence and beauty of their buildings ; par- 
 ticularly of the ecclesiastical kind; and such 
 
LETTER. 
 
 XV 
 
 encouragement held out to architects and 
 artists of this country, that it would be extra- 
 ordinary if these were productive of no new 
 inventions or improvements in the various 
 branches of architecture. In a word, Sir, I 
 think it plain, that even Mr. Warton, who 
 follows Sir Christopher Wren s confused and 
 prejudiced account of this matter 5 , confutes 
 his own system whilst he demonstrates, as 
 Bentham and Grose also do, the slow and 
 regular degrees by which this species of archi- 
 tecture rose up and attained to perfection 
 amongst ourselves, instead of being imported 
 in any regular shape from a foreign country. 
 Lastly, Sir, I flatter myself that the essay 
 which you have honoured with insertion in 
 the present collection, taken from my History 
 
 £ To' show how ill-informed this celebrated architect was 
 in the history of the structures of the middle ages, I may 
 remind the learned reader of his ascribing the buildings of 
 St. Cross and Winchester cathedral to the Saxons *< before 
 the Conquest/' p. 60; likewise of his denying the said people 
 the use of glass for their windows, ibid. : and ascribing the 
 invention of tracery work to the necessity there was " of dis- 
 posing the mullions for the better fixing in of glass," which, he 
 says, then, viz. at the end of the thirteenth century, " began to 
 be used in windows," p. 105, 14. See also p. 32. Finally, to 
 prove the confusion of his ideas on this subject, I may mention, 
 that he himself ascribes the invention of the pointed order to 
 the Arabian Mahometans, when they overturned a great part 
 of the Eastern empire, and began to build their mosques and 
 caravanseries, in the seventh and eighth centuries, p. 104; and 
 that he nevertheless cites Mr. Evelyn in support of his system, 
 who asserts, that this same « fantastical light species of 
 building," as he is pleased to call it, "was introduced by the 
 Goths and Vandals of the North, when they subverted the, 
 Western empire two centuries earlier !" p. 106, 
 
xvi 
 
 REV. J. MILXER's 
 
 and Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester, 
 places this fact in anew and still clearer light, 
 while it shews how the successive members 
 and ornaments of this style of architecture 
 grew out of others which preceded them, and 
 that the adoption of the pointed arch was, as 
 it were, the parent germ which produced the 
 whole system. 
 
 The most curious and interesting fact, 
 however, in my opinion, for the investigation 
 of architectural antiquaries, is, to ascertain 
 the true principles of the Sublime and Beau- 
 tiful, as applied to those sacred fabrics which 
 are the undoubted masterpieces and glory of 
 the pointed order. It is in vain that Sir 
 Christopher Wren and Mr. Evelyn, who are 
 eited in the notes, page 106, stigmatize these 
 structures, as being " congestions of heavy, 
 dark, melancholy, monkish piles, without any 
 just proportion, use, or beauty/' For it is 
 confessedly true, that every man who has an 
 eye to see, and a soul to feel, on entering into 
 York minster and Chapter-house, or into 
 King's college or Windsor chapel, or into the 
 cathedrals of Lincoln or Winchester, is irre- 
 sistibly struck with mingled impressions of 
 awe and pleasure, which no other buildings 
 are capable of producing; and however he 
 may approve of the Grecian architecture for 
 the purposes of civil and social life, yet he 
 
LETTER, 
 
 XVil 
 
 instinctively experiences in the former a frame 
 of mind that fits him for prayer and contem- 
 plation, which all the boasted regularity and 
 magnificence of Sir Christopher's and the 
 nation's pride, I mean St. Paul's cathedral, 
 cannot communicate, at least in the same 
 degree. 
 
 To explain in detail the principles on which 
 the above-mentioned effects are produced, 
 would be to describe the whole structure of 
 an ancient cathedral ; and, at the same time, 
 to form the best panegyric on the architects 
 who raised them. This, however, it is not 
 my present intention to do, but merely to 
 enumerate a few of these principles which 
 are more obvious. In the first place, then, it 
 is well known that height and length are 
 amongst the primary sources of the Sublime*: 
 it is equally agreed that these are the propor- 
 tions which our ancient architects chiefly af- 
 fected in their religious structures. But be- 
 sides the real effect of these proportions, which 
 were generally carried as far as they were 
 capable of, the mind was farther impressed by 
 an artificial height and length, which were the 
 natural produce of the style employed. For 
 the aspiring form of the pointed arches, the 
 lofty pediments, and the tapering pinnacles 
 with which our cathedrals are adorned, con- 
 
 h See Burke's Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful* 
 
XV111 
 
 REV. J. MILNER S 
 
 tribute perhaps still more to give an idea of 
 height than their real elevation. In like man- 
 ner, the perspective of uniform columns, ribs, 
 and arches, repeated at equal distances, as 
 they are seen in the aisles of those fabrics, 
 produces an artificial infinite in the mind of 
 the spectator \ when the same extent of plain 
 surface would perhaps hardly affect it at all \ 
 For a similar reason, I think the effect of the 
 ancient cathedrals is greatly helped by the 
 variety of their constituent parts and orna- 
 ments, though I suppose them all to be ex- 
 ecuted in one uniform style. The eye is 
 quickly satiated by any object, however great 
 and magnificent, which it can take in all at 
 once, as the mind is with what it can com- 
 pletely comprehend; but when the former, 
 having wandered through the intricate and 
 interminable length of a pointed vault in an 
 
 1 See Burke's Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful. 
 
 k This observation on the artificial infinite does not apply 
 to the modern practice of destroying the altar-screen of cathe- 
 drals, and taking the Lady chapel into the grand perspective of 
 them. For, first, a vista, by being too long drawn, destroys 
 its proper effect, as Burke proves. Secondly, it is essential 
 that the objects of sight, which are repeated for the above- 
 mentioned purpose, should be uniform in their appearance ; 
 otherwise the illusion is destroyed, and intellectual disorder 
 and pain ensues, instead of pleasure. Now this inevitably 
 happens in the case under consideration, where the eye, shoot- 
 ing down the vista, perceivs the great columns and lofty arches 
 of the nave shrink all at once into the slender shafts and low 
 vaulting of the said Lady chapel. See a work on this subject,, 
 entitled, A Dissertation on the modern Style of altering 
 ancient Cathedrals. Nichols. 
 
LETTER. 
 
 xix 
 
 ancient cathedral, discovers two parallel aisles 
 of equal length and richness with it; thence 
 proceeding, discovers the transepts, the side 
 chapels, the choir, the sanctuary, and the 
 Lady chapel, all equally interesting for their 
 design and execution, and all of them calcu- 
 lated for different purposes, the eye, I say, in 
 these circumstances, is certainly much more 
 entertained, and the mind more dilated and 
 gratified, than can possibly be effected by any 
 single view, even though our modern archi- 
 tects should succeed in their attempts to make 
 one entire sweep of the contents of a cathe- 
 dral, in order to shew it all at a single view, 
 and to make one vast empty room of the 
 whole. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to dwell upon the 
 effect of that solemn gloom which reigns in 
 these venerable structures, from the studied 
 exclusion of too glaring a light, or upon that 
 glowing effect produced by appropriate paint- 
 ing and carving in the windows, and other 
 parts of them, or upon the essential beauty 
 and just proportions in which they are raised, 
 where the infinite variety of ribs, arches, 
 bosses, and other ornaments, all grow out of 
 1 the main columns, with the regularity of * 
 Nature in the vegetable kingdom, and also 
 with her wise contrivance to combine strength 
 
XX 
 
 REV. J. MILNEIt's 
 
 with beauty; I say, it is not necessary for me 
 to dwell upon these points, because, however 
 they may be carped at by interested men, 
 they are obvious of themselves, and admitted 
 by all persons of candour and sentiment* 
 There is one circumstance, however, to which 
 these venerable structures are indebted for the 
 impression they make, that is not so evident 
 at first sight, and which therefore I here men- 
 tion, namely, the arrangement and disposition 
 of their several parts, in due subordination to 
 that which is their principal member; by 
 which means that unity of design so necessary 
 in every composition is maintained in them. 
 This principal member in our cathedral 
 churches is the choir, and sanctuary, destined 
 for the performance of the service and myste- 
 ries of religion : accordingly all the other por- 
 tions of the sacred fabric will be found sub- 
 servient, and as it were converging, to this, 
 as to their centre. On the same account, the 
 most exquisite productions of art, and the 
 greatest profusion of wealth, were uniformly 
 bestowed on this particular part. We may 
 judge from hence what must be the effect of 
 destroying the altar-screen of a cathedral, and 
 removing the altar itself, according to a mo- 
 dern instance, under an idea of improving its 
 appearance. It is like removing the head 
 
LETTER. XXI 
 
 from the human figure, or placing it on some 
 other member, for the purpose of increasing 
 its beauty. 
 
 Lastly, as there are different periods or 
 fashions in pointed architecture, it is worthy 
 the attention of the curious antiquary, to 
 distribute these subjects of his study into 
 their proper classes, and to determine the 
 respective merits of each class or fashion. 
 The late poet laureat has divided the archi- 
 tecture in question into the absolute Gothic, 
 the ornamental Gothic, and the florid Gothic-. 
 I do not find fault with this division, but I 
 am by no means satisfied with the application 
 of it. For, not to mention other objections* 
 we have seen that this author excludes by 
 name, the beautiful and highly pointed 
 cathedral of Salisbury from holding a place 
 in any of his classes. Now, so far from there 
 being ground for such an exclusion, I think 
 it admits of a question, whether that species 
 of early pointed architecture in which this 
 cathedral and that of Lincoln, also the abbey 
 churches of Westminster, Beaulieu, Letley tn > 
 and other sacred edifices, were constructed, 
 
 1 Pages 4,5,8. 
 
 m Called anciently Abbatia de Lato Loco, now vulgarly 
 and improperly Nctley Abbey. 
 
XXU ItEV. J k MILXEIt's 
 
 from the first invention of that style down to 
 its enlargement in the reign of Edward I. was, 
 upon the whole, exceeded at any later period. 
 In case, however, we admit the tracery work, 
 which was invented about the latter period, 
 and with which the cathedrals of York and 
 Winchester are adorned, to be a considerable 
 improvement upon the former chaste and sim- 
 ple fashion, yet I cannot by any means agree 
 that the gorgeous or florid style, as Warton 
 calls it, which began in . the reign of Henry 
 
 VI. and continued until the explosion of the 
 pointed order under Henry VIII. was, upon 
 a thorough comparison, more excellent than 
 that kind which had immediately preceded 
 it. I grant, there is a greater profusion of 
 ornament, and generally more exquisite 
 workmanship, for example, in the chapels of 
 King's college, of Windsor, and of Henry 
 
 VII. than in the two last mentioned cathe- 
 drals ; the same may be said of Fox's chantry, 
 compared with that of Wykeham; but I 
 maintain that what was gained to our eccle- 
 siastical structures after the middle of the 
 fifteenth century in beauty, was lost in sub- 
 limity ; which latter quality, I have intimated, 
 forms their proper character. This falling off 
 in sacred architecture is principally to be 
 
LETTER. 
 
 XX1U 
 
 attributed to the lowering of the pointed arch, 
 which then began to prevail. The first arches 
 of this order in the reigns of Henry I. Stephen, 
 and Henry II. were exceedingly rude and 
 irregular, sometimes forming the most acute 
 and sometimes the most obtuse angle that 
 can well be conceived; but when the style 
 was further improved under Henry III. and 
 the three Edwards, it was discovered that the 
 most beautiful and perfect kind of pointed 
 arch was that which was formed by segments 
 of a circle, including an equilateral triangle, 
 from the imposts to the crown of the arch ; 
 accordingly, this proportion was generally 
 followed down to the aforesaid period; when 
 the architects and artists, being more anxious 
 about their own reputation than the proper 
 effect of the structure, began to lower the 
 arches as much as possible, and in some cases 
 to invert them, in order to bring the fans, 
 pendents, and other curious or surprising 
 ornaments, with which they loaded the 
 vaulting, within the compass of the spectator s 
 distinct sight. 
 
 If these hasty remarks upon a subject 
 which, treated as a science, may still be con- 
 sidered as almost new, have the effect of ex- 
 citing persons who are better qualified than 
 
Xxiv REV. J. MI LITER'S LETTER. 
 
 myself for the undertaking, to do more com- 
 plete justice to it, I shall at all events think 
 them well bestowed, and shall be enabled to 
 say with more truth than Horace did, 
 
 Fungar vice cotis, acutum 
 Reddere quas ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi. 
 
 De Art. Poeticd. 
 
 I remain, Sir, 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 JOHN MILNER. 
 
 Winchester, Feb. 15, 1800, 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 0>T 
 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 REV. THOMAS WARTON'S ESSAY \ 
 
 Did arise 
 
 On stately pillours framd afer the Doricke guise. 
 
 Although the Roman or Grecian archi- 
 tecture did not begin to prevail in England 
 till the time of Inigo Jones, yet our commu- 
 nication with the Italians, and Our imitation 
 of their manners, produced some specimens 
 of that style much earlier : perhaps the ear- 
 liest is Somerset House, in the Strand, built 
 about the year 1549, by the duke of Somer- 
 set, uncle to Edward VI. The monument of 
 bishop Gardiner, in Winchester cathedral, 
 
 a Observations on the Fairy Queen of Spenser, edit. 1762, 
 vol, ii. page 184. 
 
 B 
 
2 REV. T. WARTOH'S 
 
 made in the reign of Mary, about 1555, is 
 decorated with Ionic pillars. Spenser's verses, 
 here quoted, bear an allusion to some of 
 these fashionable improvements in building, 
 which, at this time, were growing more and 
 more into esteem. Thus, also, bishop Hall, 
 who wrote about the same time, viz. 1598: 
 
 There findest thou some stately Doricke frame, 
 Or neat Ionicke worke. B. v. s. 2. 
 
 Bat these ornaments were often absurdly 
 introduced into the old Gothic style; as in 
 the magnificent portico of the schools at Ox- 
 ford, erected about the year 1613, where the 
 builder, in a Gothic edifice, has affectedly dis- 
 played his universal skill in the modern archi- 
 tecture, by giving us all the five orders toge- 
 ther. However, most of the great buildings 
 of queen Elizabeth's reign, have a style pe- 
 culiar to themselves, both in form and finish- 
 ing; where, though much of the old Gothic is 
 retained, and great part of the new taste is 
 adopted, yet neither predominates; while 
 both, thus indistinctly blended, compose a 
 fantastic species hardly reducible to any class 
 cr name. One of its characteristics is the 
 affectation of large and lofty windows; where, 
 says Bacon, " you shall have sometimes faire 
 houses so full of glass, that one cannot tell 
 
ESSAY. 3 
 
 where to become to be out of the sun, &c." 
 Essay es, xii. 
 
 After what has been here incidentally said 
 on this subject, it may not be amiss to trace 
 it higher, and to give some observations on 
 the beginning and progressive state of archi- 
 tecture in England, down to the reign of 
 Henry VIII.; a period in which, or there- 
 abouts, the true Gothic style is supposed to 
 have expired. 
 
 The Normans, at the Conquest, introduced 
 arts and civility. The churches, before this, 
 were of timber, or otherwise of very mean 
 construction. The Conqueror imported a 
 more magnificent, though not a different 
 plan, and erected several stately churches and 
 castles \ He built more than thirty monas- 
 teries, among w hich were the noble abbies of 
 Battel and Selby. He granted a charter to 
 Mauritius, bishop of London, for rebuilding 
 St. Paul's church with stone brought out of 
 Normandy. He built the White Tower in the 
 Tower of London. The style then used con- 
 sisted of round arches, round-headed win- 
 dows, and round massy pillars, with a sort of 
 regular capital and base, being an adultera- 
 
 b " Videas ubique in villis eccleaas > in vicis et urbibus 
 monasteria, novo edificandi gejntere exsurgere." Will. 
 Malmesbur. Rex WWhelmus, de Gest. Reg. Ang. lib. iii. p. 
 57. fol. Lond. 1596, ed. 
 
 B % 
 
4 rev. t. warton's 
 
 tion or a rude imitation of the genuine Gre- 
 cian or Roman manner. This has been named 
 the Saxon style, being the national architec- 
 ture of our Saxon ancestors before the Con- 
 quest: for the Normans only extended its 
 proportions and enlarged its scale. But I sup- 
 pose at that time it was the common architec- 
 ture of all Europe. Of this style many spe- 
 cimens remain: the transept of Winchester 
 cathedral, built 1080; the two towers of 
 Exeter cathedral, 1112; Christ Church cathe- 
 dral, at Oxford, 1180; the nave of Glocester 
 cathedral, 1100; with many others. The 
 most complete monuments of it I can at pre- 
 sent recollect are, the church of St. Cross, near 
 AVinchester, built by Henry de Blois, 1130; 
 and the abbey church at Rumsey, in Hamp- 
 shire: especially the latter, built by the same 
 princely benefactor. Another evidence of 
 this style is a circular series of zig-zag sculp- 
 ture applied as a facing to porticos and other 
 arches. The style which succeeded to this 
 was not the absolute Gothic, or Gothic simply 
 so called, but a sort of Gothic Saxon, in 
 which the pure Saxon began to receive some 
 tincture of the Saracen fashion. In this the 
 massy rotund column became split into a clus- 
 ter of agglomerated pilasters, preserving a 
 base and capital as before; and the short 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 5 
 
 round-headed window was lengthened into a 
 narrow oblong form, with a pointed top, in 
 every respect much in the shape of a lancet ; 
 often decorated in the inside with slender pil- 
 lars. These windows we frequently find three 
 together, the centre one being higher than the 
 two lights on each side. This style commenced 
 about 1200. Another of its marks is a series 
 of small, low, and close arch-work, sometimes 
 with a pointed head, placed on outside fronts 
 for a finishing, as in the west end of Lincoln 
 and Rochester cathedrals, and in the end of 
 the southern transept of that of Canterbury. 
 In this style, to mention no more, is Salisbury 
 cathedral. Here we find indeed the pointed 
 arch, and the angular though simple vaulting; 
 but still we have not, in such edifices of the 
 improved or Saxon Gothic, the ramified win- 
 dow, one distinguishing characteristic of the 
 absolute Gothic c . It is difficult to define these 
 gradations; but still harder to explain conjec- 
 tures of this kind in writing, which require 
 ocular demonstration and a coversation on the 
 spot to be clearly proved and illustrated. 
 
 The absolute Gothic, or that which is free 
 from all Saxon mixture, began with ramified 
 windows of an enlarged dimension, divided 
 into several lights, and branched out at the 
 
 c They then seem to have had no idea of a great east- 
 em or western window. 
 
 / 
 
/ 
 
 6 REV. T. WARTON'S 
 
 top into- a multiplicity of whimsical shapes 
 and compartments, after the year 1300. The 
 crusades had before dictated the pointed arch, 
 which was here still preserved; but, besides 
 the alteration in the windows, fantastic capi- 
 tals to the columns, and more ornament in the 
 vaulting and other parts, were introduced. 
 Of this fashion the body of Winchester cathe- 
 dral, built by that munificent encourager of all 
 public works, William of Wykeham, about 
 the year 1390, will^ afford the justest idea. 
 But a taste for a more ornamental style had 
 for some time before begun to discover itself. 
 This appears from the choir of St. Mary's 
 church at Warwick, begun d , at least, before 
 Wykeham's improvements at Winchester, and 
 remarkable for a freedom and elegance un- 
 known before. That certain refinements in 
 architecture began to grow fashionable early 
 in the reign of Edward III. perhaps before, 
 we learn from Chaucer's description of the 
 structure of his House of Fame : 
 
 " And eke the hall and everie boure, 
 
 Without peeces or joinings, 
 
 But many subtell compassings 
 
 As habenries and pinnacles, 
 
 Imageries and tabernacles, 
 
 I saw, and full eke of windowes*." 
 
 * Viz. 1341; finished before 1395. Dugdale's Warwick- 
 shire, p. 345. 
 
 « B. iii. fol. 267- col. 2. edit. Speght. 
 
ESSAY. 7 
 
 And afterwards, 
 
 " I needeth not you more to tellen, 
 
 Of these yates flourishings, 
 Ne of compaces ne of Carvings, 
 Ne how the hacking in masonries, 
 As corbetts and imageries f ." 
 
 And in an old poem, called Pierce the Plow- 
 mans Creede, written perhaps before Chau- 
 cer's, where the author is describing an abbey- 
 church : 
 
 " Than I munte me forth the minstre for to knowen. 
 And awayted a woon, wonderly well ybild; 
 With arches on everich half, and bellyche ycorven 
 With crochetes on corneres, with knottes of gold. 
 Wyd windowes ywrought, ywriten full thicke. 
 
 & i ji> Jt> dL jl 4 # 4t ' dti 
 
 Tombes upon tabernacles, tyld opon loft, 
 Housed in homes, harde sett abouten 
 Of armed alabaustre." 
 
 These innovations, at length, were most 
 beautifully displayed in the roof of the divi- 
 nity school at Oxford, which began to be built 
 1427. The university, in their letters to 
 Kempe, bishop of London, quoted by Wood s , 
 speak of this edifice as one of the miracles of 
 the age: they mention particularly, " Orna- 
 menta ad naturalis coeli imaginem variis pic- 
 turis, subtilique artificio, caelata; valvarum 
 
 f B. iii. fol. 267, verso, col. 2. 
 
 E Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. lib. ii. p. 22. 
 
8 
 
 REV. T. WARTON's 
 
 singularissima opera: turriculamm appara- 
 turn, &c/" Yet even here, there is nothing 
 of that minute finishing which afterwards 
 appeared; there is still a massiness, though 
 great intricacy and variety. About the same 
 time the collegiate church of Fotheringay, 
 in Northamptonshire, was designed: and we 
 learn from the orders h of Henry VI. delivered 
 to the architect, how much their notions in 
 architecture were improved. The orna- 
 mental Gothic at length received its con- 
 firmation about 1441, in the chapel of the 
 same King's college at Cambridge 1 . Here 
 strength united with ornament, or substance 
 with elegance, seems to have ceased. After- 
 wards, what I Avould call the elorid Gothic 
 arose, the first considerable appearance of 
 which was in the chapel of St. George, at 
 Windsor, begun by Edward IV. about 1480 k ; 
 and which, lastly, was completed in the su- 
 perb chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster. 
 
 The florid Gothic distinguishes itself by 
 an exuberance of decoration, by roofs where 
 the most delicate fretwork is expressed in 
 stone, and by a certain lightness of finishing, 
 
 h In Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. iii. p. 163. 
 . 1 It was not finished till some years after ; but a descrip- 
 tion and plan of the intended fabric may be seen in the king's 
 will. Stowe's Annals, by Howes, 16 14, p. 479, seq. 
 
 Ashmole's Order of the Garter, sect. ii. chap. 4. p. 136, 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 9 
 
 as in the roof of the choir of Glocester 1 , 
 where it is thrown like a web of embroidery 
 over the old Saxon vaulting. Many monu- 
 mental shrines, so well calculated, on account 
 of the smallness of their plan, to admit a mul- 
 tiplicity of delicate ornaments highly finished, 
 afford exquisite specimens of this styie. The 
 most remarkable one I can recollect is that of 
 bishop Fox, at Winchester; which, before it 
 was stripped of its images and the painted 
 glass m which filled part of its present open- 
 work, must have been a most beautiful spec- 
 tacle. How quickly tomb-architecture im- 
 proved in this way may be seen by two sump- 
 tuous shrines in the same church, which stand 
 opposite each other; those of bishop Wayn- 
 flete and cardinal Beaufort. The bishop's is 
 evidently constructed in imitation of the car- 
 dinal's; but, being forty years later, is infi- 
 nitely richer in the variegation of its fretted 
 roof, and the profusion of its ornamented 
 
 1 About the year 1470. The words of the inscription 
 on the inside of the arch by which we enter the choir are 
 remarkable : 
 
 Hoc quod dig estum specularis, opusque politum, 
 . Tullii heec ex onere Seabrooke abbate jubente. 
 The tower was built at the same time. The lady's chapel 
 goon after, about 1490. 
 
 m It was broke and destroyed by the Presbyterians 1643, 
 as appears by a passage in Mercurius Rusticus, p. 214. It 
 is not commonly known or observed that this shrine was thus 
 curiously glazed. 
 
10 
 
 REV. T. WARTON's 
 
 spire-work n . The screen behind the altar in 
 the same cathedral, built 1525, far superior to 
 that at St. Alban's, is also a striking pattern 
 of this workmanship. We have some episco- 
 pal thrones highly executed in this taste. Such 
 is that at Wells, built by bishop Beckington, 
 1450; and that at Exeter, by bishop Boothe, 
 who succeeded to the see, 1466. The first is 
 of wood, painted and gilded ; the latter is 
 likewise of wood, but painted in imitation, and 
 has the effect of stone. They are both very 
 lofty and light. Most of the churches in 
 Somersetshire, which are remarkably elegant, 
 are in the styleof the florid Gothic. The rea- 
 son is this : Somersetshire, in the civil wars be- 
 tween York and Lancaster, was strongly and 
 entirely attached to the Lancastrian party. In 
 reward for this service, Henry VII. when he 
 came to the crown, rebuilt their churches. The 
 tower of Glocester cathedral, and the towers of 
 the churches at Taunton and Glastonbury, 
 and of a parochial church at Wells, are conspi- 
 cuous examples of this fashion. Most of the 
 churches of this reign are known, besides other 
 
 n Waynflete died 1486. How greatly tomb-architecture, 
 ^within 150 years, continued to alter, appears from an ex- 
 pression in Berthelette's preface to his edition of Gower's 
 Confessio Amantis, 1.554: « Gower prepared for his bones 
 a restynge place in the monasterie of St. Marie Overee, 
 where, somewhat after the old fashion, he lieth right 
 sumptuously buried." Gower died 1402. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 11 
 
 distinctions, by latticed battlements, and broad 
 open windows. In this style Henry VIII. 
 built the palace of Nonsuch ; and Cardinal 
 Woolsey, Hampton Court, Whitehall, Christ- 
 Church in Oxford, and the tomb-house at 
 Windsor. 
 
 I cannot more clearly recapitulate or illus- 
 trate what has been said, than by observing, 
 that the seals of our English monarchs, from 
 the reign of Henry III. display the taste of 
 architecture which respectively prevailed un- 
 der several subsequent reigns; and conse- 
 quently convey, as at one comprehensive view, 
 the series of its successive revolutions; inso- 
 much that if no real models remained, they 
 would be sufficient to show the modes and 
 alterations of building in England p . In these 
 each king is represented sitting enshrined amid 
 a sumptuous pile of architecture. Henry III. 
 1259, appears seated amidst an assemblage of 
 arches of the round Saxon form q . So are his 
 successors Edward I., and II. Edward III. 
 1330, is the first whose seal exhibits pointed 
 Saracen arches; but those of his first seal at 
 
 ° See a cut of its front, perhaps the only representation 
 of it extant, in Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great 
 Britaine, 1614, fol. p. 11. Map of Surrey. In the same 
 is a cut of Richmond palace, built by Henry VII. 
 
 p See Speed's History, &c. fol. London, 1627. 
 
 * See his second seal. Speed, p. 547. 
 
12 REV. T. WAETON'S 
 
 least r , are extremely simple. In the seals of 
 Richard II. 1378, and his successor, Henry 
 IV. we find Gothic arches of a more compli- 
 cated construction. At length the seal of 
 Henry V. 1412, is adorned with a still more 
 artificial fabric. And lastly, in the seals of 
 Edward V. Richard III. and Henry VII. we 
 discern a more open, and less pointed Gothic. 
 
 I subjoin some general observations. The 
 towers in Saxon cathedrals were not always 
 intended for bells; they were calculated to 
 produce the effect of the louvre, or open lan- 
 tern, in the inside ; and, on this account, were 
 originally continued open almost to the co- 
 vering. It is generally supposed that the 
 tower of Winchester cathedral, which is re- 
 markably thick and short, was left as the 
 foundation for a projected spire; but this idea 
 never entered into the plan of the architect. 
 Nearly the whole inside of this tower was for- 
 merly seen from below ; and for that reason, 
 its side arches or windows, of the first story 
 at least, are artificially wrought and orna- 
 mented. With this sole effect in view, the 
 builder saw no necessity to carry it higher. 
 An instance of this visibly subsists at present 
 in the inside of the tower of the neighbouring 
 
 r See his second seal. Speed, p. 5S4. 
 
ESSAY. 13 
 
 Saxon church of St. Cross, built about the 
 same time. The same effect was first designed 
 at Salisbury; where, for the same purpose 
 solely, was a short tower, the end of which is 
 easily discerned by critical observers; being 
 but little higher than the roof of the church, 
 and of less refined workmanship than that 
 additional part on which the present spire is 
 constructed. Many other examples might 
 be pointed out. This gave the idea for the 
 beautiful lanterns at Peterborough and Ely. 
 
 Spires were never used till the Saracen mode 
 took place. I think we find none before 1200. 
 The spire of old St. Paul's was finished 1221 s . 
 That of Salisbury, as appears from a late sur- 
 vey \ and other proofs, was not included in 
 the plan of the builder, and was raised many 
 years after the church was completed : the 
 spire of Norwich cathedral about 1278 u . Sir 
 Christopher Wren informs us, that the archi- 
 tects of this period " thought height the great- 
 est magnificence. Few stones/' adds he, " were 
 used but what a man might carry up a ladder 
 on his back, from scaffold to scaffold, though 
 they had pullies and spoked wheels upon oc- 
 casion; but having rejected cornices, they had 
 
 8 Dugdale's St. Paul's, p. 12. 
 
 x Survey, &c. by Price. 
 
 u Willis's Mitr. Abb. vol i. p. 279. 
 
14 REV. T. WARTON's 
 
 no need of great engines. Stone upon stone 
 was easily piled up to great heights ; therefore 
 the pride of their work was in pinnacles and 
 steeples. The Gothic way carried all their 
 mouldings perpendicular; so that they had 
 nothing else to do but to spire up all they 
 could/' He adds, " they affected steeples, 
 though the Saracens themselves used cupo- 
 las V But with submission to such an au- 
 thority, I cannot help being of opinion, that, 
 though the Saracens themselves used cupolas, 
 the very notion of a spire was brought from 
 the East, where pyramidical structures were 
 common, and spiral ornaments were the 
 fashionable decorations of their mosques, as 
 may be seen to this day. What the same 
 celebrated artist immediately subjoins, that 
 the use of glass introduced mullions into 
 windows, is very probable ; at least it contri- 
 buted to multiply the ramifications; especially 
 the use of painted glass; where the different 
 stainings were by this means shown to better 
 advantage, and different stories and figures 
 required separate compartments. 
 
 Soon after the year 1200, they began in 
 England to cover the facades, or west ends 
 of cathedrals, with niches and rows of statues 
 
 * Wren's Parentalia, p. 305. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 15 
 
 large as the life. The first example of this 
 kind is, I think, at Salisbury ; for that of 
 Litchfield is too rich to be of equal antiquity \ 
 The west end of Wells cathedral was perhaps 
 intended to vie with that of Salisbury, in the 
 same decorations; being in a bordering 
 county, and erected after it, 1402 y . It is in 
 fine preservation, and exhibits a curious spe- 
 cimen of the state of statuary at that time. 
 The west front of Exeter, adorned in this 
 taste by bishop Grandison, 1340, is far infe- 
 rior to any of the other three. That of the 
 abbey church at Bath, is light and elegant, 
 but is much more modern than those I have 
 mentioned, being begun and finished but a 
 few years before the dissolution of the abbey z . 
 
 These hasty remarks are submitted to the 
 candour of the curious, by one, who, besides 
 other defects which render him disqualified 
 for such a disquisition, is but little acquainted 
 with the terms and principles of architec- 
 ture. 
 
 * It was built at least before 1400. For the spire of St. 
 Michael's church in Coventry, finished about 1395, is mani- 
 festly a copy of the style of its two spires. Salisbury church 
 was begun in 1217, and finished in 1256. 
 
 y This date is on the authority of Willis, Mitr. Abb. voL 
 ii. p. 375. 
 
 z The whole church was rebuilt in the time of the two 
 last priors, after 1500. Leland, Itin, vol. ii. The abbey 
 was dissolved 1534. 
 
 '"5 
 
REV. JAMES BENTHAM'S 
 
 HISTORICAL REMARKS ON THE SAXON 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 Having, in the preceding chapters a , 
 taken a summary view of the first reception 
 of the Gospel in Britain, its state and decline* 
 to the utter subversion of it; and also the re- 
 establishment of Christianity in these parts, 
 by the conversion of the Saxons ; it may not 
 be improper to say something of the places 
 made use of by the Saxons for their public 
 worship, and to inquire into the ground of a 
 notion that has often prevailed, that their 
 churches were generally timber buildings, or, 
 if of stone, with upright walls only, without 
 any beauty or elegance ; and that as to the 
 constructing of arches and vaultings of stone, 
 and supporting them with columns, they un- 
 derstood nothing of it. 
 
 This mean opinion of Saxon architecture, 
 
 a This is the Fifth Section, p. 15, in Mr. Bentham's His- 
 tory of the Cathedral Church of Ely, 177 1 - 
 
 That all references to this Essay may be readily found in 
 this edition, the pages of the original are given in crotchets. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 and want of elegance in their churches, though 
 it be countenanced by several passages in 
 Mr. Somner's book of the Antiquities of 
 Canterbury b ; and his authority for it is fre- 
 quently cited by modern writers on the sub- 
 ject"; without any marks of disapprobation 
 or censure; yet as it appears to me to be 
 without any manner of foundation, I shall beg 
 leave to inquire into the truth of what Mr. 
 Somner has advanced on that subject. His 
 words are these: 44 Indeed it is observed, that 
 before the Norman advent most of our mo- 
 nasteries and church-buildings were of wood : 
 ' All the monasteries of my realm/ saith king 
 Edgar, in his charter to the abbey of Malmes- 
 bury d , dated in the year of Christ 974, 4 to 
 5 the sight are nothing but worm-eaten and 
 4 rotten timber and boards/ And that upon 
 the Norman conquest such timber fabrics 
 grew out of use, and gave place to stone 
 buildings raised upon arches ; a form of struc- 
 ture introduced by that nation, furnished with 
 stone from Caen, in Normandy. 4 In the 
 4 year 1087 (Stow's words of the cathedral of 
 
 b P. 8. 86. 93. 
 
 c Staveley on Churches, p.' 103. 146. Ornaments of 
 Churches considered, p. 88. Remarks on Gothic Architec- 
 ture, by Mr. Warton, in his Observations on Spenser's Fairy 
 Queen, vol. ii. p. 185, 186. 
 
 d VVilkins Concil. vol. i. p. 260. 
 
ESSAY. 19 
 
 s London e ) this church of St. Paul was burnt 
 
 * with fire, and therewith most part of the 
 4 city: Mauritius, then bishop, began, there- 
 ' fore, the new foundation of a new church 
 ' of St. Paul; a work that men of that time 
 ' judged would never have been finished, it 
 
 * was to them so wonderful for length and 
 ' breadth; [16] as also the same was builded 
 ' upon arches (or vaults) of stone, for defence 
 6 of fire ; which was a manner of work before 
 6 that time unknown to the people of this 
 
 * nation, and then brought from the French, 
 6 and the stone was fetched from Caen, in 
 6 Normandy/ — 6 St. Mary Bow church, in 
 
 * London, being built much about the same 
 ' time and manner, that is, on arches of stone, 
 6 was therefore called (saith the same author f ) 
 f New Mary church,, or St. Mary-le-Bow ; as 
 ' Stratford bridge, being the first builded with 
 ' arches of stone,was therefore called Stratford- 
 4 le-Bow/ This, doubtless, is that new kind of 
 architecture the continuer of Bede (whose 
 words Malmesbury hath taken up) intends, 
 where speaking of the Normans' income, he 
 saith, 6 You may observe every where in vil- 
 6 lages churches, and in cities and villages, mo- 
 
 * nasteries erected with a new kind of architect 
 
 e Stow's Survey of London, vol. i. p. 638. edit. 1754. 
 [ Ibid. p. 542. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 REV. J. 1)ENTIIAM ? S 
 
 4 ture V " And again, speaking doubtfully 
 of the age of the eastern part of the choir of 
 Canterbury, he adds, " I dare constantly and 
 confidently deny it to be elder than the Nor- 
 man conquest; because of the building it 
 upon arches, a form of architecture, though 
 in use with and anion 2; the Romans long be- 
 fore, yet after their departure not used here in 
 England till the Normans brought it over with 
 them from France V — Thus far Mr. Somner, 
 whose judgment in matters of antiquity has 
 been, and always will be regarded, and is not 
 without sufficient reason to be called in ques- 
 tion ; but his opinion concerning Saxon archi- 
 tecture appears so singular, that it will require 
 some consideration before it can be admitted 
 as true; and what that was, is evident from 
 the several passages above cited, viz. that the 
 Saxon churches and monasteries were usually 
 timber fabrics, or if there were any stone 
 buildings among them, they were with upright 
 walls only, without any pillars or arches to 
 support them, and their roofs not arched or 
 vaulted with stone. Indeed if this be admit- 
 ted as a just account, it may fairly put an end 
 to all further searches after the remains of 
 
 g " Videa^. ubique in villis ecclesias, in vicis et urbibus 
 moaasteria, novo aedificandi genere consurgere." Will. 
 Malmesb. de Regibus Angl. p. 102. edit. Francof. 1601. 
 
 h Somner's Antiq. of Canterbury, p. 8. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 21 
 
 Saxon architecture in this kingdom; for its 
 necessary consequence will be, that whatever 
 remains of ancient buildings with pillars and 
 arches of stone, are at this time to be met with 
 among us, must have been built either since 
 the Norman conquest, or at least five hundred 
 years earlier, that is, in the time of the 
 Romans; a position that will scarcely be 
 allowed by any one who is acquainted at all 
 with our history in the time of the Saxons. 
 
 With regard to their churches being gene- 
 rally of wood, the only authority produced 
 for it is a casual expression in orfe of king 
 Edgar's charters concerning the ruinous state 
 of the monasteries in his time 1 ; meaning 
 no more, as I apprehend, than that the 
 churches and monasteries were in general so 
 much decayed, that the roofs were uncovered, 
 or bare to the timber, and the beams rotted 
 by neglect, and grown over with moss; and 
 not that they were made wholly of wood. It 
 is true indeed some of their fabrics seem to 
 have been totally formed of timber ; Bede k 
 speaks of an oratory or chapel of that kind 
 in the very place where St. Peter's church 
 [17] in York now stands; it was hastily erected 
 
 1 " Quae velut muscivis scindulis cariosisque tabulis, 
 
 tigno terms visibiliter diruta." Carta Regis Ed^ari, Wiikins 
 Concil. vol. i. p. 260. 
 
 k Beda? Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. 14. 
 
22 REV. j. bentiiam's 
 
 on occasion of the conversion of Edwin kino- 
 of Northumberland, for the purpose of bap- 
 tizing that king, which was performed by 
 Paulinus, bishop of York \ on Easter-day, 
 A. D. 627. When the king had resolved to 
 become a Christian on the preaching of Pau- 
 linus, he determined to be publicly baptized; 
 and therefore built this church of wood for 
 that purpose. lie built it in haste for the 
 present exigency, and as a temporary expe- 
 dient : — but he likewise informs us, that soon 
 after the king was baptized, he laid the foun- 
 dation of a stately and magnificent fabric of 
 stone, in which that of wood was included, 
 and might probably be used for divine ser- 
 vice, whilst the other was in building m . This 
 work was continued six years during that 
 king's life, but before it was finished, he was 
 slain ; and it was carried on and finished by 
 Oswald his successor. Other instances of 
 timber fabrics occur in history, and other ora- 
 tories even of slighter materials n , erected on 
 particular occasions. A wooden church is 
 
 1 u Baptizatus est autem Eburaci in die sancto Paschai— 
 in ecclesia Sti. Petri Apostoli, quam ipse de ligno citato opere 
 erexit." Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 14. 
 
 m " Curavit majorem ipso in loco et augustiorem delapide 
 fabricare basilicam, in cujus medio ipsum quod prius fecerat 
 oratorium includeretur." Ibid. 
 
 n Simeon Dunelm. lib. ii. cap. 1. 9. Ingulphi Hist. p. 
 4. 52. edit. Gale. Hist. Ramesiens. inter. XV. Scriptores, 
 per Gale, p. 397. Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 291. lin. 20. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 23 
 
 mentioned by Malmesbury , in his life of 
 Aldhelm bishop of Shireburn, in Dultinge, a 
 village in Somersetshire, where Aldhelm died; 
 it belonged to the abbey of Glastonbury, 
 and the monks there rebuilt it of stone. Bede 
 likewise tells us, that Finan, bishop of Lin- 
 disfarne, or Holy Island, built there a church 
 for his episcopal see, composed wholly of 
 sawn oak, and covered with reed, according 
 to the fashion of the Scots"; and that Ead- 
 berct, one of his successors, there took off 
 the reed, and covered the whole, both the 
 roof and sides, with sheets of lead. How- 
 ever, these wooden fabrics, 'tis probable, were 
 not very common, even in those early times 
 of the Saxons ; and, as appears by the in- 
 stances produced, some of them were intended 
 only for temporary use ; and: the last-men- 
 tioned church at Lindisfarne, was built after 
 a manner peculiar to the Scots. This erro- 
 neous account of the Saxon churches being 
 generally of wood, or at least without any 
 pillars or arches of stone, Mr. Somner was 
 probably led into, by relying on Mr. Stow, 
 whose authority he vouches and implicitly 
 follows ; and then mistaking the sense of that 
 passage in king Edgar's charter, applies it to 
 the entire fabrics, which was indeed appli- 
 
 ° Angl. Sacr. vol. ii. p. 23. 
 
 p Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. cap. 25. 
 
24 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM's 
 
 cable only to their roofs : and when he comes 
 to Malmesbury's account of the architecture 
 introduced by the Normans, which is there 
 called novum genus adificandi (the new man- 
 ner of building), Mr. Somner takes the no- 
 velty of it to consist in its being composed 
 with pillars and arches; and therein differed 
 from the Saxon. 
 
 But that the Saxon churches were gene- 
 rally built of stone, and not only so, but that 
 they had pillars and arches, and some of them 
 vaultings of stone, there is sufficient testi- 
 mony from authentic history, and the un- 
 doubted remains of them at this time. 
 
 There is a great probability, that at the 
 time the Saxons were converted, the art of 
 constructing arches and vaultings, and sup- 
 porting stone edifices by columns, [18] was 
 well known among them ; they had many in- 
 stances of such kind of buildings before them, 
 in the churches and other public edifices 
 erected in the times of the Romans. For, 
 notwithstanding the havoc that had been 
 made of the Christian churches by the Picts 
 and Scots, and by the Saxons themselves, 
 some of them were then in being. Bede men- 
 tions two in the city of Canterbury q ; that de- 
 dicated to St. Martin on the east side of the 
 city, wherein queen Bertha performed her 
 
 « Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 26 and 33. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 25 
 
 devotions, and Augustin and his companions 
 made use of at their first coming ; and the 
 other, that which the king, after his conver- 
 sion, gave to Augustin, and which he repaired 
 and dedicated to our blessed Saviour, and 
 made it his archiepiscopal see. Besides these 
 two ancient Roman churches, it is likely there . 
 were others of the same age in different parts 
 of the kingdom, which were then repaired 
 and restored to their former use. 
 
 Among other fabrics of these times may be 
 reckoned the many heathen temples used by 
 the idolatrous Saxons : that they were built 
 by the Saxons themselves will probably be 
 allowed; and that some of them were good 
 buildings will hardly admit of any doubt, 
 since for that very reason, pope Gregory ad- 
 vised Augustin r that the temples ought not 
 to be demolished, but only the idols that were , 
 in them should be removed and destroyed, 
 and then consecrated to the service of the 
 true God. The particular form in which 
 these Saxon temples were built, and wherein 
 they differed from Christian churches in their 
 manner of building, may be difficult to de- 
 termine with any degree of certainty ; but as 
 many of them were afterwards converted to 
 churches s , I see no reason to think otherwise 
 
 f Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 30. 
 I Monast. Angl. vol. iii. p. 298. 
 
26 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 of them, but that they might be similar in 
 their construction, and differ only in the use 
 they were put to. 
 
 On king Ethelbert's conversion, A. D. 56l, 
 he with great zeal set about buildino- of 
 churches; he laid the foundation of a new one 
 for the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul 
 which Augustin was then erecting ; and de- 
 signed it for the burying place for himself 
 and his successors kings of Kent, and for the 
 archbishops of Canterbury. He also founded 
 the church of St. Andrew, at Rochester u , 
 and endowed it for an episcopal see : and by 
 his influence and authority, a new bishopric 
 was erected in the kingdom of the East 
 Saxons, where Sebert his nephew reigned 
 under him ; the see of which being fixed at 
 London, he there also founded and endowed 
 the cathedral church of St. Paul \ These 
 were the earliest churches erected after the 
 conversion of the Saxons was begun : whe- 
 ther these were built by the Saxons themselves, 
 or whether they procured architects from other 
 countries to build them, is not of any great 
 moment to determine, since we are only con- 
 sidering the general state of architecture in 
 those times. Now, though the account given 
 us by Bede of these three churches founded 
 
 1 Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 33. 
 u Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 3. ? Ibid, 
 
ESSAY. 27 
 
 by king Ethelbert is very concise, and nothing 
 is there mentioned in express terms of the 
 particular manner, or of the materials with 
 which they were built ; yet some circum- 
 stances that-he relates afterwards seem plainly 
 to indicate that they were stone buildings, 
 and had both pillars and arches in their com- 
 position. 
 
 To instance the church of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul: when Augustin died, that church not 
 beins finished, he was buried abroad ; but as 
 soon as it was consecrated, Bede [19] tells us 
 that his body was brought into the church and 
 decently interred in portica illius aquilonari y , 
 in the north portico of the same. He further 
 speaks of another portico in the same church, 
 in which queen Bertha, king Ethelbert, and 
 other kings of Kent, were buried; this he 
 calls Porticus Sti. Martini % to distinguish it 
 from the former, and was probably the op- 
 posite or south portico. The word porticus 
 occurs several times in Bede, Alcuin, Heddius, 
 and other ancient Saxon writers, and is gene- 
 rally translated by the English word porch ; 
 and so misleads us to think it synonymous 
 with atrium or vestibulum, denoting a building 
 without-side the church, at the entrance into 
 it: whereas this can by no means be agreeable 
 to Bede's meaning ; for in his account of king 
 
 y Bectee Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. 3. z Ibid. cap. 5. 
 
28 
 
 EEV. J. BENTHAl's 
 
 Ethelbert's interment, he expresses himself in 
 such terms as will not admit of that sense: 
 he was buried, says Bede, in porticu Sti Mar- 
 tini intra ecclesiam a ; which shows that the 
 porticus was within the church : and likewise 
 in relating the burial of archbishop Theodore, 
 A. D. 690, he says he was buried in ecclesid 
 Sti. Petri, in qua omnium episcoporum Doru- 
 vernensium sunt corpora deposita h (in the 
 church of St. Peter, in which all the bodies 
 of the bishops of Canterbury were interred) ; 
 though he had before said c that they were 
 all interred in the north portico except Theo- 
 dore and Berctwald, whose bodies were bu- 
 ried in ipsa ecclesia (in the church itself), be- 
 cause that portico could not conveniently hold 
 any more d . To make these several passages 
 
 a Bedag Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap 5. 
 b Ibid. lib. v. cap. 8. 
 c Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 3. 
 
 d The better to elucidate the sense of the word porticus, 
 the reader will be pleased to compare the following passages 
 from Bede and other ancient writers: — A. D. 721 obiit 
 Johannes Ebor. episcopus in monasterio suo Beverlac. et 
 " sepultus est in porticu S. Petri." Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. v. 
 cap. 6. — A. D. 726 obiit Tobias Roffensis episcopus, et " se- 
 pultus est in porticu S. Pauli. Apost. quam intro ecclesiam 
 S. Andreae sibi in locum sepulchri fecerat." Ibid. cap. 23. — 
 A. D. 977 Sidemannus Creditoniae episcopus " sepulturae 
 traditur in monasterio Abendonensi in parte ecclesiae boreali, 
 in porticu S. Pauli." Chron. Saxon. — A. D. 1034 obiit 
 Brithwius Wellensis episcopus; * hie jacet in aquilonari 
 porticu ad S. Johannem (Glastoniae). Britwoldus Wintoni- 
 ensis (I. Wiltoniensis) episcopus, obiit A. D. 1045; hie se- 
 pultus fuit cum Brithwio in eadem ecclesia in parte aqui- 
 lonari." Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 9. — " In ambabus porticibus 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 29 
 
 in Bede consistent, we must necessarily allow- 
 that the royal family of Kent, and the first 
 eight archbishops [20] of Canterbury, were 
 all buried in this church; the former in St. 
 Martins, or the south portico or aisle; Au- 
 gustin and his five immediate sussessors in the 
 north portico or aisle; and Theodore and 
 Berctwald in the body of the church: for 
 when he says the two latter were deposited 
 in ipsa ecclesia he certainly means no more 
 
 Coventrise jacent aediflcatores loci praecellentissimi conjuges." 
 (Scil. comes Leofricus et Godiva comitissa uxor ejus, qui 
 Leofricus obiit A. D. 1057-) Ibid. p. 302. In all the 
 above-cited places, a more considerable part of the church is 
 certainly intended by porticus than what is commonly under- 
 stood by the church-porch, as it is usually rendered by our 
 ecclesiastical writers. It was frequently distinguished by the 
 name of some saint; for we read of Porticus Sti. Martini in 
 St. Augustin's church at Canterbury, Porticus Sti. Gregorii 
 in St. Peter's at York, Porticus Sti. Petrii at Beverley, Por- 
 ticus Sti. Pauli in St. Andrew's at Rochester; and other dis- 
 tinctions of that kind in many of our ancient churches. The 
 reason of which appears to be, that they were dedicated to 
 the honor of those saints. Thus we find by King Edgar's 
 charter to Thorney abbey, that the church there was dedicated, 
 A. D. 972, to St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Benedict; i. e. 
 the east part of the choir, where the altar was placed, to St. 
 Mary, the western part to St. Peter, and the north porticus to 
 St. Benedict. Ibid. p. 243. — From all these instances where 
 the word porticus occurs, it appears that the writers meant by 
 it either what is now commonly called the side-isle of the 
 church, or sometimes it may be a particular division of it, 
 consisting of one arch with its recess; as in the following pas- 
 sage in Bede's account of the relics and ornaments with which 
 the church of Hexham was furnished by Acca, who succeeded 
 Wilfred in that bishopric, A. D. 710: " Acquisitis unde- 
 cunique rehquiis B. apostolorum et martyrum Christi in vene- 
 rationem lllorum altaria distim tis porticibus in hoc ipsunv 
 intra muros ecclesia^ posuit." Beda? Hist. lib. v. cap. 20. 
 
30 REV. J. BE NT HAM's 
 
 by that expression than the nave or body, as 
 distinguished from the side'-aisles. It plainly 
 appears then, that this, which was one of the 
 first erected Saxon churches, consisted of a 
 nave and two side-aisles ; but how a church 
 of that form could have been supported with- 
 out pillars and arches of stone, is not easy to 
 conceive; the very terms indeed seem neces- 
 sarily to imply it. The same remark may be 
 extended and applied to St. Peter's church 
 at York ; which was a spacious and magni- 
 ficent fabric of stone, founded A. D. 627, by 
 king Edwin, soon after he was baptized e . 
 For that it had such porticos within, appears 
 from Bede's relation of the death of king 
 Edwin, who was killed in battle, A. D. 633. 
 " His head/' says he, " was brought to York, 
 and afterwards carried into the church of the 
 blessed apostle St. Peter, and deposited in 
 St. Gregory's portico V 
 
 e " Mox ut baptisma consecutus est (iEdwinus) majorem 
 et augustiorem de lapide fabricare curavit basilicam." Bedae 
 Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. ] 4. 
 
 f " Adlatum est caput xEdwini regis Eburacum,, et inlatum 
 postea in ecciesiam B. apostoli Petri — positum est in porticu 
 S. Papas Gregorii." Bedie Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. cap. 20. — Mr 
 Collier cites this passage from Bede, and seems to have 
 adopted the common error of taking porticus for a building 
 without-side the church; and thence falsely infers, that it was 
 not the custom of that age to bury within-side. " King 
 Edwin's head (says he) was deposited in St. Gregory's porch; 
 from whence we may probably conclude, and his children 
 before mentioned, who are said to have been buried in the 
 
ESSAY. 31 
 
 Other notices occur in the same author of 
 churches built in or near his own time, some 
 of which are expressly said to have been built 
 of stone, as St. Peter's, in York, last men- 
 tioned, and the church at Lincoln, built by 
 Paulinus, after he had converted Blaecca, pre- 
 fect or governor of that city, which was a 
 stone church of excellent workmanship g ; and 
 those other churches he speaks of might have 
 been of stone, for aught that appears to the 
 contrary. Bede is indeed rather sparing in 
 his description of them; so that little is to be 
 collected from him of their manner of build- 
 ing; he says nothing, in direct terms, either of 
 pillars or arches in any of his churches, though 
 the word portions, which he frequently uses, 
 may be said to imply both ; as it certainly does 
 in some instances, if not in all. He is a little 
 more particular in his account of St. Peter's 
 church, in the monastery of Wermouth, in the 
 neighbourhood of Gyrwi, where he had his 
 education and lived all his days. This was 
 built by the famous Benedict Biscopius h : in 
 the year 6?5, this abbat went over into France, 
 to engage workmen to build his church after 
 
 church, were only buried in the porch, the custom of that age 
 going no further." Collier's Ch. Hist. vol. i. p. 86. 
 
 g " In qua civitate et ecclesiam operis egregii de lapide 
 fecit." Beda? Hist. lib. ii. cap. 14. 
 
 h Bedae Hist. Abbatum Wiremuth. et Gyrw. p. 295. 
 
32 
 
 REV. J. BE NT HAIVl's 
 
 the Roman manner (as it is there called), and 
 brought them over with him for that purpose, 
 He prosecuted this work with extraordinary 
 zeal and diligence; insomuch that within the 
 compass of a year after the foundations were 
 laid, he caused the roof to be put on, and 
 divine service to be performed in it. After- 
 wards, when the building was nearly [21] 
 finished, he sent over to France for artificers 
 skilled in the mystery of making glass (an art 
 till that time 1 unknown to the inhabitants of 
 Britain), to glaze the windows both of the 
 porticos and the principal parts of the church ; 
 which work they not only executed, but taught 
 the English nation that most useful art. 
 
 We have still more certain and explicit ac- 
 counts of churches built in the northern parts 
 of the kingdom during this century, in which 
 both pillars and arches are expressly men- 
 
 1 What Bede here affirms of abbat Benedict, that he first 
 introduced the art of making glass into this kingdom, is by no 
 means inconsistent with Eddiu.s's account of bishop Wilfrid's 
 glazing the windows of St. Peter's church at York, about 
 the year 669, i. e. seven or eight years before this time. For 
 glass might have been imported from abroad by Wilfrid; but 
 Benedict first brought over the artists, who taught the Saxons 
 the art of making glass. — That the windows in churches were 
 usually glazed in that age abroad, as well as in these parts, we 
 learn from Bede; who, speaking of the church on mount 
 Olivet, about a mile from Jerusalem, says, in the west front of 
 it were eight windows, which on some occasions used to be 
 illuminated with lamps, which shone so bright through the 
 glass, that the mount seemed in a blaze. Bedai Lib. de Locis 
 Sanctis, cap. 6. 
 
£SSAY> 33 
 
 tioned. Eddius, who was contemporary with 
 Bede, wrote the life of Wilfrid, bishop of 
 York, and, among other things, informs us 
 of many religious structures, erected by that 
 magnificent prelate; several of which, as ap- 
 pears by his description, were very elegant 
 and sumptuous buildings; besides which, he 
 thoroughly repaired the church of St Peter, 
 in York k , which had received great injuries in 
 the wars between Penda, king of Mercia, and 
 the Northumbrians, a few years after it was 
 finished ; he put on a new roof, and covered 
 it with lead, and glazed the windows about 
 the year 669. 
 
 The churches founded by Wilfrid, and par- 
 ticularly described by Eddius, are the con- 
 ventual church of Rippon, in Yorkshire, and 
 the cathedral church of Hexham, in Northum- 
 berland; of the former he gives this account: 
 He raised on high, and completed the church 
 in Rippon, from the foundations in the ground, 
 to its utmost height, w ith hewn stone, and sup- 
 ported it with various kinds of pillars and por- 
 ticos m . — This elegant church, soon after it was 
 
 k Eddii Stephani Vita S. Wilfridi, inter XV. Scriptores, 
 cap. xvi. p. 59. edit. Gale. 
 
 1 " Prmuim culmina corrupta tecti renovans, artificiose 
 plumbo puro tegehs, per fenestras uitroitum avium et im- 
 brium vitro prohibuit, per quod tamen uitro lumen radiebat." 
 Ibid. 
 
 a " In Hrvpis basilicam polito Iapide a fundamentis in 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 REV. J. BE j\ TH AM S 
 
 finished, was with great solemnity conse- 
 crated by himself, and dedicated to the 
 honour of St. Peter, in the presence of king 
 Egfrid, and all the abbats and great men of 
 that kingdom. But of all the churches built 
 in that age, that of St. Andrew, in Hexham, 
 deserves our particular notice. Hexham, 
 with the adjoining territory, was part of the 
 crown-land of the kings of Northumberland, 
 and being settled in dower by king Egfrid 
 on his queen, St. Etheldreda, bishop Wilfrid, 
 Avith the king's consent, obtained a grant of 
 it, in order to raise it to an episcopal see \ 
 In the year 674, Wilfrid begun the foundation 
 of this celebrated church, and Eddius speaks 
 with great admiration of it, in this manner: 
 " Its deep foundations, [22] and the many 
 sub terraneous rooms there artfully disposed, 
 and above ground the great variety of build- 
 ings to be. seen, all of hewn stone, and sup- 
 ported by sundry kinds of pillars and many 
 porticos, and set off by the surprising length 
 and height of the walls, surrounded with va- 
 rious mouldings and bands curiously wrought, 
 
 terra usque ad summum aedificatam, varus columnis et por- 
 ticibus suffultani in altum erexit et consummavit." Eddii 
 Vita Wilfridi, ut supra,, cap. xvii. p. 59- 
 
 n Malmesb. de Gestis Pontif. Angl. p. 272. — Rich. Prior 
 Hagulst. de- Statu Ecclesiaj, &c. lib. i. cap. 2, 3. 7. — Lib. 
 Elien. MS. fol. ii. 
 
ESSAY* 
 
 35 
 
 and the turnings and windings of the passages, 
 sometimes ascending or descending by wind- 
 ing stairs to the different parts of the building; 
 all which it is not easy to express or describe 
 by words, &c. neither is there any church of 
 the like sort to be found on this side the 
 Alpes V 
 
 Richard, prior of Hexham, who flourished 
 about A. D. 1180, in whose time this famous 
 church was standing, though in a decaying 
 state, more' fully describes the manner of its 
 building p : u The foundations of this church," 
 
 " Nam in Hagustaldense adepta regione et (1. a) regina 
 iEthrldrite Domino dedicata, domum Domino in honorem 
 beati Andrae apostoli fabrefactam fundavit: cujus profun- 
 ditatem in terra cum domibus mirifice politis lapidibus funda-* 
 tarn, et super terrain multiplicem domum, columnis variis et 
 porticibus multis suffultam, mirabilique longitudine et altitu- 
 dine murorum ornatam, et variis linearum anfractibus, viarum 
 aliquando sursum aliquando deorsum per dochleas circum- 
 ductam, non est meae parvitatis hoc sermone explicare quod 
 sanctus ipse praesul animarum, a Spiritu Dei doctus, opere 
 facere excogitavit; neque ullam domum aliam citra Alpes 
 montes talem ajdirieatam audivimus." Eddii Vita Wilfridi, 
 cap. xxii. p. 62. 
 
 p « Promnditatem ipsius ecclesiaa criptis et oratoriis subter- 
 raneis, et viarum anfractibus, inferius cum magna industria 
 fundavit : parietes autem quadratis et variis et bene politis co- 
 kunpnis suffultos, et tribus tabulates distinctos immensae longi- 
 tudinis et altitudinis erexit: ipsos etiam et capitella colump- 
 narum quibus sustentantur, et arcum sanctuarii historiis et 
 imaginibus et variis celaturarum figuris ex lapide promi- 
 nentibus et picturarum et colorum grata varietate mirabilique 
 decore decoravit: ipsum quoque corpus ecclesia? appenticiis 
 et porticibus uudique circumcinxit, qua? miro atque inexplica- 
 bili artificio per parietes et cocleas inferius et superius distinxit : 
 in ipsis vero cocleis et super ipsas, ascensoria ex lapide et 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 REV. J. BENTII AM S 
 
 says he, " St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth 
 for the crypts and oratories, and the passages 
 leading to them, which were there with great 
 exactness contrived and built under ground: 
 the walls, which were of great length, and 
 raised to an immense height, and divided into 
 three several stories or tiers, he supported by 
 square and various other kinds of well-polished 
 columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the 
 columns which supported them, and the arch 
 of the sanctuary, he decorated with historical 
 representations, imagery r and various figures 
 in relief, carved in stone, and painted with a 
 most agreeable variety of colours. The body 
 of the church he encompassed about with 
 pentices and porticos, which, both above and 
 below, he divided with great and inexpressible 
 art, by partition walls and winding stairs. 
 Within the staircases, and above them, he 
 caused flights of steps and galleries of stone, 
 
 deambulatoria, et varlos viarum amfractus modo sursum 
 niodo deorsum artificiosissime ita machinari fecit, ut innumera 
 hominum multitude) ibi existere, et ipsum corpus ecclesiae cir- 
 cumdare possit, cum a neinine tameu infra in ea existentium 
 videri queat: oratona quoque quam plurima superius et infe- 
 rius secretissima et pulcherrima in ipsis porticibus cum max- 
 ima diligentia et cautela constituit, in quibus altaria in honore 
 B^Dei genitricis semperque virginis Mariae et S. Michaelis 
 arehangeli sanctique Johannis Bapt. et sanctorum aposto- 
 lorum, martyi um, coufessorumj atque viigmum^ cum eorum 
 apparitibus honestissnne prjeparari fecit: unde etiam usque 
 hodie quaidain illorum ut turres et propugnacula superemi- 
 uent." Richardi Prions Hagust. lib. i. cap. 3. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 37 
 
 and several passages leading from them, both 
 for ascending and descending, to be so art- 
 fully disposed, that multitudes of people 
 might be there, and go quite round the 
 church, without being seen by any one below 
 in the nave : moreover, in the several divisions 
 of [23] the porticos or aisles both above and 
 below, he erected many most beautiful and 
 private oratories of exquisite workmanship; 
 and in them he caused to be placed altars in 
 honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, St. 
 Michael, St. John Baptist, and holy apostles, 
 martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all de- 
 cent and proper furniture to each of them; 
 some of which remaining at this day, appear 
 like so many turrets and fortified places/' He 
 also mentions some other particulars of this 
 church, and concludes with telling us, " It 
 appears from ancient history and chronicles, 
 that of all the nine monasteries over which 
 that venerable bishop presided, and of all 
 others throughout England, this church of 
 St. Andrew in Hexham, was the most elegant 
 and sumptuous, and that its equal was not 
 to be met with on this side the Alpes V The 
 same historian further informs us, that there 
 were in his time at Hexham, two other 
 churches'; one not far from the wall of the 
 
 •J Richard. Prior. Hagustal. lib. i. cap. 3. 
 T Ibid. cap. 4. 
 
38 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAl's 
 
 mother church, of admirable work, built in 
 form of a tower and almost circular, having 
 on the four principal points so man y porticos, 
 and was dedicated to the honour of the blessed 
 Virgin Mary ; the other, a little further off, 
 dedicated to St. Peter; besides a third on the 
 other side of the river Tine, about a mile dis- 
 tant from the town, dedicated to St. Michael 
 the archangel 5 ; and that the general tradition 
 was, that these three churches were founded 
 by bishop Wilfrid, but finished by his suc- 
 cessor Acca. 
 
 It may be collected from Bede 1 , that 
 churches and monasteries were very scarce in 
 Northumberland about the middle of this 
 century; but before the end of it, several very 
 elegant ones were erected in that kingdom, 
 owing chiefly to the noble spirit of Wilfrid, 
 bishop of York. This prelate was then in 
 high favour with Oswi and Egfrid, kings of 
 Northumberland, and most of the nobility of 
 that kingdom ; by whose unbounded liberality 
 in lands, and plate and jewels, and all kind 
 of rich furniture, he rose to a degree of opu- 
 lency as to vie with princes in state and mag- 
 nificence; and this enabled him to found se- 
 veral rich monasteries, and build such stately 
 edifices in those parts as cannot but excite the 
 
 s Redae Hist. lib. v. cap. 2. line 17. 
 
 1 Ibid. lib. ii. cap. 14. and lib. in. cap. £. 
 
ESSAY. 39 
 
 admiration of posterity u . To prosecute these 
 great undertakings, he gave all due encou- 
 ragement to the most skilful builders and ar- 
 tificers of every kind, eminent in their several 
 ways, and by proper rewards always kept 
 them in his service, to the great advantage and 
 emolument of his country: some of these he 
 procured at Canterbury, when he had pre- 
 vailed on Eddius and Eona to undertake the 
 instructing his choirs in the Roman manner of 
 singing": other eminent builders and artists 
 he invited, or brought over with him from 
 Rome, Italy, Erance, and other countries, for 
 that purpose w : and, according to [24] 
 Malmesbury and Eddius, was eminent for his 
 knowledge and skill in the science of archi- 
 tecture, and himself the principal director in 
 all those works, in concert with those excel- 
 lent masters whom the hopes of preferment 
 
 u The famous abbat Benedict Biscopius, sometime com- 
 panion of Wilfrid, in his travels, was about that time engaged 
 m the same noble designs, and founded the monasteries of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul, at Wermouth and Gyrwi. 
 
 u " Cum cantoribus iEdde et Eona, et caementariis, om- 
 nisque pene artis ministerio in regionem suam revertens, cum 
 regula Benedicti instituta ecclesiarum Dei bene melioravit." 
 Eddii Vit, S. Wilfridi, cap. xiv. Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. 
 cap. Q. 
 
 w " De Roma quoque, et Italia, et Francia, et de aliis ter- 
 ris ubicumque invenire poterat, caementarios, et quoslibet alios 
 industrios artifices secum retinuerat, et ad opera sua facienda 
 • secum in Angliam adduxerat." Richard. Prior. Hagulst. lib. 
 i. cap. 5. 
 
40 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 had invited from Rome and other places * to 
 execute those excellent plans which he had 
 formed. But of all his works the church of 
 Hexham was the first and most sumptuous, 
 and, as far as appears, was never equalled by 
 any other in this kingdom whilst the Saxons 
 continued to govern: indeed, there was no 
 period since the establishment of Christianity 
 among them, in which those polite and elegant 
 arts that embellish life and adorn the country 
 seem to have made so great advances as during 
 the time he continued in favour. Neither was 
 his fame confined to the kingdom of Northum- 
 berland ; his great abilities and reputation for 
 learning gained him respect in the other king- 
 doms of the heptarchy: Wulfere and Ethelred, 
 kings of Mercia, often invited him thither to 
 perform the episcopal office among them, and 
 for his advice and instructions in founding 
 several monasteries. He also happily finished 
 the conversion of the heptarchy, by preaching 
 the Gospel to the kingdom of the South 
 Saxons, containing what are now the counties 
 of Surrey and Sussex, the only one which 
 
 x « Ibi (apud Hagustaldhem) aedificia minaci altitudine 
 murorum erecta, mirabile quantum expolivit, arbitratu quidem 
 multa proprio, sed et caementarioriuir, quos ex Roma spes 
 numificentias attraxerat, magisterio, &c." Will. Malmesb. 
 de Gestis Pontif. Angl. p, 21% Eddii Vit. S. Wilfridi, cap* 
 xxii. 
 
ESSAY. 41 
 
 remained till that time unconverted; for which 
 end he had been kindly entertained by king 
 Edilwalch, who gave him the peninsula of 
 Selesea y ; where also he founded a monastery, 
 in which the espiscopal see was at first placed, 
 but afterwards removed to Chichester. And 
 that the church and monastery at Ely, founded 
 by St. Etheldreda, were built under his direc- 
 tion, seems highly probable, as from many 
 other circumstances, so in particular from 
 what is related by the Ely historian z ; viz. 
 That he spent a considerable time with her on 
 her coming to Ely, in settling the economy of 
 her convent, was entrusted with the whole 
 conducting of her affairs, and (if I rightly 
 understand his meaning) formed the plan of 
 
 r Bedae Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. cap. 13. Eddii Vit. S. Wilfridi, 
 cap. xl. 
 
 z " Solus autem Wilfridus pontifex, quern virgo regina prae 
 omnibus in regno dilectum et electum babuerat, suis tunc ne- 
 cessitatibus provisorem adhibuit, jura illic administravit epis- 
 copalia; a quo, sicut in Beda legitur, facta est abbatissa." 
 Lib. Elien. MS. lib. i. cap. 15. 
 
 " Post modicum fratris sui memorati regis Aldulfi auxiliis 
 majore inibi (in Ely) constructo monasterio virginum Deo 
 devotarum perplurium, mater virgo et exemplis vitae ccepit 
 esse et monitis, quarum usibus ex integro insulam constituit." 
 Ibid. 
 
 " Sanctus Wilfridus — ut earn in Ely descendisse cognove- 
 rat, festinus advolat de animae commodis, de statu mentis, de 
 qualitate conversationis tractatur. Deinde in abbatissze officio 
 earn gregemque illic adunatum consecravit, locum sua dispo- 
 sitione constituit, seque in omnibus solicitum exhibuit; ubi 
 vitam non solum sibi, sed cunctis ibidem existentibus utilem 
 aliquanto tempore duxit; a quo ipsa plurimum regendi con- 
 silium et vitse solatium habuit." Ibid. cap. xvi. 
 
42 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAll's 
 
 her monastery; though the necessary funds 
 for carrying on the work, he tells us, were sup- 
 plied by her brother Aldulfus, king of the 
 East Angles. There are very considerable 
 ruins of this ancient Saxon monastery at Ely 
 still in being, especially of the church that 
 belonged to it ; — what kind of fabric that was, 
 we shall be the better able to determine when 
 we come to take a view of those venerable re- 
 mains, and shall give a more particular de- 
 scription of them [25] in the state they now 
 are. In the mean time I shall proceed in some 
 further observations on the state of architec- 
 ture among the Saxons, and show not only 
 that the opinion which some authors have en- 
 tertained of their churches and monasteries, 
 as if they were usually wooden fabrics, is 
 erroneous, and has no foundation in true his- 
 tory ; but also that very elegant stone build- 
 ings, supported by pillars and arches, were 
 Very common with them. 
 
 In the beginning of the 8th century, the 
 same style of architecture that was used here 
 in England by the Saxons, was making its 
 way into the more northern parts of this 
 island ; for Bede tells us b , that in the year 
 710, Naiton, king of the Picts, in a letter he 
 wrote to Ceolfrid, abbat of Gyrwi, informed 
 
 b Becke Hist. Eccl. lib. v. cap. 21. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 43 
 
 him, among other things, of his intending to 
 build a church of stone to the honour of St. 
 Peter; requesting, at the same time, to send 
 him some artificers to build it after the Roman 
 manner. Hence it should seem that the style 
 of architecture generally used in that age, in 
 England, was called the Roman manner, and 
 was the same that was then used at Rome, in 
 Italy, and in other parts of the empire. 
 
 About the same time, A. D. 71 6, Ethelbald, 
 king of Mercia, founded the monastery of 
 Croyland, in Lincolnshire'. The soil was 
 marshy, and not well able to support a fabric 
 of stone: in which circumstances a timber 
 building might be thought most expedient, on 
 account of its lightness, had such been gene- 
 rally used in that age. However, we find the 
 king caused a vast number of large oaken 
 piles to be driven into the ground, and more 
 solid earth to be brought in boats nine miles 
 by water, and laid thereon, to make it the 
 more sound and commodious for building; 
 and then laid the foundation of the church 
 of stone, which he finished, and also all the 
 necessary offices of that monastery, on which 
 he bestowed many ornaments and privileges, 
 and liberally endowed it. 
 
 But perhaps one of the most complete 
 Saxon ^hurches that we have any authentic 
 
 c Ingulphi Hist. Croyland. p. 4. 
 
44 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 account of, is that of St. Peter in York, as 
 it was rebuilt about the middle of the 8th 
 century. The church founded there by king 
 Edwin, and finished by his successor, king 
 Oswald, and afterwards repaired by bishop 
 Wilfrid, as mentioned before, having received 
 great damage by a fire which happened in 
 the year 741 d , archbishop Albert, who was 
 promoted to that see, A. D. 767, thought 
 proper to take it wholly down and rebuild 
 it. This Albert was of a noble family, and a 
 native of York ; in his younger days he was 
 sent by his parents to a monastery, where, 
 making a great proficiency in learning, he 
 was ordained a deacon, and afterwards a 
 priest; being taken into the family of arch- 
 bishop Egbert, to whom he was nearly related 
 in blood, he was by him preferred to the mas- 
 tership of the celebrated school at York, 
 where he employed himself in educating 
 youth in grammar, rhetoric, and poetry ; and 
 taught also astronomy, natural philosophy, 
 and divinity. He afterwards travelled and 
 visited Rome, and the most eminent seats of 
 learning abroad, and was solicited by several 
 foreign princes to stay, but declined it; and 
 returning home, he brought [26] with him a 
 fine collection of books he had met with in 
 
 d Chron. Mailros. Simeon Dunelm. and Hoveden ad an- 
 num 741. Tanner's Notit. Monast. p. 627. 
 
ESSAY. 45 
 
 his travels, and soon after was made arch- 
 bishop of York. Finding his church in a 
 ruinous condition, occasioned probably by the 
 late fire, and perhaps not sufficiently repaired 
 since that,accident, he determined to take it 
 wholly down, and to rebuild it. The prin- 
 cipal architects he employed in that work 
 were two of his own church, and who had 
 received their education under him, namely, 
 Eanbald, (who afterwards succeeded him in 
 the see of York) and the famous Alcuin ; both 
 of them reckoned among the most learned 
 men of that age; who, with great zeal and 
 unanimity, begun, carried on, and finished it 
 in a few years; and, as appears by the descrip- 
 tion, executed the work in a most sumptuous 
 and magnificent manner. Albert just lived 
 to see his church completed : for growing old 
 and infirm, he either resigned his see, or took 
 Eanbald, his intended successor, for his coad- 
 jutor in the episcopal office, for the three or 
 four last years of his life ; and they both as- 
 sisted at the consecration of it, only ten days 
 before his death, which happened, according 
 to Alcuin, November the 8th, 780. His noble 
 collection of books he deposited in the library 
 at York, probably the same which is said to 
 have been founded by archbishop Egbert 6 ; 
 
 • Willielm. Malmesburiens. de Pontificibiis Angl. l,ib. Hi. 
 f. 153. 
 
46 
 
 REV. J. BENTIIAm's 
 
 but which he greatly augmented by the addic- 
 tion of all those he had procured in his travels 
 abroad ; and committed them to the custody 
 of the learned Alcuin, who gratefully cele- 
 brates the memory of his patron, and ranks 
 him in the highest class amongst men of emi- 
 nence, in that age, for learning, piety, and 
 munificence; and has at the same time left 
 us a description of this church, which I shall 
 give below in his own words f . 
 
 From the description here given, in which 
 the principal members and requisites of a 
 complete and finished edifice are expressed, 
 pillars, arches, vaulted roofs, windows, porti- 
 cos, galleries, and variety of altars, with their 
 
 { " Ast nova basilicae mirae structura diebus 
 Praesulis hujus erat jam coepta, peracta, sacrata. 
 Haac nimis alta domus solidis suffulta eolumnis, 
 Supposita quae stant curvatis arcubus, intus 
 Emicat egregiis laquearibus atque feuestris, 
 Pulchraque porticibus fulget circumdata multis, 
 Plurima diversis retinens solaria tectis, 
 Quae triginta tenet variis omatibus aras. 
 H oc duo discipuli teinpluni, doctore jubente, 
 JEdificarunt Eanbaldus et Alcuinus, ambo 
 Concordes operi devota niente studentes. 
 Hoc tamen ipse pater socio cum praesule templuin 
 Ante die decima quam clauderet ultima vita? 
 Lumina pragsentis, Sophiae sacraverat almae." 
 
 This account of archbishop Albert, and his rebuilding St. 
 Peter's church in York, is extracted from Alcuin's poem, 
 De Pontificibiis et Sanctis Ecclesia Eboi\ published by Dr. 
 Gale, A. D. 1691, in which his life is more fully wrote. The 
 name of Albert is barely mentioned by bishop Godwin, in 
 his catalogue of Bishops; though his great learning, piety, 
 and munificence, well deserve to have his name transmitted to 
 latest posterity. 
 
) 
 
 ESSAY. 47 
 
 proper ornaments and decorations, the reader 
 will, in some measure, be able to form a 
 judgment of the whole, and be apt to conclude 
 that architecture was carried in that age to 
 some considerable degree of perfection. 
 
 Mr. Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting 
 in England, and incidental notes on other 
 Arts, observes s , " that as all the other arts 
 were formerly confined to cloisters, so also was 
 architecture too ; and that when we read that 
 such a bishop or such an abbat built such 
 and such an edifice, they often gave the plans 
 as well as furnished the necessary funds/' 
 The justness of this observation appears in 
 this instance of rebuilding [27] St. Peter s in 
 York, of which Eanbald and Alcuin were the 
 chief architects ; in that of the church belong- 
 ing to Gyrwi monastery, built by abbat 
 Benedict Biscopius ; and those of the churches 
 of Rippon, Hexham, and Ely, by bishop 
 Wilfrid; and in many other instances that 
 occur in history, some of which may be taken 
 notice of afterwards. And indeed it is highly 
 probable that the principal architects of many 
 or most of our best churches and monasteries, 
 both in this and succeeding ages, were some 
 or other of those religious societies themselves, 
 who, generally speaking, wanted only inferior 
 
 s Vol. i. p. 110. 
 
43 UEV. J. BEtfTH AM*S 
 
 artists and workmen to carry their designs 
 into execution; and even of these they were 
 in part supplied out of their own houses, 
 where the elegant and polite arts, particularly 
 those of sculpture and painting, were much 
 cultivated and improved. 
 
 In the 9th century, the frequent and almost 
 continual invasions of this kingdom by the 
 Danes, introduced the greatest disorder and 
 confusion in the state, and brought it almost 
 to the brink of ruin. War, and its necessary 
 attendants, the desolation and destruction of 
 our churches, monasteries, and other edifices, 
 both public and private, with the slaughter of 
 the inhabitants, take up the greatest part of 
 the annals of those times. Meanwhile arts 
 and sciences, which in the last century had 
 been in a very flourishing condition, began to 
 be neglected; and religion and learning lost 
 their proper influence on men's minds, and 
 were sinking apace into disrepute and con- 
 tempt \ In the midst of these public cala- 
 mities, however, it pleased Providence to raise 
 to the throne Alfred, worthily surnamed the 
 Great \ The vigorous measures he pursued 
 to rescue his country from the hands of those 
 barbarous invaders of it, and to restore it to 
 
 h Asser. de Rebus Gestis Alfred^ p. 27. 
 ? Floren. Wigorn. A. D. 871. 
 
ESSAY. 49 
 
 its former lustre, deserve the highest enco- 
 miums. Engaged as he was in continual 
 wars, during his whole reign of near thirty 
 years, he never ceased to exert his utmost 
 endeavours to restore religion and learning, to 
 promote commerce, to cultivate and improve 
 all the fine and elegant arts k . His court was 
 the resort of learned men of all professions, 
 as well his own subjects as foreigners, invited 
 thither from the neighbouring kingdoms, and 
 retained there by proper rewards Among 
 his other accomplishments he was skilful in 
 architecture, and excelled his predecessors in 
 elegance of building and adorning his pa- 
 laces 1 "; in constructing large ships for the 
 security of his coasts n , and erecting castles 
 in convenient parts of the kingdom. Indeed 
 architecture before this time had been almost 
 wholly confined to religious structures; but 
 now was, by Alfred and his two immediate 
 successors, chiefly applied to military pur- 
 poses, in erecting fortresses and towers, and 
 in building and repairing walled towns, 
 become necessary to curb the insolence and 
 perfidy of the Danes; and thus by adding to 
 the defence and security, he also greatly im- 
 
 k Matth. Westm. ad an. 888. 
 1 Iugulphi Hist. p. 27- edit. Gale. 
 m Flor. Wigorn. ad an. 871 & 887. 
 n Matth. Westm. ad an. 897. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAl's 
 
 proved the face of the country". He also 
 encouraged the repairing of churches, founded 
 two monasteries, and restored some others p : 
 and to all these great works he allotted, and 
 constantly expended, a considerable part of 
 his revenue q . But the mischiefs the kingdom 
 had sustained were immense, and the evils too 
 heavy to be soon removed, and indeed 
 required more than one age to do it; for it is 
 certain that neither the exalted genius nor the 
 active zeal even of the great Alfred himself, * 
 were [28] ever able effectually to remove 
 them. Part of this- work, however, was car- 
 ried on by his successor in the next age. 
 
 Edward, his son, who succeeded him in the 
 year 900, though inferior to his father in 
 learning, surpassed him in martial glory r . 
 His genius too was turned to architecture, 
 but it was chiefly military : he built fortresses 
 in different parts of the kingdom, encompassed 
 cities and great towns with Avails and other 
 means of defence, to check the sudden incur- 
 sions of the Danes; out of whose hands he 
 wrested the kingdoms of the East Angles and 
 Northumberland, and. obliged the Scots and 
 
 ° Ingulphi Hist. p. 27. 
 p Flor. Wigovn. ad an. 887- 
 i Ibid. — Matth. Westm. ad an. 888. 
 r Matth. Westm. et Flor. Wigoru. ad an. 901. Ingulphi 
 Hist. p. 28. 
 
ESSAY. 51 
 
 Welsh to own his sovereignty s . He is said to 
 have repaired the university of Cambridge \ 
 after it had been burnt by the Danes ; though 
 whether is meant of restoring it as a seat of 
 learning, or only rebuilding the town, is not 
 clear. Some churches and monasteries, in- 
 deed, were founded or repaired in his reign, 
 in that of Athelstan u , and his immediate suc- 
 cessors; but the more general restoration of 
 them was reserved for the peaceable times of 
 king Edgar. 
 
 Edgar is said to have founded more than 
 forty monasteries u ; but they were chiefly such 
 as had been destroyed by the Danes, and were 
 either in possession of the secular clergy, or 
 had lain desolate to that time ; and so may 
 more properly be said to have been repaired 
 only, and restored to their former use s — how- 
 ever, several monasteries were first founded in. 
 his time; and by the accounts we have of 
 them, it appears that some new improvements 
 in architecture had lately been made, or were 
 about that time introduced. The famous 
 
 s Mattli. Westm. ad an. 907- Flor. Wigorn. ad an. 921, 
 
 c Rudborne, Angl. Sacr. vol. i. p. 209. 
 
 u Ingulphi Hist. p. 29. — Matth. Westm. ad an. 939. — 
 Malmesb. de Pontif. lib. v. p. 362. edit. Gale, inter xv. 
 Scriptores. 
 
 u Matth. Westm. et Flor. Wigorn. ad an. 957- — <( Non fuit 
 in Anglia monasterium sive ecclesia cujus non emendaret eul- 
 turn vel ifedificia." Monast. Angl. vol, i. p. 33. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 REV. J. BENTIIAM'S 
 
 abbey of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire w , was 
 one of these; and was founded by Ailwin, 
 alderman of all England, as he is styled, with 
 the assistance of Oswald, bishop of Worcester, 
 afterwards archbishop of York. All the offices 
 and the church belonging to this monastery 
 were new built under the direction of Ednoth, 
 one of the monks of Worcester, sent thither 
 for that purpose. This church, which was six 
 years in building, was finished in the year 
 974, and in the same year, on the 8th of 
 November, with great solemnity, dedicated 
 by Oswald, then raised to the archiepiscopal 
 see of York, assisted by Alfnoth, bishop of 
 the diocese, in the presence of Ailwin and 
 other great men. By a description given of 
 this church, in the history of that abbey x , it 
 appears to have had " two towers raised above 
 the roof, one of them at the west end of the 
 church, affording a noble prospect at a dis- 
 tance to them that approached the island; 
 the other, which was larger, was supported 
 by four pillars in the middle of the building, 
 
 w Hist. Ramesiensisj cap. xx. p. 399- inter xv. Scriptores, 
 edit, per Gale. 
 
 x " Dime quoque tunes ipsis tectorum culminibus emine- 
 bant, quarum minor versus occidentem in fronte basilieae pul- 
 chrum intrantibus insulam a longe spectaculiun pra^bebat; 
 major vero in quadriridas structure medio columnas quatuor, 
 porrectis de alia ad aliam arcubus sibi invicem connexas., no 
 laxe defiuereut, dcpriiuebat." Ibid. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 53 
 
 where it divided in four parts, being connected 
 together by arches, which extended to other 
 adjoining arches, to keep them from giving 
 way." From this passage one may easily col- 
 lect, that the plan of this new church was a 
 cross, with side-aisles, and was adorned with 
 two [29] towers, one in the west front, and 
 the other in the intersection of the cross; a 
 mode of building, I apprehend, which had 
 not then been long in use here in England; 
 for it is obvious to remark, that in the descrip- 
 tions we have remaining of the more ancient 
 Saxon churches, as particularly those of St. 
 Andrew's, at Hexham, and St. Peters, at 
 York y , fully enough described; not a word 
 occurs, by which it can be inferred that these, 
 or indeed any other of them, had either cross 
 buildings or high towers raised above the 
 roofs ; but, as far as we can judge, were mostly 
 square % or rather oblong buildings, and gene- 
 rally turned circular at the east end a ; inform 
 nearly, if not exactly, resembling the basilica, 
 or courts of justice in great cities throughout 
 
 y See p. 34. 45. 
 
 z St. Peter's at York, begun by king Edwin A. D. 627, is 
 particularly reported by Bede to have been of that form; 
 " per quadrum coepit gedificare basilicam." Bedae Hist. Eccl. 
 lib. ii. cap. 14. 
 
 a An ancient church at Abbendon, built about the year 675, 
 by Heane the first abbat of that place, was an oblong build- 
 ing, 120 feet in length; and, what is singular, was of a circu- 
 lar form on the west as well as on the east. — " Habebat in 
 longitudine 120 pedes, et erat rotundum tarn in parte occi- 
 dentali quam in parte orientali." Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 98. 
 
54 REV. J. bentham's 
 
 the Roman empire; many of which were in 
 fact converted into Christian churches b , on 
 the first establishment of Christianity under 
 Cons tan tine the Great; and new-erected 
 churches were constructed on the same plan, 
 on account of its manifest utility for the re- 
 ception of large assemblies. Hence basilica 
 was commonly used in that and several suc- 
 ceeding ages for ecclesia or church, and con- 
 tinued so even after the form of our churches 
 was changed. Noav these basilica differed in 
 their manner of construction from the templa ; 
 for the pillars of these latter were on the out- 
 side of the building, and consequently their 
 porticos exposed to the weather; but the pil- 
 lars of the former were within, and their por- 
 ticos open only towards the nave or main 
 body of the building; their chief entrance also 
 was on one end, the other usually termina ting 
 in a semi-circle: and this, I conceive, was the 
 general form of our oldest Saxon churches. 
 The plan of the old conventual church at Ely, 
 founded in the year 673, conveys a good idea 
 of it; except that the original circular end 
 having been occasionally taken down, as I 
 find, in the year 1102, and another building, 
 ending also in a semi-circle, erected in its 
 room. The original form is traced out by 
 dotted lines at a, PI. 5. 
 
 h Camden's Britannia, col. 780. edit. Gibson. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 It is highly probable that the use of bells 
 gave occasion to the first and most consi- 
 derable alteration that was made in the 
 general plan of our churches, by the necessity 
 it induced of having strong and high-raised 
 edifices for their reception. The aera indeed 
 of the invention of bells is somewhat obscure c ; 
 and it must be owned that some traces of them 
 may be discovered in our monasteries even in 
 the seventh century"; yet I believe one may 
 venture to assert, that such large ones as 
 required distinct buildings for their support, 
 do not appear to have been in use among us 
 till the tenth century; about the middle of 
 which we find several of our churches were 
 furnished with them, by the munificence of 
 our kino-s e . And the account we have of St. 
 Dunstans gifts to Malmesbury abbey, by 
 their historian, plainly shows they were [30] 
 not very common in that age; for he says f , 
 the liberality of that prelate consisted chiefly 
 
 c Vid. Spelmanni Gloss, ad Campana. 
 d Bedze Hist. lib. iv. cap. 23. 
 
 e « Ethelstanus rex (circa A. D. 935) dedit quatuor mag- 
 nas campanas Sto. Cuthberto." Monast. -Angl. vol. 1. p. 40. 
 lin. 52. — " Rex Eadredus duo signa non modica ecclesiaj 
 Eboracensi donavit." Matth. Westm. ad an. 946.— Rex 
 Edgarus, circa A. D. 974. ecclesiae Ramesiensi dedit— duas 
 campanas, 20 librarum pretio comparatas." Hist. Ramesien. 
 cap. xxii. edit. Gale. 
 
 * S. Dunstanus — " in multis loco munificus, quae tunc m 
 Anglia magui miraculi essent, decusque et ingenium coufe- 
 
56 REV. j. bentham's 
 
 in such things as were then wonderful and 
 strange in England; among which he reckons 
 the large bells and organs he gave them. But 
 from this period they became more frequent, 
 and in time the common furniture to our 
 churches. 
 
 Bells, no doubt, at first suggested the neces- 
 sity of towers : towers promised to the imagi- 
 nation something noble and extraordinary, in 
 the uncommon effects they were capable of 
 producing, by their requisite loftiness and 
 variety of forms. The hint was improved, 
 and towers were built not only for necessary 
 use § , but often for symmetry and ornament, 
 in different parts of the fabric; and particu- 
 larly when the plan of a cross was adopted, 
 the usefulness of such a building appeared in 
 the intersection of the cross, adding strength 
 to the whole, by its incumbent weight on that 
 
 rentis offerre crebro. Inter quae signa sono et mole praestantia ; 
 et organa," &c. Will. Malmesb. de Pontif. lib. v. edit. Angl. 
 Sacr. vol. ii. p. 33. — " Dunstanus, cujus industria refloruit 
 ecclesia (Glaston.) — fecit organa et signa duo praecipua, et 
 campanam in refectorio." Will. Malmesb. de Antiq. Glaston. 
 Eccies. p. 324. edit. Galei. — " Athelwoldus abbas monasterii 
 de Abendon, regnante Edgaro rege, fecit duas campanas, quas 
 in domo (Dei) posuit, cum aliis duabus, quas B. Dunstanus 
 fecisse perhibetur." Mon. Angl. vol. i. p. 104. lin. 42. 
 
 s The campanile, or that particular tower allotted for the 
 use of bells, was sometimes a distinct separate building of 
 itself; but more commonly adjoined to the church, so as to 
 make part of the fabric, usually at the west end. — Vid. Monast. 
 Angl. vol. i. p. 995. lin. 42. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 57 
 
 part \ This is the short history of the origin 
 of towers and steeples; which always have 
 been, and still are, considered as the pride 
 and ornament of our churches. Possibly these 
 innovations might begin under king Alfred: 
 the encomiums bestowed on him as an archi- 
 tect 1 look that way, and seem to point at 
 some notable improvements in that art in his 
 time; perhaps from models imported from 
 abroad by some of the learned foreigners he 
 usually entertained in his court. However, 
 there is room enough for panegyric on that 
 head k , without ascribing to him " the re-edi- 
 fying and restoring almost every monastery in 
 his dominions, which either the prevailing 
 poverty of the times, or the sacrilegious fury 
 of the Danes, had brought to ruin; his 
 building many and improving more 1 :" all 
 which may with great truth and propriety be 
 applied to king Edgar: it is sufficient to say, 
 there were two monasteries undoubtedly of 
 Alfred's foundation, Athelney and Shaftes- 
 bury. Of the former some account is given 
 by Malmesbury 1 "; it was situate on a small 
 
 h See this explained by Sir Christopher Wren, in his 
 Letter to Bishop Sprat, in Widmore's Hist, of Westminster 
 Abbey, p. 53. 
 
 1 " In arte architectonica summus." Malmesb. de Reg. 
 Angl. 
 
 k Flor. Wigorn. ad an. 887- 
 
 1 Biographia Britan. under jElfred. 
 
 m Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 202. 
 
58 eev. j. bentham's 
 
 river-island in Somersetshire, containing only 
 two acres of firm ground, surrounded with an 
 extensive morass, which rendered it difficult 
 of ^access: king Alfred founded it there in 
 pursuance of a religious vow, as it had once 
 afforded him a safe retreat in time of his 
 great distress : " The church, on account of 
 its confined situation, was not large, but con- 
 structed in a new mode of building; for four 
 piers firmly fixed on the ground supported 
 the whole structure, having four chancels of a 
 circular form in its circumference V This 
 [31] church was probably one of his first 
 essays in architecture ; a model rather than a 
 finished piece, a specimen of that new form 
 then introduced, in which one may discover 
 the rudiments of a cross and of a tower, which 
 we find were afterwards brought to greater 
 perfection, and were the fashionable improve- 
 ments in the next age; as appears by Ailwin's 
 church at Ramsay above mentioned °. 
 
 Had there been more remains of these 
 ancient structures now in being, or had our 
 ecclesiastical writers been more express, we 
 
 n " Fecit ecclesiam situ quidem pro angustia spacii modi- 
 cam, sed novo aadificandi modo compactam; quatuor enim 
 postes solo infixi totam suspendunt machinam, quatuor can- 
 cellis opere spherico in circuitu ductis." Ibid. — It is not quite 
 clear, from this description, whether it was of stone or timber. 
 The word postes, used for the pillars or supporters, does not, 
 I think, determine either wav. 
 
 Page 5\, 52. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 69 
 
 might at this time have been able to speak 
 with greater certainty concerning them : but. 
 monuments of that kind are very rare p , and 
 what descriptions we have are mostly ex- 
 pressed in such general terms as give little or 
 no satisfaction in the particulars we want to 
 know. Sir Christopher Wren, speaking of 
 the old abbey church of Westminster, built 
 by king Edgar, gives his opinion of what kind 
 of architecture the Saxons used 9 : " This, 'tis 
 probable, was a good strong building, after 
 the manner of the age, not much altered from 
 the Roman way. We have some forms of 
 this ancient Saxon way, which was with piers, 
 
 p The Saxon way of building was, as Sir Christopher 
 Wren observes, very strong. There were many cathedral 
 and conventual churches of that kind at the time of the Con- 
 quest, which might therefore probably have continued to this 
 day, had they not been pulled down, or suffered to run to ruin 
 by neglect : one principal cause of which was the removal of the 
 bishops' sees (some of which had been placed in villages or 
 small towns) to cities and more populous places, by the council 
 of London, A. D. 1078. This occasioned the old Saxon 
 cathedrals in the deserted sees to be neglected and fall to 
 decay ; and in those places where they were suffered to continue, 
 they were soon after demolished, to make room for the more 
 stately fabrics of the Normans; except in some few instances, 
 where perhaps some parts of the old Saxon fabrics may be 
 found incorporated with the then new works of the Normans. 
 The ruin of the rest is easily accounted for, considering what 
 havoc was made of them at their surrender, and the effectual 
 means used by the visitors appointed by king Henry VIII. to 
 destroy them. See Willis's Hist, of Abbies, vol. i. p. 180, 
 181, and vol. ii. Pref. p. 7- 
 
 q Letter to the Bishop of Rochester, in Wren's Parentalia, 
 and in Widmore's Hist, of Westm. Abbey, p. 44. 
 
60 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM's 
 
 or round pillars (stronger than Tuscan or 
 Doric), round-headed arches, and windows. 
 Such was Winchester cathedral of old, and 
 such at this day are the royal chapel in the 
 White Tower of London, the chapel of St. 
 Cross's, the chapel of Christ Church in Oxford, 
 formerly an old monastery, and divers others 
 I need not name, built before the Conquest; 
 and such was St. Paul's, built in king Rufus's 
 time. These ancient structures were without 
 buttresses, only with thicker walls; the win- 
 dows were very narrow and lattised r ; for king 
 Alfred is praised for inventing lanterns to 
 keep in the lamps in the churches." This 
 eminent architect, I doubt, could not easily 
 recollect such specimens of buildings, as he 
 was really satisfied were built before the Con- 
 quest, which his discourse naturally led him 
 to inquire after; for the instances he brings 
 were undoubtedly erected after that period; 
 by this, however, he discovers his own 
 opinion, that the Saxon and Norman archi- 
 tecture was the same. 
 
 T (The windows narrow and lattised.) If the meaning bej, 
 that the windows before Alfred's time were not glazed — it is 
 apprehended this is a mistake. See p. 32, note i. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 61 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN ARCHITECTURE BY THE 
 NORMANS. 
 
 Our historians [32] expressly mention a new 
 mode of architecture brought into use by the 
 Normans, and particularly apply it to the 
 abbey church at Westminster, built by king 
 Edward the Confessor, circa A. D. 1050, in 
 which he was buried s ; and afterwards speak 
 of it as the prevailing mode throughout the 
 kingdom \ This account has not a little per- 
 plexed our modern critical inquirers, who are 
 at a loss to ascertain the real difference be- 
 tween the Saxon and Norman mode of 
 building. 
 
 In order, therefore, to reconcile these seem- 
 ingly different accounts, it is proper to ob- 
 serve, that the general plan and disposition of 
 all the principal parts in the latter Saxon and 
 earliest Norman churches was the same: the 
 chief entrance was at the west end into the 
 nave; at the upper end of that was a cross, 
 with the arms of it extending north and south, 
 
 5 " Sepultus est (rex Edwardus) Londini in ecclesia, quam 
 ipse novo compositions genere construxerat; a qua p6st 
 multi ecclesias construentes, exemplum adepti, opus illud ex- 
 pensis aemulabantur sumptuosis." Matth. Paris Hist. p. J. 
 " Ecclesiam aedificationis genere novo fecit." W. Malinesb. 
 de Gest. Reg. 
 
 1 " Videas ubique in villis ecclesias, in vicis et urbibus mo- 
 nasteria, novo sedificandi genere gonsurgere." Malmesb. 
 ibid. p. 102. 
 
6% REV. j. bentiiam's 
 
 and the head (in which was the choir) towards 
 the east, ending usually in a semi-circular 
 form: and in the centre of the cross was a 
 tower; another was frequently added (and 
 sometimes two, for the sake of ornament or 
 symmetry), to contain the bells ; the nave, and 
 often the whole building, was encompassed 
 with inner porticos ; the pillars were round, 
 square, or angular, and very strong and mas- 
 sive; the arches and heads of the doors and 
 windows were all of them circular. In these 
 respects it may perhaps be difficult to point 
 out any considerable difference between the 
 Saxon and Norman architecture. In a popu- 
 lar sense, however, I apprehend there will 
 appear a sufficient distinction to entitle the 
 latter a new mode of building, as our histo- 
 rians call it, in respect to the former. 
 
 The Saxons, some time before the ruin of 
 their state, as Malmesbury observes", had 
 greatly fallen from the virtue of their ances- 
 tors in religion and learning; vice and irreli- 
 gion had gained the ascendant, and their moral 
 character was at the lowest ebb; in their way 
 of living they were luxurious and expensive, 
 though their houses were at the same time 
 rather low and mean buildings u . The Nor- 
 
 u De Regibus Angliae, p. 101. 
 
 u " Parvis et abjectis domibus lotos sumptus absumebant : 
 Francis et Normannis absimilies, qui amplis et superbis a>di- 
 fichs modicas expensas -agunt.— Normanni erant tunc et sunt 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 63 
 
 mans, on the contrary, were moderate and 
 abstemious, and delicate withal in their diet; 
 fond of stately and sumptuous houses; af- 
 fected pomp and magnificence in their mien 
 and dress, and likewise in their buildings, pub- 
 lic as well as private. They again introduced 
 civility and the liberal arts, restored learning, 
 and endeavoured to raise again religion from 
 the languid state into which it was fallen : to 
 this end they repaired and enlarged the 
 churches and monasteries, and erected new 
 ones every where, in a more stately and sump- 
 tuous manner than had been known in these 
 kingdoms before. This is what our historians 
 take notice of, and call it a new manner of 
 building; we style it now the Norman archi- 
 tecture; the criterion of which is, I conceive, 
 chiefly its massiveness and enlarged dimen- 
 sions, in which it far exceeded the Saxon. 
 Some specimens of this Norman kind of 
 building had indeed been produced a little 
 time before the Conquest, owing to our com- 
 munication with the Normans, whose customs 
 and manners king Edward, who had been 
 
 adhuc vestibus ad invidiam culti, cibis citra ullam nimietatem 
 delicati. Domi jngentia sediiicia (ut dixi) moderates sumptu* 
 moliri, paribus iuvidere superiores praetergredi velle^ Sec. Re- 
 ligions normam in Anglia usque quaque emortuam adventu 
 suo suseitarunt; videas ubique in villis ecclesias, in vicis et 
 urbibus monasteria novo aedincandi genere consurgere, recenti 
 ritu patriam florere, ita ut sibi perisse. diem quique opulentus 
 existimet, quern non aliqua prasdara magniikeutia jllustfet." 
 Ibid. p. 102. 
 
64 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM's 
 
 educated in that court was fond of intro- 
 ducing w ; — such was the abbey church which 
 he erected at Westminster, and " served after- 
 wards as a pattern to other builders, being 
 rivalled by many, at a great expense x " such 
 also was St. Peter's church in Gloucester, 
 built about the same time, part of which is 
 still remaining : this mode of building, in the 
 language of professed artists, we find, is 
 reckoned the same with the Saxon: all the 
 difference, as far as appears to us at this dis- 
 tance of time, was in the magnitude or size 
 of their several buildings. The Saxon churches 
 were often elegant fabrics, and well con- 
 structed, as has been observed before ; but 
 generally of a moderate size, frequently begun 
 and finished in five or six years, or less time. 
 The works of the Normans were large, sump- 
 tuous, and magnificent; of great length and 
 breadth, and carried up to a proportionable 
 height, with two and sometimes three ranges 
 of pillars one over another, of different 
 dimensions, connected together by various 
 
 w f< Rex Edwardus natus in Anglia, sed nutritus in Nor- 
 mannia, et diutissime immoratus, pene in Gallicum transierat, 
 adducens ac attrahens de Normannia plurimos, quos variis 
 dignitatibus promotes in immensum exaltabat — ccepit ergo 
 tota terra sub rege, et sub aliis Nonnannis introductis Anglicos 
 ritus dimittere et Francorum. mores in multis imitari." Ingulphi 
 Hist. p. 62. edit. Gale. 
 
 x " A qua post multi ecclesias construentes, exemplum 
 adepti, opus illud expensis asmulabantur sumptuosis." Matth. 
 Paris Hist. p. 1. 
 
essay* 65 . 
 
 arches y (all of them circular) ; forming thereby 
 a lower and upper portico, and over them a 
 gallery ; and on the outside three tiers of win-* 
 dows : in the centre was a lofty strong tower, 
 and sometimes one or two more added at the 
 west end, the front of which generally ex- 
 tended beyond the side-aisles of the nave or 
 body of the church; 
 
 The observation made on rebuilding St. 
 Paul's in king William Rufus's time, after the 
 fire of London in 1086, by Mauritius, bishop 
 of that see, viz. " That the plan was so ex- 
 tensive, and the design so great, that most 
 people who lived at that time censured it as a 
 rash undertaking, and judged that it never 
 would be accomplished is in some measure 
 applicable to most of the churches begun by 
 the Normans.— Their plan was indeed great 
 and noble, and they laid out their whole de- 
 sign at first; scarcely, we may imagine, with 
 a view of ever living to see it completed in 
 
 y " Diversis fultum columnis, ac multiplicibus volutura 
 hinc et hide arcubus :" as Sulcardus, a monk of Westminster, 
 describes the abbey church there, built by Edward the Con- 
 fessor; which was of this kind. Widmore's Hist, of West- 
 minster Abbey, p. 10. 
 
 * " Nova fecit (Mauritius) fundamenta tam spaciosa, ut 
 qui ea tempestate vixerunt plerique coeptum hoc ejus tanquam 
 temerarium et audax nimium reprehenderent, nunquam futu- 
 rum dicentes, ut molis tam ingentis structura aliquando perli- 
 ceretur." Godwin de Pra:3ul. Angl. p. 175. 
 
66 REV. j. bentham's 
 
 their lifetime : their way therefore was usually 
 to begin at the east end, or the choir part; 
 when that was finished, and covered in, the 
 church was often consecrated; and the [34] 
 remainder carried on as far as they were able, 
 and then left to their successors to be com- 
 pleted : and it is very observable, that all our 
 cathedral, and most of the abbey churches, 
 besides innumerable parochial churches, were 
 either wholly rebuilt or greatly improved 
 within less than a century after the Conquest, 
 and all of them by Normans introduced into 
 this kingdom; as will evidently appear on ex- 
 amining the history of their several founda- 
 tions a . It was the policy of the first Norman 
 kings to remove the English or Saxons from 
 all places of trust or profit, and admit none 
 but foreigners: insomuch that Malmesbury, 
 who lived in the reign of Henry I. observes, 
 " That in his time there was not one English- 
 man possessed of any post of honour or profi t 
 under the government, or of any considerable 
 
 a Particular accounts may be found in Dugdale's Monas- 
 ticon, Godwin de Prassulibus Angliae, Willis's History of 
 Abbies, &c. Thus Lanfranc, promoted to the see of Canter- 
 bury 1070,. begun the foundation of a new church there. 
 Thomas I. archbishop of York 1070 — Walcher bishop of 
 Durham 1071 — Walkeliue of Winchester 1070 — Reinigius 
 of Lincoln 1076' — all of them foreigners, did the like in their 
 several sees; and so of the rest. 
 
- ESSAY. 67 
 
 office in the church V The bishoprics and 
 all the best ecclesiastical preferments were 
 filled by those foreigners, and the estates of 
 the Saxon nobility were divided among them. 
 Thus being enriched and furnished with the 
 means, it must be owned, they spared neither 
 pains nor cost in erecting churches, monas- 
 teries, castles, and other edifices both for pub- 
 lic and private use, in the most stately and 
 sumptuous manner. And I think Ave may 
 venture to say, that the circular arch, round- 
 headed doors and windows, massive pillars, 
 with a kind of regular base and capital, and 
 thick walls, without any very prominent but- 
 tresses, were universally used by them to the 
 end of king Henry the First's reign, A. D. 
 1134; and are the chief characteristics of 
 their style of building: and among other pe- 
 culiarities that distinguish it, we may observe, 
 that the capitals of their pillars were gene- 
 rally left plain, without any manner of sculp- 
 ture; though instances occur of foliage and 
 animals on them; as those on the east side of 
 the south transept at Ely. The body or trunk 
 of their vast massive pillars were usually plain 
 cylinders, or set off only with small half- 
 
 b " Anglia facta est exterorum habitatio, et alienigenarum 
 doxninatio; nullus hodie Anglus dux, vel pontifex, vel abbas; 
 advenae quique divitias et viscera corrodunt Anglia?; nec spes 
 ulla est fmiendae miserise." Malmesb. de Reg. AngL p. 93. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 REV. j. bentham's 
 
 columns united with them; but sometimes to 
 adorn them they used the spiral groove wind- 
 ing round them, and the net or lozenge work 
 overspreading them; both of which appear 
 at Durham, and the first in the undercroft at 
 Canterbury. As to their arches, though they 
 were for the most part plain and simple, yet 
 some of their principal ones, as those over the 
 chief entrance at the west end, and others 
 most exposed to view, were abundantly 
 charged with sculpture of a particular kind ; 
 as the cheveron work or zig-zag moulding, the 
 most common of any ; and various other kinds 
 rising and falling, jetting out and receding in- 
 ward alternately, in a waving or undulating 
 manner; — the embattled frette, a kind of or- 
 nament formed by a single round moulding, 
 traversing the face of the arch, making its re- 
 turns and crossings always at right angles, so 
 forming the intermediate spaces into squares 
 alternately open above and below ; specimens 
 of this kind of ornament appear on the great 
 arches in the middle of the west front at Lin- 
 coln, and within the ruinous part of the build- 
 ing adjoining to the great western tower at 
 Ely ; — the triangular frette, where the same 
 kind of moulding at every [35] return forms 
 the side of an equilateral triangle, and conse- 
 quently encloses the intermediate spaces in 
 that figure; — the nail-head, resembling the 
 
ESSAY. 69 
 
 heads of great nails driven in at regular dis- 
 tances, as in the nave of old St. Paul's, and 
 the great tower at Hereford (all of them found 
 also in more ancient Saxon buildings) ; — the 
 billetted moulding, as if a cylinder should be 
 cut into small pieces of equal length, and these 
 stuck on alternately round the face of the 
 arches; as in the choir of Peterborough, at 
 St. Cross, and round the windows of the, upper 
 tire on the outside of the nave at Ely : this 
 latter ornament was often used (as were also 
 some of the others) as a fascia, band, or fillet, 
 round the outside of their buildings. Then 
 to adorn the inside walls below, they had rows 
 of little pillars and arches ; and applied them 
 also to decorate large vacant spaces in the 
 walls without: and the corbel table, consisting 
 of a series of small arches without pillars, but 
 with heads of men and animals, serving in- 
 stead of corbels or brackets to support them, 
 which they placed below the parapet, pro- 
 jecting over the upper, and sometimes the 
 middle tire of windows; — the hatched mould- 
 ing, used both on the faces of the arches, or 
 for a fascia on the outside ; as if cut with the 
 point of an ax at regular distances, and so left 
 rough; and the nebule, a projection termi- 
 nating by an undulating line 
 as under the upper range of windows at Peter- 
 borough. To these marks that distinguish 
 
70 rev. j. bentham's 
 
 the Saxon or Norman style, we may add that 
 they had no tabernacles (or niches with cano- 
 pies), or pinnacles, or spires; or indeed any 
 statues to adorn their buildings on the outside, 
 which are the principal grace of what is now 
 called the Gothic ; unless those small figures 
 we sometimes meet with over their door-ways s 
 such as is that little figure of bishop Herebert 
 Losing over the north transept door at Nor- 
 wich, seemingly of that time; or another 
 small figure of our Saviour over one of the 
 south doors at Ely, &c. may be called so: 
 but these are rather mezzo-relievos than sta- 
 tues; and it is known that they used reliefs 
 sometimes with profusion ; as in the Saxon or 
 Norman gateway at Bury, and the two south 
 doors at Ely. Escutcheons of arms are hardly, 
 if ever, seen in these fabrics, though frequent 
 enough in after times : neither was there any 
 tracery in their vaultings. These few parti- 
 cularities in the Saxon and Norman style of 
 building, however minute they may be in ap- 
 pearance, yet will be found to have their use, 
 as they contribute to ascertain the age of an 
 edifice at first sight \ 
 
 c Some curious observations on the difference between the 
 Norman style of building used in the Conqueror's reign and 
 that in use under Henry II. may be met with in the account 
 given by Gervase, a monk of Canterbury, of the fire that hap- 
 pened there A. D. 1174*, and burnt the choir, and of the re- 
 pairing of the same. X. Scriptores, col. 1302. lin. 43, 44, 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 71 
 
 It cannot be expected we should be able 
 to enumerate all the decorations they made 
 use of, for they designed variety in the choice 
 of them ; but a judicious antiquarian who 
 has made the prevailing modes of architecture 
 in distant times his study, will be able to 
 form very probable conjectures concerning 
 the age of most of these ancient structures; 
 the alterations that have been made in them 
 since their first erection will often discover 
 themselves to his eye. Perhaps the most 
 usual change he will find in them is in the 
 form of the windows; for in many of our 
 oldest churches, I mean such as were built 
 within the first age after the Conquest, the 
 windows, which were originally round-headed, 
 have since been altered for others [36] of a 
 more modern date, with pointed arches. 
 Instances of this kind are numerous, and may 
 often be discovered, by examining the courses 
 of the stone-work about them ; unless the out- 
 ward face of the building was new-cased at 
 the time of their insertion, as it sometimes 
 happened: without attending to this, we shall 
 be at a loss to account for that mixture of 
 round and pointed arches we often meet with 
 in the same building. 
 
 There is perhaps hardly any one of our 
 cathedral churches of this early Norman style 
 (I mean with round arches and large pillars) 
 
72 ItEV. j. bentham's 
 
 remaining entire, though they were all ori- 
 ginally so built; but specimens of it may still 
 be seen in most of them. The greatest part 
 of the cathedrals of Durham, Carlisle, Chester, 
 Peterborough, Norwich, Rochester, Chiches- 
 ter, Oxford, Worcester, Wells; and Hereford; 
 the tower and transept of Winchester, the 
 nave of Glocester, the nave and transept of 
 Ely, the two towers of Exeter, some remains 
 in the middle of the west front of Lincoln, 
 with the lower parts of the two towers there ; 
 in Canterbury, great part of the choir, for- 
 merly called Conrade's choir (more orna- 
 mented than usual), the two towers called St. 
 Gregory's and St. Anselm's, and the north- 
 west tower of the same church ; the collegiate 
 church of Southwell, and part of St. Bartho* 
 lomew's in Smithfield, are all of that style; 
 and so was the nave and transept of old St. 
 Paul's d , London, before the fire in 1666; York 
 and Lichfield have had all their parts so 
 entirely rebuilt at separate times, since the 
 disuse of round arches, that little or nothing 
 of the old Norman work appears in them at 
 this day. The present cathedral church of 
 Salisbury is the only one that never had any 
 mixture of this early Norman style in its com- 
 position : the old cathedral, begun soon after 
 
 d A view of the inside by Hollar is preserved in Pugdale's. 
 Hist, of St, Paul's, 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 73 
 
 the Conquest, and finished by Roger, that 
 great and powerful bishop of Salisbury under 
 Henry I. was at old Sarum, and of the same 
 kind ; it stood in the north-west part of the 
 city, and the foundations are still visible : if 
 one may form a judgment of the whole by 
 the ruins that remain, it does not appear 
 indeed to have been so large as some other of 
 those above mentioned; but it had a nave 
 and two porticos or side-aisles, and the east 
 end of it was semi-circular; its situation, on a 
 barren chalky hill, exposed to the violence of 
 the winds, and subject to great scarcity of 
 water, and that within the precincts of the 
 castle (whereby frequent disputes and quar- 
 rels arose between the members of the church 
 and officers of the castle), gave occasion to 
 the bishop and clergy in the reign of Henry 
 III. to desert it, and remove to a more con- 
 venient situation about a mile distant towards 
 the south-east, where Richard Poore % at that 
 time bishop, begun the foundation of the pre- 
 sent church on the fourth of the calends of 
 May, 1220. It consists entirely of that style 
 which is now called (though I think impro- 
 perly) Gothic ; a light, neat, and elegant form 
 of building; in which all the arches are (not 
 round but) pointed, the pillars small and 
 
 c Price's Observations on the Cathedral Church of SaliH* 
 bury, p. 8. Camden's Britan. col. 107. note y. 
 
74 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 slender, and the outward walls commonly 
 supported with buttresses. 
 
 The term Gothic, applied to architecture, 
 was much used by our ancestors in the last 
 century, when they were endeavouring to re- 
 cover the ancient Grecian or Roman manner 
 (I call it indifferently by either of those names, 
 for the Romans borrowed it from the Greeks) : 
 whether they had then a retrospect to those 
 particular times when the Goths ruled in the 
 empire, or only used it as a term of reproach, 
 to stigmatize the productions [37] of ignorant 
 and barbarous times, is not certain; but I 
 think they meant it of Roman architecture ; 
 not such, certainly, as had been in the age of 
 Augustus (which they were labouring to 
 restore), but such as prevailed in more dege- 
 nerate times, when the art itself was almost 
 lost, and particularly after the invasions of 
 the Goths ; in which state it continued many 
 ages after without much alteration. Of this 
 kind was our Saxon and earliest Norman 
 manner of building, with circular arches and 
 strong massive pillars, but really Roman 
 architecture, and so was called by our Saxon 
 ancestors themselves f . Some writers call all 
 our ancient architecture, without distinction 
 of round and pointed arches, Gothic : though 
 
 f Bedag Hist. Eccl. lib. v. cap. 21. and Hist. Abb. Wire- 
 muth. et Gyrw. p. 295. line 4. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 75 
 
 1 find of late the fashion is to apply the term 
 solely to the latter; the reason for which is 
 not very apparent. The word Gothic no 
 doubt implies a relation some way or other to 
 the Goths; and if so, then the old Roman 
 way of building with round arches above 
 described seems to have the clearest title to 
 that appellation ; not that I imagine the Goths 
 invented, or brought it with them ; but that it 
 had its rise in the Gothic age, or about the 
 time the Goths invaded Italy. The style of. 
 building with pointed arches is modern, and 
 seems not to have been known in the world 
 till the Goths ceased to make a figure in it. 
 Sir" Christopher Wren thought this should 
 rather be called the Saracen way of building: 
 the first appearance of it here was indeed in 
 the time of the crusades; and that might 
 induce him to think the archetype was brought 
 hither by some who had been engaged in those 
 expeditions, when they returned from the 
 Holy Land. But the observations of several 
 learned travellers g who have accurately sur- 
 veyed the ancient mode of building in those 
 parts of the world, do by no means favour 
 that opinion, or discover the least traces of 
 it. Indeed I have not yet met with any satis - 
 factory account of the origin of pointed arches, 
 
 g Pococke, Norden, Shaw. 
 
76 REV. j. bentham's 
 
 when invented, or where first taken notice of: 
 some have imagined they might possibly have 
 taken their rise from those arcades we see in 
 the early Norman or Saxon buildings on walls, 
 where the wide semi-circular arches cross and 
 intersect each other, and form thereby, at 
 their intersection, exactly a narrow and sharp- 
 pointed arch. In the wall south of the choir 
 at St. Cross is a facing of such wide round 
 interlaced arches by way of ornament to a 
 flat vacant space; only so much of it as lies 
 between the legs of the two neighbouring 
 arches, where they cross each other, is pierced 
 through the fabric, and forms a little range of 
 sharp-pointed windows : it is of king Stephen's 
 time; whether they were originally pierced I 
 cannot learn. But whatever gave occasion 
 to the invention, there are sufficient proofs 
 they were used here in the reign of Henry II. 
 The west end of the old Temple church, built 
 in that reign, and dedicated by Heraclius 
 patriarch of the church of the Holy Resur- 
 rection in Jerusalem, (as appears by the 
 inscription 11 lately over the door) is now 
 remaining; and has, I think, pointed and 
 round arches originally inserted; they are 
 intermixed ; the great arches are pointed, the 
 windows above are round ; the west door is a 
 
 * Stow's Survey of London, p. 746. edit. 1754. 
 
ESSAY. 77 
 
 round arch richly ornamented ; and before it 
 a portico or porch of three arches, supported 
 by two pillars; that opposite to the church- 
 door is round, the other two pointed, but 
 these have been rebuilt. The great western 
 tower of Ely cathedral, built in the same reign 
 by Geoffry By del bishop there, [38] who died 
 A. D. 1189, consists of pointed arches. At 
 York, under the choir, remains much of the 
 old work, built by archbishop Roger in Henry 
 the Second's reign ; the arches are but just 
 pointed, and rise on short round pillars, whose 
 capitals are adorned with animals and foliage : 
 many other instances of the same age might 
 be recollected; and possibly some may occur 
 of an earlier date; for this, like most novelties, 
 we may suppose was introduced by degrees. 
 
 In Henry the Third's reign the circular arch 
 and massive column seem wholly to have been 
 laid aside, and the pointed arch and slender 
 pillar being substituted in their room, obtained 
 such general approbation throughout the 
 kingdom, that several parts of those strong 
 and stately buildings that had been erected 
 in the preceding age were taken down, and 
 their dimensions enlarged, in order to make 
 room for this new mode of building. The 
 cathedral church of Salisbury is wholly of this 
 kind of architecture; it was begun early in 
 
78 rev. j. bentham's 
 
 that reign *, and finished in the year 1258. 
 This church (says a competent judge k of such 
 matters) " may be justly accounted one of 
 the best patterns of architecture in the age 
 wherein it was built/' To which we may 
 add, that it has this advantage of all others, 
 that the whole plan was laid out at once, and 
 regularly pursued throughout the whole course 
 of its building in the same style to its finishing; 
 whence arise that uniformity, symmetry, and 
 regular proportion observable in all the parts 
 of it, not to be found in any other of our 
 cathedral churches; which having been all 
 originally built with circular arches and heavy 
 pillars, and most of them afterwards renewed, 
 in part or in whole, at different times, and 
 under all the changes and variety of modes 
 that have prevailed since the first introduction 
 of pointed arches, now want that regularity 
 and sameness of style so necessary to con- 
 stitute an entire and perfect building. In the 
 same reign were considerable additions made 
 to several of our cathedral and other churches, 
 especially at 'their east end ; some of[ which, as 
 they are still remaining, may serve to illustrate 
 the particular style then in use: such is that 
 elegant structure at the east end of Ely cathe- 
 
 1 Godwin de Praesul, .Anglia^ p. 545. 
 k Sir Chr. Wren, in Parental la,, p. 304. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 79 
 
 dral \ built by Hugh Norwold, bishop of Ely m , 
 who, in the year 1234, took down the circular 
 east end of the church, and laid the foundation 
 of his new building, now called the Presbytery, 
 which he finished in 1250. King Henry also n , 
 in the year 1245, ordered the east end, tower, 
 and transept of the abbey church \ at West- 
 minster, built by Edward the Confessor, to 
 be taken down, in order to rebuild them at 
 his own expense in a more elegant form: he 
 did not live, it seems, to complete his whole 
 design ; but the difference of style in that part 
 of the church from the other, westward of the 
 cross, which was also rebuilt afterwards, indi- 
 cates how far the work was carried on in that 
 king's time, or soon after. " The new work 
 of St. Paul's, so called, at the east end, above 
 the choir, was begun in the year 1251. Also 
 the new work of St. Paul's, to wit, the cross- 
 aisles, were begun to be new built in the year 
 1256°." Besides these, we find there were a 
 great manyjconsidefable alterations and addi- 
 tions made to [39] several other cathedral and 
 
 1 The whole of the building called the Presbytery consists 
 of nine arches; only the six easternmost, with that end, were 
 built by Bishop Norwold; the other three adjoining to the 
 dome were afterwards rebuilt by bishop Hotham, in the reigns 
 of Edward II. and Edward III. 
 
 m MS. Bibl. Cotton. Tiberius, B. Q.fol. 246. 
 
 n Matth. Paris Hist. p. 581. 861. 
 
 ° Stows Survey of Lond. vol. i. p. 639. 
 
80 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAl's 
 
 conventual churches and new buildings car- 
 rying on about the same time in different 
 parts of the kingdom; some of which are 
 particularly taken notice of by our histo- 
 rians p . 
 
 During the whole reign of Henry III. the 
 fashionable pillars to our churches were of 
 Purbcc marble, very slender and round, en- 
 compassed with marble shafts a little de- 
 tached, so as to make them appear of a pro- 
 portionable thickness : these shafts had each 
 of them a capital richly adorned with foliage, 
 which together in a cluster formed one elegant 
 capital for the whole pillar. This form, 
 though graceful to the eye, was attended with 
 an inconvenience, perhaps not apprehended 
 at first; for the shafts designed chiefly for 
 ornament, consisting of long pieces cut out 
 horizontally from the quarry, when placed in 
 a perpendicular situation were apt to split 
 and break; which probably occasioned this 
 manner to be laid aside in the next century. 
 There was also some variety in the form of the 
 vaultings in the same reign ; these they gene- 
 rally chose to make of chalk, for its lightness ; 
 but the arches and principal ribs were of free- 
 
 p Monast. Angl. vol. i. p. 273. line 44. p. 386. line 40. 
 p. 752. line 1 1 . et vol. iii. p. 270. Godwin de Pnesul. Angl. 
 p. 371, 372. 461. 503. 505. 678. 742. 
 
Essay, 
 
 81 
 
 stone. The vaulting of Salisbury cathedral, 
 one of the earliest, is high pitched, between 
 arches and cross-springers only, without any 
 further decorations ; but some that were built 
 soon after are more ornamental, rising from 
 their imposts with more springers, and 
 spreading themselves to the middle of the 
 vaulting, are enriched at their intersection with 
 carved orbs, foliage, and other devices — as in 
 bishop Norwold's work above mentioned q . 
 
 As to the windows of that age, we find they 
 were long, narrow, sharp-pointed, and usually 
 decorated on the inside and outside with small 
 marble shafts: the order and disposition of 
 the windows varied in some measure according 
 to the stories of which the building consisted : 
 in one of three stories, the uppermost had 
 commonly three windows within the compass 
 of every arch, the centre one being higher than 
 those on each side ; the middle tire or story had 
 two within the same space; and the lowest only 
 one window, usually divided by a pillar or 
 mullion, and often ornamented on the top with 
 a trefoil, single rose, or some such simple de- 
 coration; which probably gave the hint for 
 branching out the whole head into a variety of 
 tracery and foliage, when the windows came 
 afterwards to be enlarged. The use of painted 
 
 * Page 79- 
 G 
 
82 
 
 REV. J. BE NT HAM'S 
 
 and stained glass in our churches is thought 
 to have begun about this time r . This kind 
 of ornament, as it diminished the light, induced 
 the necessity of making an alteration in the 
 windows, either by increasing the number or 
 enlarging their proportions; for though a 
 gloominess rather than over-much light seems 
 more proper for such sacred edifices, and " bet- 
 ter calculated for recollecting the thoughts, 
 and fixing pious affections/' as the elegant 
 writer last cited observes s ; yet without that 
 alteration, our churches had been too dark 
 and gloomy; as some of them now, being 
 divested of that ornament, for the same rea- 
 son appear over-light. 
 
 As for spires and pinnacles, with which our 
 oldest churches are sometimes, and more mo- 
 dern ones are frequently decorated, I think 
 they are not very ancient. The towers and 
 turrets of churches built by the Normans, in 
 the first century after [40] their coming, were 
 covered, as platforms, with battlements or 
 plain parapet walls ; some of them indeed 
 built within that period we now see finished 
 with pinnacles or spires; which were additions 
 since the modern style of pointed arches pre- 
 vailed ; for before we meet with none. One 
 of the earliest spires we have any account of 
 
 1 Ornaments of Churches considered, p. 94. 
 s Ibid. * 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 83 
 
 is that of old St. Paul's \ finished in the year 
 1222; it was, I think, of timber, covered with 
 lead; but not long after, they begun to build 
 them of stone, and to finish all their buttresses 
 in the sa*me manner. 
 
 Architecture under Edward I. was so nearly 
 the same as in his father Henry the Third's 
 time, that it is no easy matter to distinguish 
 it. Improvements no doubt were then made, 
 but it is difficult to define them accurately. 
 The transition from one style to another is 
 usually effected by degrees, and therefore not 
 very remarkable at first, but it becomes so at 
 some distance of time : towards the latter part 
 indeed of his reign, and in that of Edward II. 
 we begin to discover a manifest change of the 
 mode as well in the vaulting and make of the 
 columns as the formation of the windows. 
 The vaulting was, I think, more decorated 
 than before; for now the principal ribs arising 
 from their impost, being spread over the inner 
 face of the arch, run into a kind of tracery ; 
 or rather with transforms divided the roof 
 into various angular compartments, and were 
 usually ornamented in the angles with gilded 
 orbs, carved heads or figures, and other em- 
 bossed work. The columns retained some- 
 thing of their general form already described, 
 
 * Stow's Survey of London, p. 639- edit. 1754. 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 that is, as an assemblage of small pillars or 
 shafts; but these decorations were now not 
 detached or separate from the body of the 
 column, but made part of it, and being closely 
 united and wrought up together, formed one 
 entire, firm, slender, and elegant column. The 
 windows were now greatly enlarged, and 
 divided into several lights by stone mullions 
 running into various ramifications above, and 
 dividing the head into numerous compart- 
 ments of different forms, as leaves, open flow- 
 ers, and other fanciful shapes ; and more par- 
 ticularly the great eastern and western win- 
 dows (which became fashionable about this 
 time) took up nearly the whole breadth of the 
 nave, and were carried up almost as high as 
 the vaulting; and being set off with painted 
 and stained glass of most lively colours, with 
 portraits of kings, saints, martyrs, and con- 
 fessors, and other historical representations, 
 made a most splendid and glorious appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The three first arches of the presbytery ad- 
 joining to the dome and lantern of the cathe- 
 dral church of Ely, begun the latter part of 
 Edward the Second's reign, A. D. 1322, 
 exhibit elegant specimens of these fashionable 
 pillars, vaulting, and windows. St. Mary's 
 chapel (now Trinity parish church) at Ely, 
 built about the same time, is constructed on 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 85 
 
 a different plan; but the vaulting and win- 
 dows are in the same style. The plan of this 
 chapel, generally accounted one of the most 
 perfect structures of that age, is an oblong 
 square; it has no pillars nor side-aisles, but is 
 supported by strong spiring buttresses, and 
 was decorated on the outside with statues 
 over the east and west windows ; and witbin- 
 side also with statues, and a great variety of 
 other sculpture well executed u . 
 
 [41] The same style and manner of build- 
 ing prevailed all the reign of Edward III. and 
 with regard to the principal parts and mem- 
 bers, continued in use to the reign of Henry 
 VII. and the greater part of Henry VIII.; 
 only towards the latter part of that period 
 the windows were less pointed and more open ; 
 a better taste for statuary began to appear; 
 and indeed a greater care seems to have been 
 bestowed on all the ornamental parts, to give 
 them a lighter and higher finishing; particu- 
 larly the ribs of the vaulting, which had been 
 large, and seemingly formed for strength and 
 support, became at length divided into such 
 an abundance of parts issuing from their im- 
 posts as from a centre, and spreading them- 
 
 u The fashion of adorning the west end of our churches 
 jwith rows of statues in tabernacles or niches, with canopies 
 over them, obtained very soon after the introduction of pointed 
 arches; as may be seen at Peterborough and Salisbury; and 
 in later times we find them in a more improved taste, as at 
 Lichfield and Wells. 
 
86 
 
 t 
 
 REV. J. BENTIIAM's 
 
 selves over the vaulting, where they were in- 
 termixed with such delicate sculpture as gave 
 the whole vault the appearance of embroidery, 
 enriched with clusters of pendent ornaments, 
 resembling the works Nature sometimes forms 
 in caves and grottos, hanging doAvn from their 
 roofs. The most striking instance of this kind 
 is, without exception, the vaulting of that 
 sumptuous chapel of king Henry VII. at 
 Westminster. 
 
 To what height of perfection modern archi- 
 tecture (I mean that with pointed arches, its 
 chief characteristic) was carried on in this 
 kingdom appears by that one complete speci- 
 men of it, the chapel founded by king Henry 
 VI. in his college at Cambridge, and finished 
 by King Henry VHP. The decorations, 
 harmony, and proportions of the several parts 
 
 u It is formed on the same plan as St. Mary's chapel at 
 Ely, and indeed the design is said to have been thence taken. 
 King Henry VI. laid the foundations of the whole about the 
 year 1441, which were raised five or six feet above ground in 
 the west end, but much higher towards the east; for that end 
 was covered in many years'before the west end w s finished. 
 How far the work proceeded in the founder's time cannot be 
 said with certainty: the troubles he met within the latter part 
 of his reign hindered the prosecution of it. Richard III. a 
 few months before he was slain, had signed a warrant for 
 300/. out of the temporalities of the bishopric of Exeter, 
 then in his hands, towards carrying on the building (MS. Har- 
 leian, No. 433. fol. 2QQ, b.)j but I believe nothing more was 
 done by him. Henry VII. undertook the work, and carried 
 up the remainder of the battlements, and completed the tim- 
 ber roof: after his death, king Henry VIII. finished the whole 
 fabric, as well the towers and finials as the vaulted roof 
 within, and fitted up the choir in the manner we now see it.—- 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 87 
 
 of this magnificent fabric, its fine painted win- 
 dows', and richly ornamented spreading roof, 
 its gloom, and perspective, all concur in af- 
 fecting the imagination with pleasure and de- 
 light, at the same time that they inspire awe 
 and devotion. It is undoubtedly one of the 
 most complete, elegant, and magnificent struc- 
 tures in the kingdom. And if, besides these 
 larger works, we take into our view those spe- 
 cimens of exquisite workmanship we meet 
 with in the smaller kinds of oratories, cha- 
 pels w , and monumental edifices, produced so 
 late as the reign of Henry VIII. some of 
 which are still in being, or at least so much of 
 them as to give us an idea of their former 
 grace and beauty; one can hardly help con- 
 cluding, that architecture arrived at its highest 
 point of glory in this kingdom but just before 
 its final period. 
 
 [42] At that time no country was better 
 furnished and adorned with religious edifices, 
 
 One contract for building the stone vault, and three of the 
 towers, and twenty-one fynyalls (the upper finishing of the but- 
 tresses), dated the 4th of Henry VIII. A. D. 1513; and 
 another for vaulting the two porches and sixteen chapels about 
 the building, dated the following year, are still m the archives 
 of the college. . 
 
 w Bishop West's chapel at the east end of the south aisle 
 of Ely cathedral, built in the reign of Henry VIII. affords an 
 elegant specimen of the most delicate sculpture, and such 
 variety of tracery, beautiful colouring, and gilding, as vyill not 
 easily be met with in any work produced before that reign. 
 
88 REV. j. bentham's 
 
 in all the variety of modes that had prevailed 
 for many centuries past, than our own. The 
 cathedral churches in particular were all ma- 
 jestic and stately structures. Next to them 
 the monasteries, which had been erected in all 
 parts of the kingdom, might justly claim the 
 pre-eminence; they were, for the generality 
 of them, fine buildings; and the churches and 
 chapels belonging to some of them equalled 
 the cathedrals in grandeur and magnificence, 
 and many others were admired for their rich- 
 ness and elegance; and, whilst they stood, 
 were without doubt the chief ornament to the 
 several counties in which they were placed. 
 
 The state of these religious houses, on occa- 
 sion of the reformation in religion then car- 
 rying on, became the object of public delibe- 
 ration; but however necessary and expedient 
 the total suppression of them might be judged 
 at that time, yet certainly the means that were 
 made use of to suppress them were not alto- 
 gether the most justifiable, and the manner of 
 disposing of them and their great revenues has 
 been found in some respects detrimental to 
 the true interests of religion. For had the 
 churches belonging to them been spared, and 
 made parochial in those places where they 
 were much wanted, and had the lands and 
 impropriated tithes, which the several religious 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 89 
 
 orders had unjustly taken from the secular 
 clergy, and kept possession of by papal au- 
 thority, been reserved out of the general sale 
 of their revenues, and restored to their proper 
 use, the maintenance of the clergy, to whom 
 of right they belonged, we at this time should 
 have had less cause to regret the general ruin 
 of all those religious houses that ensued, and 
 the present scanty provision that remains to 
 the clergy in some of the largest cures in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The havoc and destruction of those sump- 
 tuous edifices that soon followed their surren- 
 der, gave a most fatal turn to the spirit Oj 
 building and adorning of churches ; architec- 
 ture in general was thereby discouraged, and 
 that mode of it in particular which was then 
 in a very flourishing state, and had continued 
 so for more than three centuries, sunk under 
 the weight, and was buried in the ruins of 
 those numerous structures which fell at that 
 time. 
 
 Unhappily, the orders and injunctions given 
 to the several commissioners under king Henry 
 VIII. and in the following reign during the 
 minority of Edward VI. and likewise in queen 
 Elizabeth's time, for removing and taking 
 away all shrines and superstitious relics, and 
 seizing all superfluous jewels and plate 9 were 
 
90 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM'S 
 
 often misapplied, carried to excess, and ex- 
 ecuted in such a manner as to have, at least in 
 some instances, the appearance of sacrilegious 
 avarice rather than of true zeal for the glory 
 of God and the advancement of religion. 
 
 Be that as it may, certain it is that at this 
 time, when most of the churches belonging to 
 the religious orders were utterly ruined and 
 destroyed, our cathedral and parochial 
 churches and chapels suffered greatly; for 
 they were divested and spoiled, not only of 
 their images and superstitious relics, but of 
 their necessary and most unexceptionable or- 
 naments ; and afterwards, by the outrages and 
 violence committed on them in the last cen- 
 tury, during the unhappy times of confusion 
 in the great rebellion, they were reduced to a 
 still more deplorable state and condition, and 
 left [43] naked and destitute of all manner of 
 just elegance, and of every mark and charac- 
 ter of external decency. 
 
 It must be owned, that in several interme- 
 diate periods a zeal for the honour of God 
 and his holy religion has not been wanting to 
 heal these wounds, to repair and fitly re-adorn 
 these sacred structures; but it has not been 
 attended with the success that all wise and 
 good men must wish for and desire. Many 
 of our parochial churches still carry the marks 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 91 
 
 of violence committed in those days ; others 
 through inattention and neglect (besides the 
 defects they are unavoidably subject to by 
 age) are become ruinous and hasting to utter 
 decay, unless timely supported: insomuch 
 that very few of them, excepting those in 
 large and populous cities and towns, the 
 number of which is small in comparison of 
 the rest, can justly be considered as in a pro- 
 per state of repair, decent and becoming 
 structures consecrated to the public service 
 of God. The chapels indeed belonging to 
 the several colleges in the two universities 
 (very few need to be excepted) claim our par- 
 ticular notice for the care and expense we 
 find bestowed on them, the decent order in 
 which they are kept, and the justness and 
 elegance of their ornaments. And our cathe- 
 dral churches, those monuments of the pious 
 zeal and magnificence of our forefathers, we 
 doubt not will soon appear again in a state 
 becomino; their dignity. The care and at- 
 tention that is paid them by the present set 
 of governors in their respective churches x 
 
 * To instance the particular cathedral churches that have 
 been repaired and beautified within the last thirty or forty 
 years, and the several designs formed to bring them to a still 
 more perfect state, would carry me beyond my present purpose. 
 It may be sufficient only to intimate what has been done of 
 late at York, Lincoln, Peterborough, Ely, Norwich, 
 Chichester, Salisbury, &c. But as that particular scheme for 
 
92 
 
 REV. J. BENTHAM's 
 
 deserves the highest encomiums; and if we 
 can make a proper and just estimate of what 
 may reasonably be expected will be done, 
 from what has already been done of late, and 
 is still doing, for the furtherance of that de- 
 sirable work, there is the fairest prospect, and 
 the most ample ground of confidence, that 
 the present age will stand distinguished by 
 posterity for repairing and adorning those 
 venerable structures, and transmitting them 
 with advantage to the most distant times. 
 
 I cannot conclude these cursory remarks 
 more properly than in the words of the elegant 
 author of Ornaments of Churches considered y : 
 " After the establishment of Christianity, the 
 
 raising a sufficient fund for these purposes, happily fixed on 
 by the members of the church of Lincoln, provides for the 
 future as well as the present exigencies of the church, does 
 honour to those who were the promoters of it, and may pro- 
 bably in time to come be adopted by most other cathedral and 
 collegiate bodies; I cannot here with any propriety omit 
 taking notice, that about fifteen or sixteen years since, the Rt. 
 Rev. Dr. John Thomas, then bishop of Lincoln (now of 
 Salisbury), taking into consideration the ruinous state of that 
 cathedral, and the small fund allotted for the repairs, held a 
 general chapter, wherein it was unanimously agreed, that, for 
 the time to come, ten per cent, of all fines, as well of the 
 bishop as dean, dean and chapter, and all the prebendaries, 
 should be deposited with the clerk of the works, towards 
 repairing and beautifying the said cathedral : which has accord- 
 ingly been paid ever since; and care taken not only of carrying 
 on the necessary repairs in the most durable and substantial 
 manner, but due regard has likewise been paid to the propriety 
 of the ornamental parts restored, and their conformity with the 
 style of building they were intended to adorn. 
 I Page 137. 
 
ESSAY. 93 
 
 constitutions ecclesiastical and civil concurred 
 with the spirit of piety which then prevailed, 
 in providing structures for religious worship. 
 In subsequent ages this spirit still increased, 
 and occasioned an emulation in raising reli- 
 gious [44] edifices wherever it was necessary, 
 or in adorning those which were already raised. 
 — The fruits of this ardour we now reap. 
 Since then, the pious munificence of our an- 
 cestors has raised these sacred edifices, appro- 
 priated to religious uses, we are surely under 
 the strongest obligations to repair as much as 
 possible the injuries of time, and preserve 
 them by every precaution from total ruin and 
 decay. Where the particular funds appro- 
 priated to this purpose are insufficient, it be- 
 comes necessary to apply to the affluent, who 
 cannot surely refuse to prevent by their liberal 
 contributions the severe reproach of neglecting 
 those structures which in all ages have been 
 held sacred. 
 
 " Horace tells the Roman people, 
 
 Dii multa neglecti dederunt 
 Hesperiae mala luctuosae; 
 
 and assures them their misfortunes will not 
 end till they repair the temples of their gods : 
 
 Delicta majorum immeritus lues, 
 Romane, donee templa refeceris, 
 iEdesque labentes deomm, et 
 Fceda nigro simulacra fumo. 
 
!)} REV. j. bentham's essay. 
 
 This may safely be applied to the Christian 
 world ; since the fabrics appropriated to the 
 purposes of religion can never be entirely 
 neglected till a total disregard to religion first 
 prevails, and men have lost a sense of every 
 thing that is virtuous and decent. Whenever 
 this is the melancholy condition of a nation, 
 it cannot hope for, because it does not deserve,* 
 the protection of Heaven ; and it will be diffi- 
 cult to conceive a general reformation can 
 take place till the temples of the Deity are 
 restored to their proper dignity, and the pub- 
 lic worship of God- is conducted in the beauty 
 of holiness/" 
 
CAPTAIN GROSE'S ESSAY 1 . 
 
 AS MANY OF THE NOTES QUOTED BY CAPTAIN* GROSE 
 FROM MR. BENTHAM ARE VERY LONG, TO AVOID A 
 REPETITION, SUCH NOTES WILL BE REFERRED TO, 
 SIMILARLY TO THAT BELOW, MENTIONING THE 
 PAGE WHERE THE PASSAGE IS TO BE FOUND IN MR. 
 BENTHAM'S ESSAY. 
 
 MOST of the writers who mention our 
 ancient buildings, particularly the religious 
 ones, notwithstanding the striking difference 
 in the styles of their construction, class them 
 all under the common denomination of 
 Gothic: a general appellation by them ap- 
 plied to all buildings not exactly conformable 
 to some one of the five orders of architecture. 
 Our modern antiquaries, more accurately, 
 divide them into Saxon, Norman, and Sara- 
 cenic; or that species vulgarly, though im- 
 properly called Gothic. 
 
 An opinion has long prevailed, chiefly coun- 
 tenanced by Mr. Somner b , that the Saxon 
 churches were mostly built with timber; and 
 
 f This is Captain Grose's Preface to the Antiquities of 
 England, on the subject of Architecture. 
 
 6 Indeed, it is to be observed, that before the Norman 
 advent most of our monasteries and church buildings were all 
 of wood: " All the monasteries of my realm," saith king 
 Edgar] — [" till the Normants brought it over with them from 
 France." Somner's Antiq. Canterbury. (See Mr. Benlham's 
 Essay, p. 18, 19, 20.) 
 
96 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 that the few they had of stone consisted only 
 of upright walls, without pillars or arches ; 
 the construction of which, it is pretended, they 
 were entirely ignorant of. Mr. Somner seems 
 to have founded his opinion on the authority 
 of Stowe, and a disputable interpretation of 
 some words in king Edgar's charter b : " Mean- 
 ing no more, as I apprehend/' says Mr. 
 Bentham, in his curious Remarks on Saxon 
 Churches, " than that the churches and mo- 
 nasteries were in general so much decayed, 
 that the roofs were uncovered or bare to the 
 timber; and the beams rotted by neglect, and 
 overgrown with moss." It is true that Bede 
 and others speak of churches built with tim- 
 ber; but these appear to have been only tem- 
 porary erections, hastily run up for the present 
 exigency ; and for the other position, that 
 the Saxons had neither arches or pillars in 
 their buildings, it is not only contradicted by 
 the testimony of several cotemporary or very 
 ancient writers, who expressly mention them 
 both, but also by the remains of some edifices 
 
 b (< Qua? velut muscivis scindulis cariosisque tabulis, tigno 
 terms visibiliter diruta." 
 
 c " Baptizatus est (sc. rex Edwinus, A. D. 627) autem 
 Eboraci in die sancto Paschae, in ecclesiae St. Petri apostoli 
 qnam ipse de ligno citato opere erexit." Bedae Hist. Eccl. 
 lib. ii. cap. 14. — " Curavit majorem ipso in loco et augusti- 
 orem de lapide fabricare basilicam, in cuius medio ipsum quod 
 prius fecevat oratorium includeretur." Ibid. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 97 
 
 universally allowed to be of Saxon work- 
 manship ; one of them the ancient conventual 
 church at Ely. 
 
 The writers here alluded to are* Alcuin, an 
 ecclesiastic who lived in the eighth century; 
 and, in a poem entitled De Ponteficibus Ec- 
 clesiae Ebor. published by D. Gale, A. D. 
 1691, describes the church of St. Peter at 
 York; which he himself, in conjunction with 
 Eanbald, had assisted archbishop Albert to 
 rebuild. In this poem he particularizes by 
 name both columns and arches, as may be 
 seen in note d . 
 
 The author of the Description of the Abbey 
 of Ramsay in Huntingdonshire, which was 
 founded A. D. 974-, by Ailwood, styled alder- 
 man of all England, assisted therein by 
 Oswald bishop of Worcester, in that account 
 names both arches and columns, as is shown 
 in note e . 
 
 Richard prior of Hexham, who flourished 
 about the year 1180, and left a description of 
 that church, part of which was standing in his 
 
 d (< Ast nova basilicae mirae structura diebus/' Sec] 
 (This note is the same as Mr. Bentham gives, p. 46.) 
 e " Dux quoque tunes ipsis tectorum cuhninibus emine- 
 bant, quarum minor versus occidentem, in fronte basilicas 
 pulchram intrantibus insulam a longe spectaculum praibebat j 
 major vero in quadrifidse structure medio columnas quatuor, 
 porrectis de alia ad aliam arcubus sibi invicem connexus, ne 
 laxe defluerunt, deprimebat." Hist, liamesiensis, inter XV. 
 Scrip tores, edit, per Gale. 
 
 H 
 
98 captain grose's 
 
 time, though built by Wilfrid, anno 6? 4; he 
 likewise speaks of arches and columns with 
 their capitals richly ornamented : see note f . 
 < Many more authorities might be cited, was 
 not the matter sufficiently clear. Indeed it is 
 highly improbable that the Saxons coulo" be 
 ignorant of so useful a contrivance as the 
 arch ; many of them built by the Romans they 
 must have had before their eyes ; some of 
 which have reached our days ; two particularly 
 are now remaining in Canterbury only ; one 
 in the castle yard, the other at Riding-gate. 
 And it is not to t:e believed, that, once 
 knowing them, and their convenience, they 
 would neglect to make use of them ; or, having 
 used, would relinquish them. Besides, as it 
 appears from undoubted authorities, they 
 procured workmen from the continent 5 to 
 
 f " Profunditatem ipsius ecclesiae criptis, et oratoriis sub- 
 terraneis/] This note is the same as Mr. Bentham quotes, 
 
 p. do. 
 
 g (< Cum cantoribus /Edde et Eona, et caementariis, ononis- 
 que pene artis ministerio in regioiiem suam revertens, cum 
 regula Benedict! instituta eedesiarum Dei bene melioravit." 
 Eddii Vit. St. Wilfridi, cap. ;iv. Bedaj Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. 
 cap. <2. — " De Roma quoqut, et Italia, et Francia, et de aliis 
 terris ubicumque invenire p<terat, caementarios et quoslibet 
 alios induslrios artifices secim retinuerat, et ad opera sua 
 f'acienda secum in Angliam adduxerat." Rich. Prior. Hagulst. 
 lib. i. cap. 5. 
 
 "St. Peter's church, in tie monastery of Weremouth, in 
 the neighbourhood of Gyrwi, was built by the famous Bene- 
 dict Biscopius, in the year Q",5. This abbat went over into 
 France to engage workmen to build his church after the 
 Pi oman manner (as it is caled by Bede in his History of 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 99 
 
 construct their capital buildings " according 
 to tihe Roman manner/' this alone would be 
 sufficient to confute that ill-grounded opinion; 
 and at the same time proves that what we 
 comimonly call Saxon is in reality Roman 
 architecture. 
 
 This was the style of building practised all 
 oveir Europe ; and it continued to be used by 
 the Normans, after their arrival here, till the 
 introduction of what is called the Gothic, 
 which was not till about the end of the reign 
 
 Weresmouth), and brought them over for that purpose: he 
 prosecuted this work with extraordinary zeal and diligence, 
 insonnuch that, within the compass of a year after the founda- 
 tions were laid, he caused the roof to be put on, and divine 
 servi(ce to be performed in it. Afterwards when the building 
 was inear finished, he sent over to France for artificers skilled 
 in th<e mystery of making glass (an art till that time unknown 
 to thie inhabitants of Britain), to glaze the windows both of 
 the p>orticos and principal parts of the church ; which work 
 they not only executed, but taught the English nation that 
 most useful art." Beutham's History of Ely, p. 31 of this 
 edition. 
 
 W hat Bede here affirms of the abbat Benedict, that he first 
 introduced the art of making glass into this kingdom, is by no 
 meatus inconsistent with Eddius's account of bishop Wilfrid's 
 glazimg the windows of St. Peter's church at York, about the 
 year (669, t. <?. seven or eight years before this time; for glass 
 mighit have been imported from abroad by Wilfrid. But 
 Benedict first brought over the artists who taught the Saxons 
 the airt of making glass. That the windows in churches were 
 usuallly glazed in that age abroad, as well as in these parts, 
 we le:arn from Bede; who, speaking of the church on Mount 
 Olivet, about a mile from Jerusalem, says, " In the west 
 front of it were eight windows, which on some occasions used 
 to be illuminated with lamps, which shone so bright through 
 the gllass, that the mount seemed in a blaze." Bedae Lib. de 
 Lociss Sanctis, cap. vi. 
 
 ii 2 
 
100 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 of Henry II.; so that there seems to be little 
 or no ground for a distinction between the 
 Saxon and Norman architecture. Indeed, it 
 is said the buildings of the latter were of 
 larger dimensions, both in height and area; 
 and they were constructed Avith a stone 
 brought from Caen in Normandy, of which 
 their workmen were peculiarly fond ; but this 
 was simply an alteration in the scale and 
 materials, and not in the manner of the 
 building. The ancient parts of most of our 
 cathedrals are of this early Norman work. 
 
 The characteristic marks of this style are 
 these : the walls are very thick, generally with- 
 out buttresses; the arches, both within and 
 without, as well as those over the doors and 
 windows, semi-circular, and supported by 
 very solid, or rather clumsy columns, with a 
 kind of regular base and capital: in short, 
 plainness and solidity constitute the striking 
 features of this method of building. Never- 
 theless, the architects of those days sometimes 
 deviated from this rule: their capitals were 
 adorned with carvings of foliage, and even 
 animals; and their massive columns decorated 
 with small half-columns united to them, and 
 their surfaces ornamented with spirals, squares, 
 lozenge net-work, and other figures, either 
 engraved or in relievo: various instances of 
 these may be seen in the cathedral of Can- 
 
ESSAY. 101 
 
 terbury, particularly the under-croft, the mo- 
 nastery at Lindisfarn or Holy Island, the 
 cathedral at Durham, and the ruined choir 
 at Orford in Suffolk. Their arches too, though 
 generally plain, sometimes came in for more 
 than their share of ornaments ; particularly 
 those over the chief doors : some of these were 
 overloaded with a profusion of carving. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the dif- 
 ferent ornaments there crowded together; 
 which seem to be mpre the extemporaneous 
 product of a grotesque imagination than the 
 result of any particular design. On some of 
 these arches is commonly over the key-stone, 
 represented God the Father, or our Saviour, 
 surrounded with angels ; and below a melange 
 of foliage, animals, often ludicrous, and some- 
 times even indecent subjects. Partly of this 
 sort is the great door at Barfreston church in 
 Kent. The frizes round churches were also 
 occasionally ornamented with grotesque hu- 
 man heads, monsters, figures playing on dif- 
 ferent musical instruments, and other whim- 
 sical devices, of which the church at Barfreston 
 above mentioned, and that of Adderbury in 
 Suffolk, afford striking specimens. 
 
 The idea of these artists seems to have 
 been, that the greater number of small and 
 dissimilar subjects they could there assemble, 
 the mere beautiful they rendered their work. 
 
102 CAPTAIN GROSe's 
 
 It is not however to be denied, that the 
 extreme richness of these inferior parts served* 
 by their striking contrast, to set off the vene- 
 rable plainness of the rest of the building; a 
 circumstance wanting in the Gothic struc- 
 tures; which, being equally ornamented all 
 over, fatigue and distract, rather than gratify 
 the eye. 
 
 I would not here be understood to assert 
 that alFthe Saxon ornamented arches were 
 devoid of beauty and taste ; on the contrary, 
 there are several wherein both are displayed, 
 particularly in some belonging to the church 
 of Ely. Besides the ornament* here men- 
 tioned, which seem always to have been left 
 to the fancy of the sculptor, they had others, 
 which were in common use, and are more 
 regular. Most of them are mentioned by 
 Mr. Bentham in his ingenious preface to the 
 History of Ely h ; and specimens of them are 
 given in the miscellaneous plates. 
 
 About the time of Alfred probably, but 
 certainly in the reign of Edgar \ high towers 
 and cross aisles were first introduced: the 
 Saxon churches till then being only square or 
 
 h c( As to their arches, though they were for the most part 
 plain and simple, yet some of their principal ones as they 
 contribute to ascertain the age of an edifice at first sight." 
 (See Mr. Bentham, p. 68, 69, 70, to the end of the 
 paragraph.) 
 
 1 Vide note e , p. 96. 
 
JLSSAY. 
 
 103 
 
 oblong buildings, generally turned semi-cir- 
 cularly at the east end. Towers at first 
 scarcely Jose higher: than the roof; being in- 
 tended cliiefly as a kind of lantern for the 
 admittance of lighit. An addition to their 
 height was in all likelihood suggested on the 
 miore common use of bells; which, though 
 mentioned in some of our monasteries in the 
 se venth century, w<ere not in use in churches 
 til 1 near the middle of the tenth. 
 
 To what county or people the style of 
 architecture calledl Gothic owes its origin 
 is by no means satisractorily determined 10 . 
 It is indeed generally conjectured to be 
 of Arabian extracctior., and to have been 
 introduced into Europe by some persons 
 returning from thie crusades in the Holy 
 Land. Sir Christopher Wren 1 was of that 
 
 k " The style of buildiing with pointed arches is modern, 
 anid seems not to have becen known in the world till the Goths 
 ceased," &c] — [" it is otf king Stephen's time; whether they 
 w<ere origimlly pierced I <cannot learn." (See Mr. Bentham, 
 
 p.. 75, 76.) . . . 
 
 1 « These surveys, andl othe: occasional inspections ot the 
 miost noted cathedral chimerics and chapels in England and 
 foreign parts; a discernmtent of no contemptible art, ingenuity, 
 amd geomelrical skill in tlhe deign and execution of some few, 
 amd an affectation of heiglht and grandeur, though without regu- 
 lairity and good proporticon in nost of them, induced the sur- 
 veyor to mike some enquiiry in :o the rise and progress of this 
 GJothic mole, and to comsider low the old Greek and Roman 
 sttyle of bulding, with the feveral regular proportions of 
 ccolumns, entablatures, 8uc. cane within a few centuries to be 
 sco much ahered, and almiost universally disused. 
 
 « He wis of opinion (as las been mentioned in another 
 
104 
 
 captaii grose's 
 
 place) that what we now \ulgarly call the Gothic ought 
 properly and truly to be naned the Saracenic architecture^ 
 refined by the Christians; wlich first of all begar* in the East,, 
 after the fall of the Greek enpire, by the prodigious success 
 of those people that adheret to Mahomet's doctrine ; who, 
 out of zeal tojtheir religion, luilt mosques, caravanseras, and 
 sepulchres wherever they cane. 
 
 These they contrived o' a round form, because they 
 would not imitate the Christen figure of a cross, nor the old 
 Greek manner, which they thought to be idolatrous; and for 
 that reason all sculpture becane offensive to them. 
 
 " They then fell into a nw mode of their ow n invention, 
 though it might have been <xpected with better sense, con- 
 sidering the Arabians wanted not geometricians in that ao-e; 
 nor the Moors, who translate! many of the most useful old 
 Greek books. As they proptgated their religion with great 
 diligence, so they built mosqies in all their conquered cities 
 in haste. 
 
 " The quarries of great riarble by which the vanquished 
 nations of Syria, Egypt, and all the East had been supplied 
 for columns, architraves, and >reat stones, were now deserted ; 
 the Saracens therefore were mcessitated to accommodate their 
 architecture to such material?, whether marble or freestone, 
 as every country readily afforced. They thought columns and 
 heavy cornices impertinent, an! might be omitted; and affecting 
 the round form for mosques, they elevated cupolas in some 
 instances with grace enough. 
 
 " The Holy war gave the Christians who had been there 
 an idea of the Saracen works which were afterwards by them 
 imitated in the West: and the/ refined upon it every day, as 
 they proceeded in building thurches. The Italians (among 
 which were yet some Greek rtfugees), and with them French, 
 Germans, and Flemings, joind into a fraternity of architects; 
 procuring papal bulls for ther encouragement, and particular 
 privileges : they styled themseves freemasons, and ranged from 
 one nation to another as they bund churches to be built (for 
 very many in those ages were »very where in building, through 
 piety or emulation). 
 
 " Their government was regular, and where they fixed near 
 the building in hand they mace a camp o^huts. A surveyor 
 governed in chief; every tenth man was called a warden, and 
 overlooked each nine : the geitlemen of the neighbourhood, 
 either out of charity or comnutation of penance, gave the 
 materials and carriages. Tlose who have seen the exact 
 accounts in records of the charge of the fabrics of some of 
 our cathedrals, near four huna ed years old, cannot but have 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 105 
 
 a great esteem for their economy, and admire how soon they 
 erected such lofty structures. Indeed, great height they thought 
 the greatest magnificence: few stones were used but what a 
 man might cany up a ladder on his back from scaffold to 
 scaffold, though they had pullies and spoked wheels upon 
 occasion; but having rejected cornices, they had no need of 
 great engines: itone upon stone was easily piled up to great 
 heights; therefore the pride of their works was in pinnacles and 
 steeples. 
 
 " In this tley essentially differed from the Roman way, 
 who laid all their mouldings horizontally, which made the best 
 perspective: tie Gothic way on the contrary, carried all their 
 mouldings perpendicular; so that the ground-work being 
 settled, they hai nothing else to do but to spire all up as they 
 could. Thus they made their pillars of a bundle of little 
 torus's, which they divided into more when they came to the 
 roof; and thesetorus's split into many small ones, and traversing 
 one another, give occasion to the tracery work, as they call it, 
 of which the society were the inventors. They Used the sharp- 
 headed arch, vihich would rise with little centring, required 
 lighter key-stores andless buttment, and yet would bear another 
 row of double! arches, rising from the key-stone; by the 
 diversifying of which they erected eminent structures; such as 
 the steeples of Vienna, Strasburg, and many others. They 
 affected steephs, though the Saracens themselves most used 
 cupolas. The church of St. Mark at Venice is built after the 
 Saracen mannff. Glass began to be used in windows, and a 
 great part of tie outside ornaments of churches consisted in 
 the tracery woiks of disposing the mullions of the windows for 
 the better fixiig in of the glass. Thus the work required 
 fewer material, and the workmanship was for the most part 
 performed by lat moulds, in which the wardens could easily 
 instruct hundnds of artificers. It must be confessed this was 
 an ingenious compendium of work suited to these northern 
 climates; and t must also own, that works of the same height 
 and rnagnificeice in the Roman way would be very much more 
 expensive thai in the other Gothic manner, managed with 
 judgment. Bit as all modes, when once the old rational ways 
 are despised, tirn at last into unbounded fancies, this tracery 
 induced too mich mincing of the stone into open battlements, 
 and spindling pnnaeles, and little carvings without proportion 
 of distance; so the essential rules of good perspective and 
 duration were orgot. But about two hundred years ago, when 
 ingenious men began to reform the Roman language to the 
 
106 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 purity which they assigned aid fixed to the time of Augustus, 
 and that century; the architects alao, ashamed of the modern 
 barbarity of building, begai to examine carefully the ruins of 
 old Rome and Italy, to search into the orders and proportions, 
 and to establish them by inviolable rules ; so to their labours 
 and industry we owe in i great degree the restoration of 
 architecture. 
 
 « The ingenious Mr. Evelyn makes a general and judicious 
 comparison, in his Accountof Architecture, of the ancient and 
 modern styles ; with reference to some of the particular works 
 of Inigo Jones, and the suneyor; which in a few words give a 
 right idea of the majestic symmetry of the one, and the absurd 
 system of the other. — « Tht ancient Greek and Roman archi- 
 ' tecture answer all the perfections required in a faultless and 
 
 * accomplished building; aich as for so many ages were so 
 
 * renowned and reputed by the universal suffrages of the 
 ' civilized world; and would doubtless have still subsisted and 
 f made good their claim, aid what is recorded of them, had 
 ?■■ not the Goths, Vandal;, and other barbarous nations 
 ' subverted and demolished them, together with that glorious 
 ' empire where those statey and pompous monuments stood ; 
 c introducing in their stead a certain fantastical and licentious 
 
 * manner of building, whch we have since called modern 
 ' or Gothic: — congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy, and 
 ' monkish piles, without an/ just proportion, use, or beauty, 
 *■ compared with the truly mcient ; so as when we meet with 
 ' the greatest industry and expensive carving, full of fret and 
 ' lamentable imagery, spaiing neither of pains nor cost, a 
 f judicious spectator is rather distracted, or quite confounded, 
 ' than touched with that adniration which results from the true 
 ' and just symmetry, regilar proportion, union, and dis- 
 ' position; and from the grcat and noble manner in which the 
 ' august and glorious fabric* of the ancients are executed.' 
 
 " It was after the irrupton of swarms of those truculent 
 people from the north, the Moors and Arabs from the south 
 and east, over-running the civilized world, that wherever they 
 fixed themselves they soon began to debauch this noble and 
 useful art ; when, instead of those beautiful orders, so majes- 
 tical and proper for their stations, becoming variety, and other 
 ornamental accessories, th«y set up those slender and mis- 
 shapen pillars, or rather bmdles of staves, and other incon- 
 gruous props, to support hcumbent weights and ponderous 
 arched roofs, without entallature ; and though not without 
 great industry (as M. d'Avier well observes), nor altogether 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 107 
 
 opinion m ; and it has been subscribed to by 
 most writers who have treated on this sub- 
 naked of gaudy sculpture, trite and busy carvings, it is such as 
 gluts the eye rather than gratifies and pleases it with any rea- 
 sonable satisfaction. For proof of this without travelling far 
 abroad, I dare report myself to any man of judgment, and that 
 has the least taste of order and magnificence, if, after he has 
 looked awhile upon king Henry the Seventh's chapel at West- 
 minster, gazed on its sharp angles, jetties, narrow lights, lame 
 statues,. lace, and other cut work and crinkle-crankle, and shall 
 then turn his eyes on the Banqueting-house, built at White- 
 hall by Inigo Jones, after the ancient manner; or on what his 
 Majesty's surveyor, Sir Christopher Wren, has advanced at 
 St. Paul's, and consider what a glorious object the cupola, 
 porticos, colonnades, and other parts present to the beholder; 
 or compare the schools and library at Oxford with the theatre 
 there; or what he has built at Trinity College in Cambridge; 
 and since all these, at Greenwich and other places, by which 
 time our home traveller will begin to have a just idea of the 
 ancient and modern architecture; I say, let him well consider 
 and compare them judicially, without partiality and prejudice, 
 and then pronounce which of the two manners strikes the 
 understanding as well as the eye with the more majesty and 
 solemn greatness ; though in so much a plainer and simple 
 dress, conform to the respective orders and entablature: and 
 accordingly determine to whom the preference is due : not as 
 we said, that there is not something of solid, and oddly artificial 
 too, after a sort. But then the universal and unreasonable 
 thickness of the walls, clumsy buttresses, towers, sharp- 
 pointed arches, doors, and other apertures without proportion ; 
 nonsensical insertions of various marbles impertinently placed ; 
 turrets and pinnacles thick set with monkies and chimeras, and 
 abundance of busy work, and other incongruities, dissipate and 
 break the angles of the sight, and so confound it, that one can- 
 not consider it with any steadiness, where to begin or end; 
 taking off from that noble air and grandeur, bold and graceful 
 manner, which the ancients had so well and judiciously 
 established. But in this sort have they and their followers 
 ever since filled not Europe alone, but Asia and Africa besides, 
 with mountains of stone ; vast and gigantic buildings indeed ! 
 but not worthy the name of architecture, &c." Wren's Paren- 
 tal ia, p. 306. 
 
 m " This we now call the Gothic manner of architecture 
 
108 
 
 CAPTAIN GIlOSE's 
 
 ject". If the supposition is well grounded, 
 it seems likely that many ancient buildings of 
 this kind, or at least their remains, would be 
 found in those countries from whence it is 
 said to have been brought; parts of which 
 have at different times been visited by several 
 
 (so the Italians called what was not after the Roman style), 
 though the Goths were rather destroyers than builders: I 
 think it should with more reason be called the Saracen style; 
 for those people wanted neither arts nor learning ; and after 
 we in the \V est had lost both, we borrowed again from them, 
 out of their Arabic books, what they with great diligence had 
 translated from the Greeks. They were zealots in their reli- 
 gion ; and wherever they conquered (which was with amazing 
 rapidity) erected mosques and caravanseras in haste, which 
 obliged them to fall into another way of building ; for they 
 built their mosques round, disliking the Christian form of a 
 cross. The old quarries, whence the ancients took their large 
 blocks of marble for whole columns and architraves, were 
 neglected; and they thought both impertinent. Their car- 
 riage was by camels ; therefore their buildings were fitted for 
 small stones, and columns of their own fancy, consisting of 
 many pieces; and their arches pointed without key-stones, 
 which they thought too heavy. The reasons were the same in 
 our northern climates, abounding in freestone, but wanting 
 marble." Wren's Parentalia, p. 297. 
 
 n " Modern Gothic, as it is called, is deduced from a dif- 
 ferent quarter ; it is distinquished by the lightness of its work, 
 by the excessive boldness of its elevations, and of its sections ; 
 by the delicacy, profusion, and extravagant fancy of its orna- 
 ments. The pillars of this kind are as slender as those of the 
 ancient Gothic are massive : such productions, to airy, cannot 
 admit the heavy Goths for their author ; how can be attributed 
 to them a style of architecture which was only introduced in 
 the tenth century of our asra? several years after the destruc- 
 tion of all those kingdoms which the Goths hal raised upon 
 the ruins of the Roman empire, and at a time when the very 
 name of Goth was entirely forgotten: from all the marks of 
 the new architecture it can only be attributed to the Moors; 
 or, what is the same thing, to the Arabians or Saracens ; who 
 
ESSAY. 109 
 
 curious travellers, many of whom have made 
 designs of what they thought most remark- 
 able. Whether they overlooked or neglected 
 theise buildings, as being in search of those of 
 mo re remote antiquity, or whether none ex- 
 isted, seems doubtful. Cornelius le Brim, an 
 
 have? expressed in their architecture the same taste as in their 
 poettry ; both the one and the other falsely delicate, crowded, 
 withi superfluous ornaments, and often very unnatural; the 
 imagination is highly worked up in both; but it is an extrava- 
 gantt imagination; and this has rendered the edifices of the 
 Aralbians (we may include the other orientals) as extraordinary 
 as tlheir thoughts, If any one doubts of this assertion, let us 
 appieal to any one who has seen the mosques and palaces of 
 Fez,, or some of the cathedrals in Spain, built by the Moors: 
 one model of this sort is the church at Burgos; and even in 
 this island there are not wanting several examples of the same : 
 suclh buildings have been vulgarly called Modern Gothic, but 
 thehr true appellation is Arabic, Saracenic, or Moresque. 
 Thus manner was introduced into Europe through Spain; 
 leanning flourished among the Arabians all the time that their 
 doiminion was in full power ; they studied philosophy, mathe- 
 matics, physi:, and poetry. The love of learning was at once 
 exciited ; in all places that were not at too great distance from 
 Spaiin these authors were read; and such of the Greek authors 
 as tlhey had translated into Arabic, were from thence turned 
 into Latin. The physic and philosophy of the Arabians 
 spixead themselves in Europe, and with these their architecture : 
 mamy churches were built after the Saracenic mode ; and others 
 witlh a mixture of heavy and light proportions : the alteration 
 thatt the difference of the climate might require was little, if 
 at aill, considered. In most southern parts of Europe and in 
 Afr ica, the windows (before the use of glass), made with nar- 
 rows apertures, and placed very high in the walls of the build- 
 ing,, occasioned a shade and darkness withinside, and were all 
 comtrivedto ^uard against the fierce rays of the sun; yet were 
 ill siuited to tiose latitudes, where that glorious luminary shades 
 its ifeebler iniuences, and is rarely seen but through a watery 
 clomd." Rieus's Architecture. 
 
110 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 indefatigable and inquisitive traveller, has 
 published many views of eastern buildings, 
 particularly about the Holy Land ; in all these 
 only one Gothic ruin, the church near Acre, 
 and a few pointed arches, occur; and those 
 built by the Christians, when in possession of 
 the country. Near Ispahan, in Persia, he 
 gives several buildings with pointed arches; 
 but these are bridges and caravanseras, whose 
 age cannot be ascertained; consequently, are 
 as likely to have been built after as before the 
 introduction of this style into Europe. 
 
 At Ispahan itself, the Mey Doen, or grand 
 market-place, is surrounded by divers magni- 
 ficent Gothic buildings ; particularly the royal 
 mosque, and the Talael Ali-kapie, or theatre. 
 The magnificent bridge of Alla-werdie-chan, 
 over the river Zenderoet, five hurdred and 
 forty paces long, and seventeen broad, having 
 thirty-three pointed arches, is also a Gothic 
 structure: but no mention is made when or 
 by whom these were built. The Chiaer Baeg, 
 a royal garden, is decorated with Gothic 
 buildings; but these were, it is said, built 
 only in the reign of Scha Abbas, who died 
 anno 1629. 
 
 One building indeed at first seens as if it 
 would corroborate this assertion, and that the 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 time when it was erected misht be in some 
 
 o 
 
 degree fixed; it is the tomb of Abdulla °, one 
 of the apostles of Mahomet, probably him 
 surnamed Abu Beer. If this tomb is sup- 
 posed to have been built soon after his death, 
 estimating that event to have happened ac- 
 cording to the common course of nature, it 
 
 ° " Le vingt-troisieme de ce mois nous allames encore en 
 ceremonie au village de Kaladoen, & une bonne lieue de la ville, 
 pour y voir le tombeau d' Abdulla. On dit que ce saint avoit 
 autrefo is l'inspection des eaux d'Emoen Osseyn, et qu'il etoit un 
 des douze desciples, ou & ce qu'ils pretendent, un des ap6tres de 
 leur prtophete. Ce tombeau, qui est place entre quatre mu- 
 railles, revetues de petites pienes, est de marbre gris, orne de 
 caracte res Arabes, et entoure de lampes de cuivre 6tamees ; on 
 y mont e par quinze marches d'un pied de haut, et Ton y en 
 trouve quinze antres un peu plus elevees, qui conduisent a" une 
 platte forme quaree, qui a trente-deux pieds de large de chaque 
 cote, eit sur le devant de la quelle il y a deux colomnes de 
 petites pierres, entre lesquelles il sen trouve de bleu'e's. La 
 base en a cinq pieds de large, et une petite porte, avec un esca- 
 lier a* noyeau qui a aussi quinze marches. Elles sont fort 
 endomimagees par les injures du terns, et il paroit qu'elles ont 
 ete une fois plus elevees qu'elles ne sont 'd present. L'escalieF 
 en est si etroit qu'il faut qu'un homme de taille ordinaire se 
 deshabille pour y monter, comme je fis, et passai la moitie du 
 corps am dessus de la colomne. Mais ce qu'il y a de plus ex- 
 traordinaire, est que lors qu'on ebranle une des colomnes en 
 faisant iun mouvement du corps ; Fautre^n ressent les secousses, 
 et est tLgitee du merae; e'est une chose dont j'ai fait l'epreuve, 
 sans en pouvoir comprendre, ni apprendre la raison. Pendant 
 que j'e tois occupe A dessiner ce batiment, qu'on trouve au 
 No. 71, un jeune garcon de douze & treize ans, bossu par 
 devant, grimpa en dehors, le long de la muraille, jusqu'au 
 haut de la colomne dont il fit le tour, et redescendit de menie 
 sans se tenir a quoi que ce soit, qu'aux petites pierres de ce 
 batiment, aux endroits on la chaux en etoit detachee; et il ne 
 le fit que pour nous devertir." Voyage de Le Bum, torn. i. 
 p. 18a. 
 
112 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 will place its erection about the middle of the 
 seventh century: but this is by far too con- 
 jectural to be much depended on. It also 
 seems as if this was not the common style of 
 building at that time, from the temple of 
 Mecca ; where, if any credit is to be given to 
 the print' of it, in Sale's Koran, the arches are 
 semi-circnlar. The tomb here mentioned has 
 one evidence to prove its antiquity; that of 
 being damaged by the injuries of time and 
 weather. Its general appearance much re- 
 sembles the east end of the chapel belonging 
 to Ely House, London; except that which is 
 filled up there by the great window: in the 
 tomb is an open pointed arch; where also the 
 columns, or pinnacles, on each side are higher 
 in proportion. 
 
 Some have supposed that this kind of archi- 
 tecture was brought into Spain by the Moors 
 (who possessed themselves of a great part of 
 that country the beginning of the eighth cen- 
 tury, which they held to the latter end of the 
 fifteenth) ; and that from thence, by way of 
 France p , it was introduced into England. This 
 at first seems plausible; though the only 
 instance which seems to corroborate this 
 
 p " The Saracen mode of building seen in the East soon 
 spread over Europe, and particularly in France, the fashions 
 
Jessay* 
 
 113 
 
 hypothesis, or at least the only one proved 
 by authentic drawings, is the mosque at Cor- 
 dovia, in Spain ; where, according to the views 
 published by Mr. Swinburne* although most 
 
 of wlhich nation we affected to imitate in all ages, even when 
 we were at enmity with it. Nothing was thought magnificent 
 that was not high beyond measure, with the nutter of arch 
 buttnesses, so we call the sloping arches that poise the higher 
 vaultings of the nave. The Romans always concealed their 
 butmtents, whereas the Normans thought them ornamental. 
 Thes<e I have observed are the first things that occasion the 
 ruin of cathedrals, being so much exposed to the air and 
 weatlher ; the coping, which cannot defend them, first failing, 
 and iif they give way the vault must spread. Pinnacles are of 
 no usie, and as little ornament. The pride of a very high roof, 
 raised above reasonable pitch, is not for duration, for the lead 
 is aptt to slip ; but we are tied to this indiscreet form, and must 
 be contented with original faults in the first design. But that 
 whiclh is most to be lamented, is the unhappy choice of the 
 materials : the stone is decayed four inches deep, and falls off 
 perpetually in great scales. I find after the Conquest all our 
 artistes were fetched from Normandy ; they loved to work in 
 their own Caen stone, which is more beautiful than durable. 
 This was found expensive to bring hither; so they thought 
 Ryeg;ate stone, in Surrey, the nearest like their own, being a 
 stone that would saw and work like wood, but not durable, as 
 is mamifest : and they used this for the ashlar of the whole 
 fabric, which is now disfigured in the highest degree. This 
 stone takes in water, which, being frozen, scales off; whereas, 
 good stone gathers a crust and defends itself, as many of our 
 Engliish freestones do. And though we have also the best 
 oak tiimber in the world ; yet these senseless artificers, in West- 
 minster hall and other places, would work their chesnuts from 
 Nornnandy: that timber is not natural to England; it works- 
 finely , but sooner decays than oak. The roof in the abbey is 
 oak, Ibut mixed with chesnut, and wrought after a bad Norman 
 mannter, that does not secure it from stretching and damaging 
 the w, alls ; and the water of the gutters is ill carried off. All 
 this is said, the better, in the next place, to represent to your 
 lordslhip, what has been done, and is wanting still to be carried 
 on; ats time and money is allowed to make a substantial and 
 durable repair." Wren's Parentalia, p. 2^8. 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 of the arches are circular, or horse-shoe 
 fashion, there are some pointed arches, formed 
 by the intersection of two segments of a cir- 
 cle. This mosque was, as it is there said, 
 begun by Abdoulrahman the first, who laid 
 the foundation two years before his death, 
 and was finished by his son Hissem or Iscan 
 about the year 800. If these arches were 
 part of the original structure, it would be 
 much in favour of the supposition; but, as it 
 is also said, that edifice has been more than 
 once altered and enlarged by the Mahometans, 
 before any well-grounded conclusion can be 
 drawn, it is necessary to ascertain the date of 
 the present building. 
 
 There are also several pointed arches in the 
 Moorish palace at Grenada, called the Al- 
 hambra; but as that was not built till the 
 year 1273, long after the introduction of 
 pointed arches into Europe, they are as 
 likely to be borrowed by the Moors from the 
 Christians, as by the Christians from the 
 Moors. The greatest peculiarity in the 
 Moorish architecture is the horse-shoe arch % 
 which, containing more than a semi-circle, 
 contracts towards its base, by which it is ren- 
 
 * As delineation gives a much clearer idea of forms and 
 figures than the most laboured description, the reader is 
 referred to the plates in Swinburne's Travels, where there are 
 many horse-shoe archesj both round and pointed. 
 
ESS AT. 115 
 
 dered unfit to bear any considerable weight, 
 being solely calculated for ornament. In 
 Romesy church, Hampslire, there are several 
 arches somewhat of that form. 
 
 In the drawings of the Moorish buildings 
 given in Les Delices de lEspagne, said to be 
 faithful representations, there are no traces of 
 the style called Gothic architecture ; there, as 
 well as in the Moorish castle at Gibraltar, 
 the arches are all represented circular. Per- 
 haps a more general Inowledge of these 
 buildings would throw some lights on the 
 subject, at present almost entirely enveloped 
 in obscurity : possibly tie Moors may, like 
 us, at different periods, lave used different 
 manners of building. Hiving thus in vain 
 attempted to discover frcm whence we had 
 this style, let us turn to wlat is more certainly 
 known, the time of its introduction into this 
 kingdom, and the successive improvements 
 and changes it has undergone. 
 
 Its first appearance hex? was towards the 
 latter end of the reign of king Henry II. but 
 it was not at once thoroughly adopted ; some 
 short solid columns, and semi-circular arches, 
 being retained and mixed with the pointed 
 ones. An example of this is seen in the west 
 end of the old Temple charch; and at York, 
 where, under the choir, there- remains much 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 of the ancient work ; the arches of which are 
 but just pointed, and rise on short round pil- 
 lars; both these were built in that reign. 
 More instances might be brought, was not the 
 thing probaole in itself; new inventions, even 
 when useful, not being readily received. The 
 great west tower of Ely cathedral was built 
 by bishop Rydel, about this time: those arches 
 were all pointed. 
 
 In the reign of Henry III. this manner of 
 building seems to have gained a complete 
 footing; the circular giving place to the 
 pointed arch, and the massive column yield- 
 - ing to the slender pillar. Indeed, like all 
 novelties, when once admitted, the rage of 
 fashion made it become so prevalent, that 
 many of the ancient and solid buildings, 
 erected in former ages, were taken down, in 
 order to be re-edified in the new taste; or had 
 additions patched to them of this mode of 
 architecture. The present cathedral church 
 of Salisbury was begun early in this reign, 
 and finished in the year 1258. It is entirety 
 in the Gothic style, and, according to Sir 
 Christopher Wren, may be justly accounted 
 one of the best patterns of architecture of 
 the age in which it was built. Its excellency 
 is undoubtedly in a great measure owing to 
 its being constructed on one plan; whence 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 117 
 
 arisies that symmetry and agreement of parts 
 not to be met with in many of our other 
 catlhedral churches, which have mostly been 
 buillt at different times, and in a variety of 
 styles. The fashionable manner of building 
 at this period, and till the reign of Henry 
 VIII. as is described by Mr. Bentham, see 
 in mote r . 
 
 In the beginning of the reign of Henry 
 VIII. or rather towards the latter end of that 
 of Henry VII. when brick building became 
 cormmon. a new kind of low pointed arch 
 gre^w much in use : it was described from four 
 centres, was very round at the haunches, and 
 the angle at the top was very obtuse. This 
 sort of arch is to be found in every one of 
 cardinal Woolsey's buildings; also at West 
 Sheen; an ancient brick gate at Mile End, 
 called King John's Gate; and in the great 
 gat e of the palace of Lambeth. From this 
 timie Gothic architecture began to decline, 
 and was soon after supplanted by a mixed 
 style, if one may venture to call it one; 
 wherein the Grecian and Gothic, however 
 discordant and irreconcilable, are jumbled 
 together. Concerning this mode of building, 
 
 T " During the whole reign of Henry III. the fashionable 
 pillaars to oir churches were"] — [" one can hardly help con- 
 cluding, thst architecture arrived at its highest point of glory 
 in tlhis kingdom but just before its final period." (See Mr. 
 Benitham, j. 80—87.) 
 
118 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 Mr. Warton, in his Observations on Spenser's 
 Fairy Queen, has the following anecdotes and 
 remarks : 
 
 Did arise 
 
 On stately pillours framd afer the Doricke guise. 
 
 " Although the Roman or Grecian architec- 
 ture did not begin to prevail in England till 
 the time of Inigo Jones; yet our communi- 
 cation with the Italians, and our imitation 
 of their manners, produced some specimens 
 of that style much earlier. Perhaps the ear- 
 liest is Somerset house in the Strand, built 
 about the year 1549, by the Duke of 
 Somerset, uncle to Edward VI. The monu- 
 ment of Bishop Gardiner, in Winchester 
 cathedral, made in the reign of Mary, about 
 1555, is decorated with Ionic pillars; Spen- 
 ser's verses here quoted bear an allusion to 
 some of these fashionable improvements in 
 building, which at this time were growing 
 more and more into esteem. Thus also 
 bishop Hall, who wrote about the same time; 
 viz. 1598: 
 
 There findest thou some stately Doricke frame, 
 Or neat Ionicke work. 
 
 But these ornaments were often absurdly in- 
 troduced into the old Gothic style; as in the 
 magnificent portico of the Schools at Oxford, 
 erected about the year 1613; where the 
 
ESSAY. 119 
 
 buillder, ia a Gothic edifice, has affectedly 
 displayed his universal skill in the modern 
 architecture, by giving us all the five orders 
 together. However, most of the great 
 bui ldings 3f Queen Elizabeth's reign have a 
 stylle peculiar to themselves both in form an4 
 finishing; where, though much of the old 
 Go thic is retained, and great part of the new 
 tastte is adopted, yet neither predominates ; 
 whiile both, thus distinctly blended, compose 
 a fiantastic species hardly reducible to any 
 class or name. One of its characteristics is 
 the; affectation of large and lofty windows; 
 wh<ere, sajs Bacon, you shall have sometimes 
 faiir houses so full of glass that one cannot 
 telli where to become to be out of the sun/' 
 
 The marks which constitute the character 
 of (Gothic or Saracenical architecture, are, its 
 nmmerous and prominent buttresses, its lofty 
 spi res and pinnacles, its large and ramified 
 windows, its ornamental niches or canopies, 
 its sculptured saints, the delicate lace-work 
 of its fretted roofs, and the profusion of orna- 
 ments lavished indiscriminately over the whole 
 buiilding: but its peculiar distinguishing cha- 
 racteristics are, the small clustered pillars and 
 poiinted arches, formed by the segments of 
 tw<o intersecting circles; which arches, though 
 las t brought into use, are evidently of more 
 
120 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 simple and obvious construction than the 
 semi-circular ones ; two flat stones, with their 
 tops inclined to each other, and touching, 
 form its rudiments ; a number of boughs stuck 
 into the ground opposite each other, and tied 
 together at the top, in order to form a bower, 
 exactly describe it: whereas a semi-circular 
 arch appears the result of a deeper con- 
 trivance, as consisting of more parts • and it 
 seems less probable, chance, from whence all 
 these inventions were first derived, should 
 throw several wedge-like stones between two 
 set perpendicular, so as exactly to fit and fill 
 up the interval. 
 
 Bishop Warburton, in his notes on Pope's 
 Epistles, in the octavo edition, has some 
 ingenious observations on this subject, which 
 are given in the note 8 : to which it may 
 
 * " Our Gothic ancestors had juster and manlier notions 
 of magnificence, on Greek and Roman ideas, than these 
 mimics of taste who profess to study only classic elegance: 
 and because the thing does honour to the genius of those 
 barbarians, I shall endeavour to explain it. All our ancient 
 churches are called without distinction Gothic, but erro- 
 neously. They are of two sorts ; the one built in the Saxon 
 times, the other in the Norman. Several cathedral and 
 collegiate chinches of the first sort are yet remaining, either 
 in whole or in part ; of which this was the original : when 
 the Saxon kings became Christians, their piety (which was 
 the piety of the times) consisted chiefly in building churches 
 at home, and performing pilgrimages abroad, especially to the 
 Holy Land; and these spiritual exercises assisted and supported 
 one another. For the most venerable as well as most elegant 
 models of religious edifices were then in Palestine. From 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 121 
 
 not be improper to add some particulars 
 relative to Caen sttone, with which many 
 
 these the Saxon builders to.ok the whole of their ideas, as may 
 be seen by comparing the dlrawings which travellers have given 
 us of the churches yet standling in that country, with the Saxon 
 remains of what we find ait home; and particularly in that 
 sameness of style in the lattcer religious edifices of the knights 
 templars (professedly built upon the model of the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem) with the earlier remains of 
 our Saxon edifices. Now the architecture of the Holy Land 
 was Grecian, but greatly fallen from its ancient elegance. 
 Our Saxon performance w:as indeed a bad copy of it ; and as 
 much inferior to the works (of St. Helene and J ustinian as theirs 
 were to the Grecian modells they had followed: yet still the 
 footsteps of ancient art apjpeared in the circular arches, the 
 entire columns, the division of the entablature into a sort 
 of architrave, frize, and corniche, and a solidity equally 
 diffused over the whole matss. This, by way of distinction, 
 I would call the Saxon architecture. But our Norman 
 works had a very differentt original. When the Goths had 
 conquered Spain, and the genial warmth of the climate and 
 the religion of the old imhabitants had ripened their wits 
 and inflamed their mistaken piety (both kept in exercise by 
 the neighbourhood of th»e Saracens, through emulation of 
 their service and aversion to their superstition), they struck 
 out a new species of architecture, unknown to Greece and 
 Rome ; upon original principles, and ideas much nobler than 
 what had given birth even to classical magnificence. For 
 this northern people having been accustomed, during the 
 gloom of Paganism, to wtorship the Deity in groves, (a prac- 
 tice common to all natioms) when their new religion required 
 covered edifices, they ingeniously projected to make them 
 resemble groves as nearhy as the distance of architecture 
 would permit; at once imdulging their old prejudices and 
 providing for their present conveniences by a cool receptacle 
 in a sultry climate; and with what skill and success they 
 executed the project, by tlhe assistance of Saracen architects, 
 whose exotic style of buillding very luckily suited their pur- 
 pose, appears from hencte, that no attentive observer ever 
 viewed a regular avenue of well-grown trees, intermixing their 
 branches over head, but iit presently put him in mind of the 
 long visto through the Golthic cathedral; or even entered one 
 of the larger and more elegant edifices of this kind, but it pre^ 
 
122 
 
 captain grose's 
 
 of our ancient cathedrals are built, as ex- 
 tracted from some curious records originally 
 
 sented to his imagination an avenue of trees ; and this alone is 
 what can be truly called the Gothic style of building. Under 
 this idea of so extraordinary a species of architecture, all the 
 irregular transgressions against art, all the monstrous offences 
 against nature, disappear; every thing has its reason, every 
 thing is in order, and an harmonious whole arises from' the 
 studious application of means proper and proportioned to the 
 end. For could the arches be otherwise than pointed, when 
 the workmen were to imitate that curve which branches of 
 two opposite trees make by their insertion with one another; 
 or could the columns be otherways than split into distinct 
 shafts when they were to represent the stems of a clump of 
 trees growing close together? On the same principles they 
 formed the spreading ramification of the stone-work in the 
 windows, and the stained glass in the interstices ; the one to 
 represent the branches, and the other the leaves, of an opening 
 grove : and both concurred to preserve that gloomy light which 
 inspires religious reverence and dread. Lastly, we see the 
 reason of their studied aversion to apparent solidity in these 
 stupendous masses, deemed so absurd by men accustomed to 
 the apparent as well as real strength of Grecian architecture. 
 Had it been only a wanton exercise of the artist's skill to 
 show he could give real strength without the appearance of 
 any, we might indeed admire his superior science; but we 
 must needs condemn his ill judgment. But when one con- 
 siders that this surprising lightness was necessary to complete 
 the execution of his idea of a sylvan place of worship, one 
 cannot sufficiently admire the ingenuity of the contrivance. 
 This too will account for the contrary qualities in what I call 
 the Saxon architecture. These artists copied, as has been 
 said, from the churches in the Holy Land, which were built 
 on the models of the Grecian architecture, but corrupted by 
 prevailing barbarism ; and still further depraved by a religious 
 idea. The first places of Christian worship were sepulchres 
 and subterraneous caverns, low and heavy from necessity. 
 When Christianity became the religion of the state, and sump- 
 tuous temples began to be erected, they yet, in regard to the 
 first pious ages, preserved the massive style, made still more 
 venerable by the church of the Holy Sepulchre ; where this 
 style was, on a double account,, followed and aggravated." 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 123 
 
 given in Dr. DucarreFs Anglo Norman Anti- 
 quities \ 
 
 I shall close this article with recommending 
 it to such as desire more knowledge of these 
 matters than is communicated in this slight 
 compilation, to peruse Wrens Parentalia, 
 Warton's Thoughts on Spenser's Fairy Queen, 
 
 * In page 7 of his preface, it is said, that the keeps of 
 the ancient castles were coined, and their arches faced with 
 stone, brought from Caen in Normandy. A curious gen- 
 tleman has favoured me with the following particulars 
 respecting this stone : formerly vast quantities of this stone 
 were brought to England; London bridge, Westminster 
 abbey, and many other edifices, being built therewith. See 
 Stow's Survey of London, edit. 1633, p. 31, 32, &c. See 
 also Rot. Liter, patent. Norman, de anno 6 Hen. V. p. 1, 
 m. 22. — ce De quarreris albae petrae in suburbio villa? de Caen 
 annexandis dominio regis pro reparatione ecclesiarum, cas- 
 trorum, et fortalitiorum, tarn in Anglia quam in Normannia." 
 See also Rot. Normanniae, de anno 9 Hen. V. m. 31, dors. 
 — " Arrestando naves pro transportation lapidum et petra- 
 rum, pro constructione abbatias sancti Petri de Westminster 
 a partibus Cadomi." Ibid. m. 30. — " Pro domo Jesu de 
 Bethleem de Sheene, de lapidibus in quarreris circa villain 
 de Cadomo capiendis pro constructione ecclesiae, claustri, et 
 cellarum domus predictae." See also Rot. Franciae, de anno 
 35 Hen. VI. m. 2. — " Pro salvo conductu ad supplicationem 
 abbatis et conventus beati Petri Westmonasterii, pro mer- 
 catoribus de Caen in Normannia, veniendis in Angliam cum 
 lapidibus de Caen pro reparatione monasterii prasdicti. Teste 
 rege apud Westm. 15 die Augusti." See also Rot. Franciae, 
 de anno 38 Hen. VI. m. 23. — <c De salvo conductu pro nave 
 de Caen in regnum Angliae revenienda, cum lapidibus de Caen 
 pro reparatione monasterii de Westminster. Teste rege apud 
 Westm. 9- die Maii." — Now, however, the exportation of this 
 stone out of France is so strictly prohibited, that when it is to 
 be sent by sea, the owner of the stone, as well as the master 
 of the vessel on board which it is to be shipped, is obliged to 
 give security that it shall not be sold to foreigners. 
 
124 captain grose's essay. 
 
 and the Ornaments of Churches considered; 
 but above all, Mr. Bentham's Dissertation 
 on Saxon and Norman architecture, prefixed 
 to his History of Ely, to which the author 
 of this account esteems himself much be- 
 holden. 
 
REV. J. MILNEITS ESSAY, 
 
 ON THE RISE AND 
 POINTED 
 
 THE church of St. Cross, which is regularly 
 built, in the cathedral form, consists of a nave 
 and side aisles 150 feet long, a transept which 
 measures 120 feet, and a large square tower 
 over the intersection. It is entirely the work 
 of De Blois, except the front and upper story 
 of the west end, which are of a latter date, 
 and seems to have been an effort of that great 
 encourager of the arts b to produce a style of 
 architecture more excellent, and better 
 adapted to ecclesiastical purposes, than what 
 had hitherto been known. This style ac- 
 cordingly soon after made its appearance in 
 a regular shape. The building before us 
 
 a History and Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester, 
 vol. ii. p. 148. 
 
 b " Hie quicquam in bestiis, quicquam in avibus, quicquam 
 in monslris terrarum variis peregrinum magis, et praj oculis 
 hominum vehementius obstupendum et admirandum audire vel 
 excogitare potuerat, tanquam innatae nobilitatis indicia conge- 
 rebat. Prceterea opera mira, palatia sumptuosissima, stagna 
 grandia, ductus aquarum difriciles ipogeosque, varia per loca 
 meatus, denique ea qua? regibus terrarum magnis difficillima 
 factu visa sunt hactenus et quasi desperata, effectui mancipari 
 tanquam facillima, mira magnanimitate procurabat." Girald. 
 Cambrens. De Hen, Bies. Copula Tergemiria. 
 
 PROGRESS QE THE 
 ARCH a . 
 
126 
 
 REV. J. MILNER's 
 
 seems to be a collection of architectural 
 essays, with respect to the disposition and form 
 both of the essential parts and of the sub- 
 ordinate ornaments. Here we find the pon- 
 derous Saxon pillar of the same dimensions in 
 its circumference as in its length, which, how- 
 ever, supports an incipient pointed arch. The 
 windows and arches are some of them short, 
 with semi-circular heads, and some of them 
 immoderately long, and terminating like a 
 lance. Others are in the horse-shoe form, of 
 which the entrance into the north porch is 
 the most curious specimen. In one place we 
 have a curious triangular arch. The capitals 
 and bases of the columns alternately vary in 
 their form as well as in their ornaments. The 
 same circumstance is observable in the ribs of 
 the arches, especially in the north and south 
 aisles, some of them being plain, others pro- 
 fusely embellished, and in different styles, 
 even within the same arch. Here we view 
 almost every kind of Saxon and Norman or- 
 nament, the chevron, the billet, the hatched, 
 the pellet, the fret, the indented, the nebule, 
 the wavey, all superiorly executed. But what 
 is chiefly deserving of attention in this ancient 
 church is, what may perhaps be considered 
 as the first regular step to the introduction of 
 that beautiful style of architecture properly 
 
ESSAY. 127 
 
 called the pointed, and abusively the Gothic> 
 order; concerning the origin of which most 
 of our antiquaries have run into the most 
 absurd systems. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren, whose authority has 
 seduced bishop Lowth b , Warton, and most 
 other writers on this subject, observing that 
 this style of building prevailed during the time 
 that the nobility of this and the neighbouring 
 countries were in the habit of resorting, in 
 quality of crusaders, to the East, then sub- 
 ject to the Saracens, fancied that they learnt 
 it there, and brought it back with them into 
 Europe. Hence they termed it the Saracenic 
 style. But it is to be remembered, that the 
 first or grand crusade took place at the latter 
 end of the eleventh century, long before the 
 appearance of the pointed architecture in 
 England, France, or Italy, which, if it had 
 been copied from other buildings, would have 
 appeared amongst us all at once, in a regular 
 and perfect form. But what absolutely de- 
 cides this question is, the proof brought by 
 Bentham and Grose, that, throughout all 
 Syria, Arabia, &c. there is not a Gothic build- 
 ing to be discovered, except such as were 
 raised by the Latin Christians subsequent to 
 the perfection of that style in Europe. A 
 
 b Life of William of Wykeham, 
 
 / 
 
128 
 
 REV. J. MILKER'S 
 
 still more extraordinary, or rather extravagant 
 theory, than that which has been confuted, is 
 advanced by bishop Warburton c . He sup- 
 poses that the " Goths who conquered Spain 
 in 470, becoming Christians, endeavoured to 
 build their churches in imitation of the 
 spreading and interlacing boughs of the groves 
 in which they had been accustomed to per- 
 form their Pagan rites in their native country 
 of Scandinavia, and that they employed for 
 this purpose Saracen architects, whose exotic 
 style suited their purpose/' The Visigoths con- 
 quered Spain and became Christians in the 
 fifth century; of course they began at the 
 same time to build churches there. The Sara- 
 cens did not arrive in Spain until the eighth 
 century ; when, instead of building churches, 
 they destroyed them or turned them into 
 mosques. In every point of view this theory 
 ascribes to the pointed architecture too early 
 a date by a great many centuries. But sup- 
 posing even the possibility of its having lain 
 hidden there for so long a period, certain it is, 
 that in this case, according to our former obser- 
 vation, it would at last have burst upon the 
 rest of Europe in a state of perfection, contrary 
 to what every one knows was actually the case. 
 
 c Notes on Pope's Epistles.— See Captain Grose's Essay, 
 p. 120. 
 
ESSAY. 129 
 
 But why need we recur to the caravanse- 
 ries of Arabia, or to the forests of Scandina- 
 via, for a discovery, the gradations of which 
 we trace at home, in an age of improvement 
 and magnificence, namely, the twelfth cen- 
 tury, and amongst a people who were supe- 
 rior in arts as well as arms to all those above 
 mentioned, namely, the Normans? About 
 the time we are speaking of, many illustrious 
 prelates of that nation, chiefly in our own 
 country, exhausted their talents and wealth in 
 carrying the magnificence of their churches 
 and other buildings to the greatest height 
 possible. Amongst these were Roger of 
 Sarum, , Alexander of Lincoln, Mauritius of 
 London, and Roger of York, each of whose 
 successive improvements were of course 
 adopted by the rest; nevertheless, there is 
 reason to doubt whether any or all of them 
 contributed so much as our Henry of Win- 
 chester did to those improvements which gra- 
 dually changed the Norman into the Gothic 
 architecture. 
 
 We have remarked that the Normans, 
 affecting height in their churches no less than 
 length, were accustomed to pile arches and 
 pillars upon each other, sometimes to the 
 height of three stories, as we see in Walkelin's 
 work in our cathedral. They frequently ind- 
 ie 
 
130 
 
 REV. J, MIINEfi's 
 
 tated these arches and pillars in the masonry 
 of their plain walls, and, by way of ornament 
 and variety, they sometimes, caused these 
 plain round arches to intersect each other, as 
 we behold in the said prelate's work, on the 
 upper part of the south transept of Winches- 
 ter cathedral, being probably the earliest in- 
 stance of this interesting ornament to be met 
 with in the kingdom. They were probably 
 not then aware of the happy effect of this 
 intersection, in forming the pointed arch, until 
 De Blois, having resolved to ornament the 
 whole sanctuary of the church at present 
 under consideration, with these intersecting 
 semi-circles, after richly embellishing them 
 with mouldings and pellet ornaments, con- 
 ceived the idea of opening them by way of 
 windows, to the number of four over the altar, 
 and of eight on each side of the choir, which 
 at once produced a series of highly pointed 
 arches. Pleased with the effect of this first 
 essay at the east end, we may suppose that 
 he tried the effect of that form in various other 
 windows and arches which we find amongst 
 many of the same date that are circular in 
 various parts of the church and tower. How- 
 ever that matter may be, and wherever the 
 pointed arch was first produced, its gradual 
 ascent naturally led to a long and narrow 
 
ESSAY. 131 
 
 form of window and arch, instead of the 
 broad circular ones which had hitherto ob- 
 tained ; and these required that the pillars on 
 which they rested, or which were placed at 
 their sides by way of ornament, should be 
 proportionably tall and slender. Hence it 
 became necessary to choose a material of firm 
 texture for composing them, which occasioned 
 the general adoption of Purbeck marble for 
 this purpose. But even this substance being 
 found too weak to support the incumbent 
 weight, occasioned the shafts to be multiplied, 
 and thus produced the cluster column. But 
 to return to the arches and windows ; these 
 being in general very narrow, at the first dis- 
 covery of the pointed arch, as we see in the 
 ruins of Hyde abbey d , built within thirty 
 years after St. Cross 6 ; in the refectory of 
 Beaulieu, raised by king John; and in the 
 inside of the tower'before us, built by De Blois 
 himself, it became necessary sometimes to 
 place two of these windows close to each 
 other, which not unfrequently stood under orne 
 common arch, as may be discovered in dif- 
 ferent parts of De Lucy's work in our cathe- 
 dral, executed in the reign of king John, and 
 
 d In the part now used as a barn. 
 
 e Namely, when erected the second time, after having been 
 destroyed in the civil war between king Stephen and the em- 
 press Maud. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 REV. J. milner's 
 
 in the lower tire of the windows in the church 
 of Netley abbe}'. This disposition of two 
 lights occasioning a dead space between their 
 heads, a trefoil or quatrefoil, one of the sim- 
 plest and most ancient kind of ornaments, 
 was introduced between them, as in the porch 
 of Beaulieu refectory, the ornamental work 
 of De Lucy, in the ancient part of the Lady 
 chapel, Winton, and the west door of the 
 present church of St. Cross. The happy effect 
 of this simple ornament caused the upper 
 part of it to be introduced into the heads of 
 the arches themselves, so that there is hardly 
 a small arch or the resemblance of an arch of 
 any kind, from the days of Edward II. down 
 to those of Henry VIII. which is not orna- 
 mented in this manner. The trefoil, by an 
 easy addition, became a cinquefoil, and being 
 made use of in circles and squares, produced 
 fans and Catherine's wheels. In like manner, 
 large east and west windows beginning to 
 obtain about the reign of Edward I. required 
 that they should have numerous divisions or 
 mullions, which, as well as the ribs and tran- 
 soms of the vaulting, began to ramify into a 
 great variety of tracery, according to the 
 architect's taste y being all of them uniformly 
 ornamented with the trefoil or cinquefoil head. 
 The pointed arch on the outside of a building 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 133 
 
 required a canopy of the same form, which, 
 in ornamental work, as in the tabernacle of a 
 statue, mounted up ornamented with leaves 
 or crockets, and terminated in a trefoil. In 
 like manner, the buttresses that were neces- 
 sary for the strength of these buildings could 
 not finish, conformably to the general style of 
 the building, Avithout tapering up into orna- 
 mented pinnacles. A pinnacle of a larger 
 size became a spire ; accordingly such were 
 raised upon the square towers of former ages, 
 where, as at Salisbury, the funds of the church 
 and other circumstances would permit. Thus 
 we see how naturally the several gradations 
 of the pointed architecture arose one out of 
 another, as we learn from history was actually 
 the case, and how the intersecting of two cir- 
 cular arches in the church of St. Cross may 
 perhaps have produced Salisbury steeple. 
 
f 
 
 A 
 
 LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CATHEDRALS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND; 
 
 SHEWING 
 
 THEIR PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS. 
 
A 
 
 LIST, 
 
 ST. ASAPH. 
 
 ^ Feet. 
 
 LENGTH from east to west . . 179 
 
 ■ from the east door to the choir 119 
 
 ■ of the choir ... 60 
 
 ■ of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south ...... 108 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 68 
 
 of the choir • . . . 32 
 
 Height of the body, viz. from the area of the 
 
 pavement to the top of the roof within . 60 
 
 • of the tower which stands in the 
 
 middle ...... 93 
 
 Square of the tower 30 
 
138 
 
 LIST OF 
 
 BANGOR. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 214 
 
 ■ of the tower at the west end . 19 
 
 of nave or body .... 141 
 
 • of the choir, which extends entirely 
 
 to the east end, and begins beyond the 
 
 cross aisle . . . . .' 53 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to south 96 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 60 
 
 Height of the body to the top of the roof . 34 
 
 of the tower .... 60 
 
 Square of the tower . . . 24 
 
 BATH. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 'SIO 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . . . • / . 126 
 Breadth of body and aisles ... 72 
 Height of the tower . . . 15.2 
 of the roof or vaulting . . 78 
 
 N. B< Examined by Carter's plan. 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 139 
 
 BRISTOL. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 175 
 
 Whereof the choir includes 100. 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 128 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 73 
 Height of the tower . . . . 127 
 Chapter-house 46 by 9,6. 
 The cloisters were 103 feet square. 
 
 N. B. This is considered an incomplete or a mu- 
 tilated structure. 
 
 CANTERBURY. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 514 
 
 from the west door to the choir . 214 
 
 ■ of the choir to the high altar . 150 
 
 ■ from thence to the eastern extre- 
 
 to south . ' . 
 ■ of the eastern 
 
 mity, about . . . . 150 
 of the western cross aisles from north 
 
 124 
 154 
 74 
 40 
 130 
 100 
 
 Breadth of the body and aisles 
 
 ' of the choir 
 
 Height of the south-west tower 
 « of the north-west tower 
 
 Though when the spire of lead, taken down 
 in August, 1 705, was standing on the same, 
 it was 200 
 
140 LIST OP 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Height of the centre tower . . . 235 
 Square of the same .... 35 
 Height of the vaulting from the pavement . 80 
 
 The cloisters are square . . . . 1 34 
 Chapter-house 92 by 37. 
 
 N. B. Examined by the Guide printed 1799. 
 
 CARLISLE. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 219 
 
 • has been formerly . . . 300 
 
 of the choir . < . . 137 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 124 
 
 Breadth of the body and aisles of the choir 
 
 part ....... 71 
 
 Height of the vaulting or roof ... 75 
 
 1 of the tower . . . . 127 
 
 CHESTER. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . . 348 
 
 — of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . ' . . . .180 
 
 Breadth of the body and aisles . . 73 
 
 Height of the tower . . . . 127 
 
 - — of the vaulting or roof . . 73 
 
 The Transept part of this Cathedral is very irre- 
 gular in the plan, that part on the south side being 
 very large, and used as a parish church, 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 141 
 
 CHICHESTER. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west - . , , 392 
 
 • of the porch . . . . 18 
 
 « from the entrance to the eastern pier 
 
 of the tower , . > . . 205 
 
 1 • from thence to the altar (the choir) 1 00 
 
 ■ from thence to the extremity . 87 
 
 I am inclined to think this is not all as a Lady 
 Chapel, but is divided. 
 
 Length of the cross aisles from north to south 131 
 Breadth of the body and aisles at the west 
 
 part, which has four rows of pillars . 9 1 
 
 • at the east or choir part, which has 
 
 only two rows of pillars ... 6% 
 
 < of the Lady Chapel . . . 21 
 
 Height of the great tower and steeple in the 
 
 middle 279 
 
 ■ of which the steeple is - . . 155 
 
 of the tower which stands on the 
 
 north-west side of the church . . 1 07 
 
 - of the towers at the west end . 95 
 
 ■ — of the roof or vaulting . . 6 1 
 
 Length of the cloisters from north to south 120 
 
 ■ at the west end . 1 00 
 
 « — at the east end . 128 
 
 N. B. Corrected by a sketch from a friend. 
 
14.2 
 
 LIST OF 
 
 ST. DAVID S. 
 
 FvcL 
 
 Length from east to west . . ( . 290 
 
 ■ — ■ — the west door to the choir . 124 
 
 — — the choir to the altar . . SO 
 
 ■ of Bishop VaugharTs Chapel behind 
 
 the altar . . ... . , . 16 
 
 - of the aisles from north to south . 120 
 
 - ■ — from thence to the upper end of St. 
 
 Mary's Chapel ..... 56 
 Breadth of the body and aisles . . 76 
 Height of the roof, interior . . . 46 
 of the tower which stands in the 
 
 middle 127 
 
 DURHAM. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 420 
 
 • ■ of the nave . . . 240 
 
 i of the choir . . . . 117 
 
 > — of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . . . . . 176 
 
 Breadth of the body and aisles . . 80 
 
 of the choir .... 33 
 
 Height of the tower in the middle . . 212 
 
 at the west . . 143^ 
 
 of the roof or vaulting . . 70 
 
 The gallile at the west entrance is 50 by 78» 
 The cloisters are 145 feet square. 
 The Chapter-house 38 by 80, the east end 
 circular. 
 
 The chapel of the nine altars, at the east 
 end, is 134 by 38. 
 
 N. B. Examined by Carter's plans. 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 143 
 
 ELY. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 517 
 
 of the porch . . . . 40 
 
 of the great west tower . . 48 
 
 from thence to the choir . . 327 
 
 ■ of the choir .... 101 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 178 
 
 Breadth of the body and aisles at the west 
 
 end" • }h ft .-"'"V '73 
 
 Height of the vaulting in the choir part . 70 
 
 of the western steeple . . 270 
 
 of the lantern over the middle . 170 
 
 Adjoining on the north side is another very 
 
 elegant structure, now used as a parish 
 
 church, which is 100 feet by 46, having a 
 
 line vaulted roof 60 feet high. 
 The cloisters appear to have been 100 by 
 
 150 feet. 
 
 This Cathedral having undergone a material altera- 
 tion in the removal of the choir from under the lan- 
 tern to the presbytery, or easternmost part, since the 
 time of Willis, the above dimensions are taken from 
 Bentham. 
 
 EXETER. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 390 
 
 — the west door to the choir . 173 
 
 « ' — ; the choir to the altar ■ * 133 
 
144 LIST OF 
 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from behind the choir to the Lady 
 
 
 Chapel . . . . . . 
 
 25 
 
 « of the Lady Chapel 
 
 61 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 
 south . 
 
 140 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . 
 
 74 
 
 Height of the roof or vaulting . . 
 
 69 
 
 — : of the towers, which, different from 
 
 
 all other cathedrals in England, stand at 
 
 
 the extremities of the great cross aisles . 
 
 140 
 
 Chapter-house 50 by 30. 
 
 
 N. B. Examined by Carters plans. 
 
 
 ! J 
 
 GLOUCESTER. 
 
 
 Length from east to west, including the Lady 
 
 
 Chapel ...... 
 
 420 
 
 ■ of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 
 south • . . . 
 
 144 
 
 of the Lady Chapel 
 
 92 
 
 ■ of the choir 
 
 130 
 
 ■ of the nave .... 
 
 174 
 
 Breadth of the Lady Chapel 
 
 24 
 
 of the body and side aisles . 
 
 84 
 
 Height of the roof of the choir . 
 
 86 
 
 ■ of the body . 
 
 67 
 
 — of the tower and pinnacles . 
 
 216 
 
 The cloisters about 150 feet square. 
 Chapter-house 72 by 36. 
 
 N. B. Examined by Carters plans. 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 145 
 
 HEREFORD. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west (including the walls) 370 
 
 I of the body or nave . . . I44 
 
 • ■ of the choir . . . . 105 
 
 from the choir to the Lady Chapel . 20 
 
 ■ of the Lady Chapel ... 73 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . 140 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 68 
 
 of the Lady Chapel . . ; 30 
 
 Height of ditto ..... 28 
 
 of the vaulting of the nave . . 68 
 
 ■ 1 ; — in the choir . . 64 
 
 of the tower, west front . . 1 30 
 
 of the steeple in the middle . . 240 
 
 The cloisters 1 15 feet square. 
 Chapter-house was octagon, 37 feet diameter. 
 
 LANDAFF. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . . 15Q 
 
 ■ from the west door to the choir , 110 
 
 ■ of the choir . . . , 75 
 
 of St. Mary's chapel ... 65 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . , 65 
 Height of the roof or vaulting ... 65 
 Here are no cross aisles, middle tower, or 
 steeple; there are two towers in the west 
 front of unequal height and not uniform : 
 height of one tower is 89 feet, the other 105 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 LIST OF 
 
 LICHFIELD. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 411 
 
 • from the west door to the choir . 213 
 
 of the choir . . . . 110 
 
 ; — from thence to the Lady Chapel . 33 
 
 of the Lady Chapel . . . 55 
 
 — of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . , . . . 88 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 67 
 
 Height of the steeple in the middle . . 258 
 
 of the two steeples in the west front 183 
 
 Chapter-house 45 by 28, of an oval form. 
 
 N. B. Examined by Shaw's Hist. Staffordshire. 
 
 LINCOLN. ( , 
 Length from east to west 
 
 • ■ — of the nave to the choir 
 
 • of the choir 
 
 from the choir to the end 
 
 - — of the great or western cross aisles 
 
 from north to south .... 
 
 of the smaller or eastern cross aisles 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . 
 Height of the tower in the middle 
 
 (This heretofore had a spire on it.) 
 
 • of which the corner pinnacles are . 
 
 ; of 'the western towers and spires . 
 
 • of which the spires (now taken down) 
 
 were about 
 
 482 
 252 
 158 
 72 
 
 222 
 170 
 80 
 300 
 
 30 
 270 
 
 90 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 147 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Height of the vaulting or roof . . . 80 
 The Chapter-house, a decagon, supported by 
 a central pillar, 60 feet diameter. 
 
 N. B. Corrected by a friend. 
 
 LONDON. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 THE OLD CHURCH WHICH WAS BURNT DOWN 1666, 
 FROM DUGDALE. 
 
 Length from east to west . , . 63 1 
 
 ■ of the portico . . . . 41 
 
 ■ — from the west door to the choir . 335 
 
 of the choir . , . . 163 
 
 — • of the Lady Chapel ... 92 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 297 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 91 
 
 Height of roof or vaulting to the west part 102 
 
 — ■ — - — — choir . 88 
 
 of the tower steeple . 260 
 
 • of the spire on the same . 274 
 
 In all . . 534 
 
 The cloisters were 9 1 feet square. 
 
 LONDON. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 
 
 THE MODERN CHURCH, BUILT BY SIR C. WREN. 
 
 Length from east to west . , . 500 
 
 ■ of the body or nave . , . 200 
 
 of the dome (diameter) . , 106 
 
 l 2 
 
148 LIST OF 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length of the choir . .. . . 165 
 
 of the west portico . . . '25 
 
 — of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . 248 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 107 
 — — ■ — of middle aisle of the choir . . 42 
 
 • • — - of the west front . . . 1 80 
 
 Height of the vaulting or roof . . . 88 
 of the towers, west front . . 22 1 
 
 — - — from the pavement to the floor 
 of the first interior gallery in the 
 dome . . ... .100 
 
 from thence to the floor of 
 
 second gallery . . . .118 
 
 — third gallery, 
 
 top of the cone . ,. . .50 
 , — , f i\ ie 
 
 cross . . ' . .88 
 
 Total . , 356' 
 K. B. Examined by Gwyn's plan and section. 
 
 MAN. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 113 
 
 • of cross aisles from north to south 66 
 
 This has no side aisles, the breadth of the 
 
 body is . 22 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 149 
 
 NORWICH. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 411 
 
 ■ from west door to the choir . . 230 
 
 of the choir . . . . 16\5 
 
 • — ■ from thence to the entrance into St. 
 
 Mary's Chapel 36 
 
 ■ ■ of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . • • • • l $ l 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 71 
 
 Height of the great steeple . . . 313 
 The cloisters are about 170 feet square. 
 
 N. B. Corrected by a friend. 
 
 OXFORD. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . 154 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 102 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 54 
 Height of the roof in the western part . 4 1 
 of the steeple . . . . 144 
 
 PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 Length from east to west % . 480 
 
 of the porch .... 30 
 
 of the nave to the choir . . 231 
 
 Length of the choir . '• - • 138 
 
150 LIST OF 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from thence to the end of the new 
 
 chapel ...... 80 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . . . . . OQ3 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . . 78 
 
 • of the M^est front . . . 1 56 
 
 Height of the arches to the west front . 82 
 
 of the principal steeple . . 186" 
 
 ■ • of the lantern . . . . 150 
 
 • of the roof or vaulting . . 73 
 
 The cloisters were 138 feet by 131. 
 
 ROCHESTER. 
 
 Length from east to west . . J 306 
 
 ■ of the nave to the choir . . 150 
 
 ■ — from thence to the east window . 156 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south . . . . , m 
 
 1 of the upper cross aisles . . go 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . , 65 
 
 Height of the steeple ... 156 
 
 SALISBURY. 
 
 Length from east to west . . 452 
 
 ■ — from the west door to the choir . 246 
 
 — ■ of the choir .... 140 
 
 ■ • from the altar screen to the eastern 
 
 end, about 65 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 151 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length of the great cross aisles from north 
 
 
 to south . . • • • 
 
 210 
 
 of the eastern or smaller cross aisles 
 
 145 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . 
 
 /o 
 
 of the transept or great cross aisles 
 
 60 
 
 Height of the vaulting .... 
 
 84 
 
 ■ of the tower and steeple, being the 
 
 
 highest in England .... 
 
 400 
 
 of which the steeple is 
 
 190 
 
 The cloisters 160 feet square. 
 
 N. B. Examined by Prices Salisbury Cathedral ; 
 
 WELLS. 
 
 Length from east to west .... 
 
 . from the west door to the choir 
 
 ■ of the choir, about 
 
 of the space behind the choir to the 
 
 Lady Chapel 
 
 of the Lady Chapel 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south ... 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . 
 
 of the Lady Chapel 
 
 of the west front . . 
 
 Height of the vaulting 
 
 of the great tower in the middle . 
 
 of the towers in the west front . 
 
 371 
 191 
 106 
 
 47 
 
 135 
 67 
 33 
 
 235 
 67 
 
 160 
 
 130 
 
152 
 
 LIST OF 
 
 VV LIS Liili.b 1 JLK, 
 
 
 
 Jt ec i . 
 
 Length from east to west .... 
 
 
 ■ from entrance to the choir 
 
 247 
 
 ■ of the choir .... 
 
 138 
 
 from altar to Lady Chapel 
 
 
 of Lady Chapel .... 
 
 54 
 
 • of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 
 south , . . . . 
 
 208 
 
 Breadth ftf thf> bndv and <;idp ni«lf>« 
 
 ou 
 
 ■ — of the choir .... 
 
 86 
 
 Height of the vaulting 
 
 78 
 
 ■ • of the tower, north-west corner 
 
 133 
 
 Square of the same, 50 by 48. 
 
 
 Cloisters 179 feet square. 
 
 
 Chapter-house was 90 feet square, having a 
 
 
 large pillar in the centre for supporting the 
 
 
 taulted roof. 
 
 
 N. B. Corrected by a friend. 
 
 WORCESTER. 
 
 Length from east to west . . . . 410 
 
 ■ of the choir . . . . 126" 
 
 ' — of the nave . . . , 212 
 
 ■ of the Lady Chapel . . . 68 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 south 130 
 
 1 of the upper cross aisles . . 120 
 
THE CATHEDRALS. 153 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . * 78 
 
 • — of the choir .... 74 
 
 Height of the tower to the point of the pin- 
 nacles ...... 196 
 
 Cloisters 120 feet square. 
 
 Chapter-house, a decagon, 58 feet diameter. 
 
 N. B. Corrected from Green's Worcester, 4to. 
 
 THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF 
 WESTMINSTER. 
 
 Length from east to west, including Henry 
 
 VII.'s Chapel ..... 
 
 489 
 
 of the nave .... 
 
 155 
 
 ■ of the choir .... 
 
 152 
 
 of the Chapel of Edward the Con- 
 
 
 fessor ...... 
 
 50 
 
 ■ — from thence to the entrance of Henry 
 
 
 VII.'s Chapel 
 
 40 
 
 ■ — of Henry VII.'s Chapel (breadth 
 
 
 66, height 54) 
 
 100 
 
 of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 
 south ....... 
 
 189 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles . 
 
 74 
 
 Height of the vaulting or roof . 
 
 101 
 
 > of the towers .... 
 
 199 
 
 Cloisters are 135 feet by 141. 
 
 
 Chapter-house, octagon, 58 feet diameter. 
 
 
 N. B. Corrected by a friend* 
 
 
154 
 
 LIST OF THE CATHEDRALS. 
 
 YORK. 
 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Length from east to west .... 
 
 498 
 
 from the west door to the choir 
 
 9,64s 
 
 — of the choir .... 
 
 136 
 
 ■ — of the space behind the altar 
 
 26 
 
 ■ — ■ of the Lady Chapel 
 
 69 
 
 ' of the cross aisles from north to 
 
 
 south ...... 
 
 222 
 
 Breadth of the body and side aisles 
 
 109 
 
 Height of the vaulting in the nave 
 
 99 
 
 — — ■ — of the two western towers 
 
 196 
 
 — of the lantern .... 
 
 213 
 
 Chapter-house an octagon, 63 feet diameter. 
 
 
 N. B. Corrected by Drake's York. 
 
EXPLANATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PJLATES. 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 THIS curious and very elegant example is given as 
 a specimen of the Saxon or circular style of architec- 
 ture, and is taken from Mr. Wilkins's accurate print 
 in the 12th volume of the Archasologia. The fol- 
 lowing is Mr. Wilkins's account of it. 
 
 " On the east side of Norwich castle is a tower 
 projecting 14 feet, by 27 in breadth, of a richer style 
 of architecture, which I have ventured to call Bigod' s 
 tower; it is decidedly of the taste in general use sub- 
 sequent to the Conquest, and continued through great 
 part of king Stephen's reign ; and it was most probably 
 repaired and finished in its present style by Hugh 
 Bigod, who succeeded his brother William in the con- 
 stableship of the castle early in the twelfth century." 
 Archasologia, vol. xii. p. 162. 
 
 Mr. King, in a passage which Mr. Wilkins with 
 great candour has subjoined, considers it as much 
 older. " There is indeed a trace of its having been 
 built in its present form by Roger Bigod, about the 
 time of William Rufus, and of its having been finally 
 completed by Thomas de Brotherton, even so late as 
 
156 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 the time of Edward II. ; but I cannot help suspecting 
 all this to be a mistake ; for, though it may be true with 
 regard to the outworks, and the many great buildings 
 enclosed within the limits and outward walls of this 
 castle, which were formerly very extensive and nume- 
 rous, that a great part of them were built and com- 
 pleted by those two powerful lords; yet as to the keep, 
 or master tower (the only considerable part now re- 
 maining), the style of its architecture is, in many 
 respects, so different from that of the towers erected 
 in the reigns of William Rufus, and Henry I. and II. 
 and the ornaments are so different from those which 
 were in use in the reign of Edward II. (when pointed 
 arches had long been introduced, and were esteemed 
 the most elegant of any), that I cannot but think the 
 building of much greater antiquity, and completely 
 Saxon, though it is possible the staircase might be 
 repaired, or even rebuilt, by Thomas de Brotherton, 
 whose arms are to be seen on a part of the wall. In 
 short, as to the main body of the building, I take it to 
 be the very tower which was erected about the time of 
 king Canute, who, though himself a Dane, yet un- 
 doubtedly made use of many Saxon architects, as the 
 far greater number of his subjects were Saxons ; and 
 I am rather induced to form this conclusion, because I 
 can find no authentic account whatever of the destruc- 
 tion of the castle built in Canute's time, either by war 
 or by accident; or of its being taken down in order to 
 erect the present structure, as is supposed by some." 
 Observations on Ancient Castles. Archaeologia, vol. 
 iv. p. 396, 397. 
 
OF THE PLATES. 
 
 157 
 
 Mr. Wilkins further observes, " The ceiling of this 
 tower is groined with intersecting arches of stone, and 
 its angles are decorated with a very singular kind of 
 hanging billet moulding, projecting ten inches from 
 the ceilincf. The first floor of Bigod's tower is a 
 landing from the great staircase, and forms a kind of 
 open portico to the entrance of the building; and a 
 superb entrance it must have been at that time ! The 
 piers are enriched with groups of small columns, 
 supporting arches ornamented with archivolts of 
 mouldings enriched with billeting." 
 
 PLATE II. 
 
 Specimen of the chevron-work, or zig-zag orna- 
 ment, in various positions. This is an arched en- 
 trance to the north aisle of the nave of Peterborough 
 cathedral, with the plan applied perspectively. Here 
 also are specimens of Saxon capitals. 
 
 PLATE III. 
 
 VARIOUS ORNAMENTS. 
 
 Fig. 1. The embattled frette, taken from an arch 
 within the church at Sandwich, Kent; 
 and to be found in most of our ancient 
 cathedrals. 
 
158 explanation- 
 Fig. 2. The nail head, taken from arches at Ely.* 
 
 3. The triangular frette, taken from an arch 
 
 at Ely. 
 
 4. The billeted moulding, taken from the ruins 
 
 of Binham priory, Norfolk, built by Peter 
 lord Valoins, nephew to William the Con- 
 queror. 
 
 5. The nebule. This is taken from an orna- 
 
 mented fascia under the parapet of the 
 north and south sides of Binham priory. 
 
 6. Section of the same. 
 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 VARIOUS ORNAMENTS. 
 
 Fig. 1. The hatched moulding, used as a string 
 course. 
 
 % A column of hatched work, in the upper 
 walk of the north transept of Norwich 
 cathedral : the plan is octagonal, and nine 
 inches diameter. 
 
 3. Half the design of a range of curious inter- 
 secting arches over the west entrance of 
 the church at Castle Rising in Norfolk. 
 This elegant specimen gives a very good 
 idea of the corbel table, if, instead of the 
 pillars and capitals, are substituted the 
 heads of men or animals in the places of 
 the capitals. 
 
OF THE PLATES. 159 
 
 Fig. 4. Savon intersecting arches, used to adorn 
 inside walls, &c. The circular vestibule 
 to the Temple church, London, has a 
 curious specimen of this kind. 
 
 5. A specimen of zig-zag moulding, with a 
 
 kind of square billet moulding, to be 
 found in various old cathedrals. This is 
 taken from a small arch which divides the 
 nave from the chancel at Ely. 
 
 6. The billet ornament to a larger scale. 
 
 7. One of the arches in perspective in the upper 
 
 walk in the nave of Norwich cathedral. 
 The window is pointed, consequently of 
 modern date. 
 This exhibits an elegant specimen of the cir- 
 cular or Saxon style, witli the billet mould- 
 ing; also a spiral band round one of the 
 columns. 
 
 PLATE V. 
 
 VARIOUS ORNAMENTS. 
 
 Fig. 1. Various specimens of the nebule. Part of 
 an arch, formerly an entrance on the south 
 side of St. Julian's church in Norwich, 
 probably executed before the Conquest, 
 as the church was founded before that 
 time. It is four .feet six inches diameter 
 within. 
 
160 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 Fig. 2. This elegant piece represents an assemblage 
 of many ornaments peculiar to the more 
 ancient or Saxon style. In the arch is 
 the cable, the billet, the zig-zag, and again 
 another kind of cable moulding. The 
 capitals are Saxon, and the columns are 
 variously ornamented. This is part of 
 the south entrance to Wimboltsham church, 
 in Norfolk. The columns seven inches 
 diameter. 
 
 3, 4, 5, 6. Horizontal mouldings with orna- 
 ments, which are to be met with in Her- 
 ringfleet, Gisleham, and some few other 
 churches in Suffolk. 
 
 7. Plan of the east end of the old conventual 
 church at Ely, built in the time of the 
 Heptarchy, A.D. 673, and repaired in 
 king Edgars reign, A. D. 970. (See 
 page 54.) 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 Two of the piers of the ruined chapel at Orford in 
 Suffolk, with their plans : also the arch mouldings. 
 
 " The founder of this chapel and the date of its 
 construction are both forgotten, but, from the style 
 of the chancel, appears to be of great antiquity; it 
 has a double row of thick columns supporting circular 
 arches, their height equal to their circumference, each 
 
OF THE PLATES. 
 
 161 
 
 measuring about 12 feet. Their surfaces are orna- 
 mented in various manners; and what is extraordi- 
 nary, the opposite ones are not alike; some having a 
 small cylindrical moulding twisting spirally round 
 them ; some are crossed lozenge fashion, being reticu- 
 lated by an embossed net- work ; and others, which are 
 square, have small columns at each of their angles." 
 Grose. 
 
 All the foregoing examples are taken from the 1 2th 
 volume of the Archasologia, except fig. 1, plate iv. 
 fig. 4, plate v. and fig. 7, plate v. which is taken 
 from Mr. Bentham's plan of the old cathedral church 
 at Ely. 
 
 PLATE VII. 
 
 The upper part of one of the west towers of York 
 cathedral; which is given as a most elegant example 
 of the modern Norman or florid style. This is 
 copied from Mr. Malton's elegant and accurate print 
 of the west front of York minster. 
 
 The following plates, VIII. IX. X. are from 
 drawings made by Mr. Cave of Winchester, the sub- 
 jects selected and explained by the Rev. Mr. Milner, 
 and are intended to mark the rise and progress of the 
 pointed arch. 
 
 M 
 
1(32 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 i 
 
 REFERENCES TO THE PLATES ILLUSTRATING THE 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE POINTED ARCH. 
 
 PLATE VIII. 
 
 Fig. 1. Saxon piers and arches in the crypts or sub- 
 terraneous chapels under the east end of 
 Winchester cathedral. These are demon- 
 stratively genuine Saxon workmanship, and 
 prior to the Conquest, having been con- 
 structed by bishop St. Ethelwold, and 
 finished in the year 980. The arches are 
 segments of a circle, supporting a plain 
 vaulting, without ribs or other ornaments. 
 The pilasters or piers are square, with two 
 massive columns in the middle of the main 
 crypt, serving as hutments to all the arches, 
 with a circular member under a square 
 abacus. The bases are supposed to be 
 buried several feet under the earth, which 
 has been accumulating upon the floor of 
 the crypts during almost three centuries. 
 There are doorways leading from the 
 centre crypt into those of the side aisles, 
 and others at the eastern extremity. In 
 one of these, on the south side, is a well 
 which formerly supplied all the water that 
 was used in divine service. 
 
 Fig. A. Is a plan of the crypt. 
 
OF THE PLATES. 163 
 
 Fig. 2. A double Saxon or Norman arch, which 
 formed the portal of the ancient sacristy, 
 between the east cloister door and the 
 south transept in Winchester cathedral, 
 being the work of bishop Walkelin, cousin 
 to William the Conqueror, and finished 
 by him in the year 1093. The design and 
 execution of this portal indicate the im- 
 proved style of the Norman architects, in 
 the loftiness of the arches, the greater re- 
 gularity of the capitals and bases, together 
 with the ornamental style of the pilasters, 
 which are fluted, and of the arches, which 
 are enriched with the lozenge, the billet, 
 the cheveron, and other mouldings. 
 3- A specimen of a double arch in the second 
 story of the transept in the same cathe- 
 dral. In this manner of open work the 
 corresponding second story of the whole 
 church, between the lower and the upper 
 range of windows, was constructed by the 
 Normans, to avoid the nakedness of plain 
 walls, carrying up their work to the height 
 of three stories; whilst the churches of 
 the Saxons for the most part consisted of 
 a single story. 
 4. Intersecting round arches without pillars or • 
 mouldings, by way of ornament to the 
 upper part of the south transept of the 
 m 2 
 
164 EXPLANATION 
 
 cathedral, on the outside. These being 
 part of the original work, constructed 
 before the year 1093 f , are prior to the 
 first crusade, and afford perhaps the ear- 
 liest authentic specimen of the pointed 
 arch to be met with in the kingdom. 
 
 PLATE IX. 
 
 Fig. 1. Intersecting circular arches, supported by 
 Saxon pilasters, both richly ornamented, 
 forming perfect pointed arches. The inter- 
 sections, which are open through the whole 
 thickness of the wall, constitute the win- 
 dows, to the number of twenty, which en- 
 lighten the chancel in the church of St. 
 
 o 
 
 Cross, near Winchester. This being the 
 eastern end of the sacred fabric, where the 
 high altar stood, and of course first 
 finished, must have been constructed in 
 the reign of Henry I. * 
 
 f The cathedral and adjoining monastery, which were begun 
 to be rebuilt by Watkelin in 1079, were finished by him and 
 solemnly dedicated in the aforesaid year 1093, three years 
 before the first crusade. (Annates Winton.) 
 
 « Godwin, de Angl. Prassul. ascribes the construction of 
 St. Cross, by bishop Henry de Blois, to the year 1132; 
 Lowth, in his Life of Wykeham from original papers, to 
 1 136. Probably it was begun in the former year and finished 
 in the latter. Henry I. died in 1 135. 
 
OF THE PLATES. 
 
 165 
 
 Fig. 2. Two highly pointed arches, without the ap- 
 pearance of circular intersections, orna- 
 mented with zig-zag and other Saxon 
 mouldings, and supported by Saxon pilas- 
 ters in the south transept of the said church 
 of St. Cross, illustrating the gradations by 
 which the Saxon style was transformed 
 into the pointed or Gothic. This part of 
 the church must have been built soon after 
 the east end. 
 
 3. Massive Saxon columns, with capitals and 
 
 bases in the same style, supporting pointed 
 arches throughout the whole western nave 
 of the same church; by way of further 
 illustrating the aforesaid transformation. 
 It appears that this part of the church 
 also was erected toward the close of the 
 reign of Henry L h 
 
 4. The great western portal of the church of 
 
 St. Cross, being an elegant specimen of 
 the early pointed or Gothic style, in a 
 complete state, as it prevailed in the reign 
 of king John \ and the early part of that 
 of Henry III. It consists of a double 
 arch with trefoil heads, and an open qua- 
 
 h What is here said applies only to the lower story of the 
 church. The windows of the upper part, together with the 
 oroining of the nave, and the west window and door, bear 
 demonstrative proofs of alterations subsequent to that period. 
 
 1 Witness the cloisters and refectory of Beaulieu abbey in 
 the New forest erected by that monarch, and bishop De 
 Lucy's works in Winchester cathedral. 
 
166 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 trefoil in the centre above them, forming 
 all together one elegant pointed arch, 
 which rests upon four slender columns, 
 with neat plain capitals and bases. The 
 arched moulding that rests upon the in- 
 ward pillars, consisting of the cup of a 
 flower inverted, in open carved work, is an 
 appropriate ornament of the pointed order, 
 being different from every kind of Saxon 
 moulding. We have here also one of the 
 first specimens of a canopy over a pointed 
 arch, which afterwards became so im- 
 portant a member in this style of architec- 
 ture. The present canopy is a plain wea- 
 ther moulding, of the same angle with the 
 arch itself, and rests, by way of corbels, on 
 two flowers, instead of human heads, 
 though an ornament of the latter kind is 
 seen in the open space, just above the 
 centre column. It may be looked upon 
 as certain, that this ornamented portal is 
 not coeval with the rest of the lower part 
 of the church; and from its style we may 
 safely pronounce that it was altered to its 
 present form about the beginning of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 Fig. 5. The great west window of the same church, 
 being divided by simple mullions into five 
 principal lights, the wheel above and other 
 intermediate spaces being filled with orna- 
 mental trefoils. This appears to be one 
 
OF THE PLATES. 
 
 167 
 
 of the earliest specimens of a great west 
 window, before transoms and ramified mul- 
 lions were introduced; and therefore the 
 western end of the church must have been 
 altered to receive this and the door beneath 
 it about the time above mentioned; the 
 eastern extremity of the church being left 
 (as it still continues) in its original state k . 
 There is a plain canopy, without any ap- 
 pearance of a pediment, over the 'arch of 
 this window, like that over the portal. 
 The chief improvement is, that it rests, in 
 the present instance, on corbel heads; 
 namely, those of a king and a bishop. 
 
 PLATE X. 
 
 Fig. 1. Clusters of slender insulated columns of 
 Purbeck marble, with plain neat capitals 
 and bases,, supporting long lancet-fashioned 
 windows ; such as began to be in use at 
 the latter end of the twelfth century, and 
 occur both on the outside and the inside 
 of bishop De Lucy's work at the eastern 
 end of Winchester cathedral. 
 
 k Bentham, whose authority is unquestionably the greatest 
 amongst those who have treated of these subjects, says, that 
 " great eastern and western windows became fashionable about 
 the latter end of the reign of 'Edward I. and in that of Edward 
 II." (p. 83, 84): he does not, however, by this deny that such 
 comparatively plain western windows as this of St. Cross 
 might have been made in the reign of Henry III. 
 
168 EXPLANATION 
 
 Fig. 2. A cinquefoil arch, supported by short Pur- 
 beck columns, over an altar tomb in the 
 northern aisle of the church of St. Cross, 
 which, by different signs, appears to have 
 been erected about the middle of the thir- 
 teenth century. The canopy, though it 
 does not rise to a pediment, is adorned 
 with crockets and a finial. 
 3. The tabernacle containing the statue of bishop 
 William of Wykeham, in the middle tower 
 of St. Mary's college, Winchester. The 
 canopy, ornamented with elegant mould- 
 ings and crockets, branches out from side 
 buttresses, and forms a pediment which 
 terminates in a pinnacle 1 . Other pin- 
 nacles crown the two buttresses themselves. 
 The inside of the canopy is vaulted with 
 tracery work, which springs from columns 
 that rest on corbels. This tabernacle was 
 
 1 The present canopy, though of a moderate height, is low 
 compared with those which had prevailed during the preceding- 
 century, when they proceeded in straight lines from the side 
 buttresses, until they converged in a lofty pinnacle of the 
 acutest angle, such as is seen at Westminster abbey, in the 
 monuments of Edmund Crouchback, who died in 1296, and 
 of John of Eltham, who died in 1334 ; also in the stall-work 
 
 the latter part of the reign 
 of Edward HI. the Canopies began to be reduced in their 
 height, by being curved towards the arches which they covered, 
 as may be seen on the monuments of queen Philippa, who 
 died in 1399, of Edward himself, who departed this life in 
 1377, of Sir Bernard Brocas, executed in 1399, all of which 
 are in Westminster abbey; likewise in the chantry of Wyke- 
 ham at Winchester, and generally in all canopies constructed 
 after the period above assigned. 
 
OF THE PLATES. 
 
 169 
 
 probably constructed by the founder him- 
 self in his lifetime, near the close of the 
 fourteenth century. 
 Fig. 4. A portion of the gorgeous fretwork in the 
 upper story of the altar screen of Win- 
 chester cathedral, consisting of columns, 
 buttresses, pinnacles, niches, tabernacles, 
 canopies, tracery work, groining, pendents, 
 fascias, finials, &c. all of the richest de- 
 sign and most exquisite workmanship, con- 
 stituting the ne plus ultra of ornament in 
 miniature, belonging to the pointed order. 
 The screen was finished by bishop Fox in 
 \5Z5. 
 
 PLATE XI. 
 
 An interior view of Durham Cathedral, 
 looking towards the east, in the nave. 
 Here, in broad character, is shewn the 
 true Saxon style, round massive columns, 
 with circular arches springing from them; 
 the ornaments, the bold torus, the simple 
 billet, the wavy cheveron, are in true cha- 
 racter with the style and antiquity of the 
 surrounding parts. The massiveness of 
 the composition produces a grandeur of 
 effect in this view, which impresses on the 
 mind awe, reverence, and wonder. 
 
170 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
 
 PLATE XII. 
 
 An interior view of Westminster Abbey, 
 looking towards the principal or western 
 entrance. The elegant lightness of the 
 pointed arch is here conspicuous; slender 
 columns, whose bulk is further concealed 
 by surrounding small columns or barrels, 
 here meet the eye: from these spring 
 highly-pointed arches, destined to carry 
 the incumbent weight, which is much and 
 judiciously relieved by the spacious open- 
 ings over the intervals, which are orna- 
 mented with light and elegant mouldings ; 
 the barrels rising from the capitals of the 
 columns, break and ornament the spaces 
 between the spandrels, and thence ascend- 
 ing to the roof, are lost in the spreading 
 groins of the vaulting. Here also is seen 
 the magnificence of the great western win- 
 dow. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 ABBENDON, an ancient Church at Note 53 
 
 Albert, Archbishop of York ; some account of 44 
 
 's description of St. Peter's Church at York 46 % 
 
 Alcuin, Archbishop and Architect 45 
 
 Alfred, K. Skill of, in Architecture, 4.9; — founds Athclney 
 and Shaftesbury Monasteries, 58; — invented lanterns • • • • 6*0 
 
 Alhambra, a Moorish palace at Grenada 114 
 
 Arch, specimens of the Roman • 98 
 
 ■ Saxon, sculpture of the ■» 08 
 
 ■ • Circular, used to the end of Henry I. reign, 1134 ••• • 67 
 
 but disappears entirely in the reign of Henry III. • • 77 
 
 Horse-shoe, a peculiarity in the Moorish Architecture 114 
 
 Specimens at Rumsey Abbey Church in Hampshire • • 115 
 
 and at St. Cross near Winchester 12(i 
 
 -a — Pointed, origin of the, xiv, 76, 103;— first of the 
 kind exceeding rude, xxii ; — supposed to have originated 
 in the time of the Crusades, 6 ; — its first appearance in 
 England, 115; — thought by some to have originated in this 
 country, 129; — improvements of, under Henry III. and the 
 three Edwards, xxii; — Rise and progress of, Plates 8. 9. 
 
 • — — Intersecting, which gave origin to the pointed • 130 
 
 Plates 4 and 9, 159, 164 
 Architecture. See Gothic, Grecian, Norman, Roman, 
 and Saxon. 
 
 ~ , similarity of the Saxon and Norman styles 6i, 62 
 
 — , of the middle ages, confusion in the terms 
 
 relating to •• . . xii 
 
 1 — 1 , style of columns, vaultings and windows, 
 
 temp. Henry III. 80, 81 ;— Edward I. 83;— Edward II. 
 
 83;— Edward III. 85 
 
 — , the study of, anciently confined to the Monks 47- 
 
 Asaph St. Cathedral, measurements of 137 
 
 Athclney, account of, 57; — church founded by Alfred •••• 58 
 
 Bangor Cathedral, measurements of 138 
 
 Barfreston Church, Kent, ornaments of its grand door 
 
 described • • 101 
 
 Basilica, meaning of and construction 53, 54 
 
 Bath, Abbey Church at, measurements of 138 
 
 Bells, use of, and consequences resulting • • • • 55 
 
 Bentham's remarks on Saxon churches 17 
 
 Essay 17 to 94 
 
 Bigod's Tower, Norwich, ix, 155. See Frontispiece. 
 
 Binham Priory, ornamented fascia from , . . . . Plate 3, 158 
 
 Bristol Cathedral, measurements of 139 
 
 Builders brought from abroad by Bp. Wilfrid 39 
 
172 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Cambridge, King's College Chapel at • « • • 86, 87 
 
 Canopies Plate 10, l68 
 
 Canterbury, Saxon Churches at, 24 ; — Roman Arches at • • • • 98 
 
 , St. Austin's foundation at, 26" ; — his burial • • • • 27 
 
 Cathedral, measurements of 139 
 
 Carlisle Cathedral, measurements of < 140 
 
 Castle-Rising, intersecting arches from 138 
 
 Cathedrals, List of, with their dimensions 137 
 
 , West fronts of those at Wells, Salisbury, Exeter, 
 
 &c. 15, 85 
 
 Chester Cathedral, measurements of • 140 
 
 Chichester Cathedral, measurements of • • J.41 
 
 Churches of Wood, in the Saxon times, at York, 21; — at 
 
 Dultinge and Lindisfarne 23 
 
 — ■ , Saxon, generally built of stone 24 
 
 , earliest, erected after the coming of the Saxons - • 26 
 
 1 , plan and disposition of the Saxon and Norman, 
 
 " 6l; — their difference, 64; — form of the Saxon, 54; — 
 
 introduced Towers • • • 103 
 
 -, necessity of towers to, first suggested by Bells • • 56" 
 
 , Towers and Turrets of those within a century from 
 
 the Norman Conquest 82 
 
 wholly rebuilt or greatly improved within that 
 
 century 66 
 
 , fashionable pillars in, during the reign of Henry - 
 
 III. of Purbeck Marble 80 
 
 in England, general beauty of the, temp. Henry 
 
 VIII. • 88 
 
 Columns of Purbeck Marble introduced, 80; — clustered • • 83 
 
 Croyland Monastery, founded by Ethelbald 43 
 
 Danes, disorder and confusion introduced by the 48,51 
 
 DATES of Buildings and their parts ascertained. 
 
 Bath, Abbey Church at, A. D. 1500 • • • 15 
 
 Cambridge, King's College Chapel at, 1441 8 
 
 ■ — Coventry, St. Michael's Spire at, 1395 Note 15 
 
 Cross St. near Winchester, 1 130 4 
 
 — Exeter Cathedral, Towers of, 1 1 12 4 
 
 • , West front of, 1340* ••• 15 
 
 : 1 , Episcopal throne, 1466 10 
 
 Ely Cathedral, Presbytery at east end of, 1250 • • • • 79 
 
 -, Conventual Church at, 673 • • • • 54 
 
 Glocester Cathedral, Nave, 1100 •» • • 4 
 
 , Choir, 1470 Note 9 
 
 -, Tower and Lady Chapel, 1490 9 
 
 Norwich Cathedral, Spire, 1278 13 
 
 Oxford, Christ Church Cathedral, 1180 4 
 
 Divinity School, Roof of, 1427 • • • 7 
 
 -, Portico of, l6l 3 2 
 
 Paul's St. Cathedral, London, Spire of, 1221 13 
 
 Somerset House, London, 1549 *■•»'• »»<... 1 
 
INDEX. . 173 
 
 Page 
 
 Date of Somersetshire Churches, Henry VII. • • • • • 10 
 
 Wells Cathedral, west end, 1402 15 
 
 , episcopal throne, 1450 10 
 
 — Winchester Cathedral, Transept, 1080 4 
 
 , Body, 1390 6 
 
 , Tombs of Waynflete, I486 • • 10 
 
 ■ , Screen behind altar, 1525 • • 10 
 
 Windsor, St. George's Chapel at, 1480 . . • . 8 
 
 David's St. Cathedral, measurements of 142 
 
 Durham Cathedral, measurements of 142 
 
 Edgar K. founded more than forty monasteries 51 
 
 Edward, son to K. Alfred, genius of, for Architecture 50 
 
 Edwin K. burial of, at York 30 
 
 Elizabeth, style of Building in the reign of 2 
 
 Ely Church and Monastery built under direction of Wilfrid, 
 
 Bishop of York 41 
 
 ■ , Ruins of the Saxon Monastery at! 42 
 
 * , plan of the old Conventual Church at 54 
 
 , plan of east end of ditto Plate 5, l6'0 
 
 , great western Tower of * * 77? 
 
 , South Transept at 67 
 
 , east end 79 
 
 , Fresbytery at 84 
 
 , St. Mary's Chapel'at 84, 86 
 
 , Bishop West's Chapel, temp. Henry VIII. 87 
 
 , Frette from an Arch at • • • • Plate 3, 158 
 
 Cathedral, measurements of • 143 
 
 Embattled Frette • • • Plate 3, 157 
 
 English, substituted for Gothic Architecture • iv 
 
 Episcopal Thrones at Wells, Exeter, &c. 10 
 
 Exeter Cathedral, Style of two Towers at, 4; — west front of 15 
 
 , measurements of ♦ 143 
 
 Facades or West Ends of Cathedrals covered with rows of 
 
 Statues • • • 14 
 
 Fotheringay, Collegiate Church of • 8 
 
 Glass, art of making introduced into England 32, 99 
 
 painted or stained, introduced temp. Henry III. • • 82 
 
 Glastonbury, Tower of the Church at 10 
 
 Glocester Cathedral, style of 4 
 
 , Choir of 9 
 
 , Tower at 10 
 
 , measurements of 144 
 
 Gothic, the term improperly applied to Architecture, hi, xii, 
 
 xiii, 74, 95 
 
 , Beauty of the style xvi 
 
 Architecture, Mr. Warton's classes of xxii, 5, 8 
 
 , on the Origin of 103 
 
 , Gradations of it originated in England 129 
 
 , Marks which constitute the character of 119 
 
 — , Commencement of the 5 
 
 , First arches of the Order exceeding rude • xxii 
 
174 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Gothic, absurd mixtures of the 2 
 
 , free from Saxon mixture 5 
 
 ■ Architecture, decline of 117 
 
 Grecian Style not prevalent in England till the time of Inigo 
 
 Jones 1 
 
 * , one of the earliest specimens of the I 
 
 • introduced n& 
 
 GROSE F. Essay by 95 to 124 
 
 Henry VIII. Style of Building in the reign of 11, 117 
 
 Hereford Cathedral, Great Tower at 69 
 
 , measurements of 145 
 
 Hexham Church 33, 40, 47, 97 
 
 Hyde Abbey 131 
 
 King's College Chapel, Cambridge $6 
 
 LandafF Cathedral, measurements of 14.5 
 
 Lichfield Cathedral, measurements of 146" 
 
 Lincoln Cathedral 5 
 
 — — , Style of xxi 
 
 , measurements of 146 
 
 • Church at, built by Paulinus 31 
 
 London, St. Mary Le Bow 19 
 
 « , Old Temple Church, 76; — intersecting arches at • • 139 
 
 , White Tower, Chapel in the 60 
 
 — , Old St. Paul's Cathedral 19, 65, 69, 79 
 
 , Old and New St. Paul's Cathedral, measurements of 147 
 
 Malmesbury Abbey, St. Dunstan's gifts to 55 
 
 Man Cathedral, measurements of 148 
 
 Milner's Essay on the Pointed Arch 125 to 133 
 
 ■ — Letter to the Editor xi 
 
 Moorish Architecture, greatest peculiarity in the 114 
 
 Buildings 115 
 
 Mouldings Saxon 69 
 
 Nebule Moulding Plate 3, 158, Plate 5, 159 
 
 Netley Abbey 131 
 
 Style of xxi 
 
 Norman, used to signify the Pointed Style xiii 
 
 Style, 6l ; — instances of the, 3,4; — specimens of 
 
 enumerated, 72 ; — peculiarities of it 129 
 
 Normans, improvements in Architecture introduced by the, iv, 6"l 
 Northumberland, Churches scarce in, according to Bede • • 38 
 
 Norwich Castle, Bigod's Tower at * 135' 
 
 Cathedral, Spire of, 13; — little figure of Bishop 
 
 Losing over the noith transept door 70 
 
 , Specimens of the Architecture of • • 138, 139 
 
 — ■ , measurements of « • 149 
 
 , Arch at St. Julian's Church in« • • • 139 
 
 Orford, Suffolk, Piers of the ruined Chapel at Plate 6, 160 
 
 Ornaments, peculiar • 6$ 
 
 Oxford, Christ Church Cathedral at, Style of 4 
 
 — • } measurements of 149 
 
 ■ , Divinity School at ♦ • » i t ».«•*,♦ t < 7 
 
INDEX. 175 
 
 Page 
 
 Peterborough Cathedral, Lantern at • • ,13 
 
 , measurements of 150 
 
 Porticus, meaning of • • 27, 31 
 
 Ramsey Abbey, Huntingdonshire, particular description of, 51 
 
 52, 97 
 
 Religious Houses, havoc at the surrender of 89 
 
 Rippon, Church at, 47; — foundation of 33 
 
 Rochester Cathedral, 5; — founded by St. Austin • • • 2d 
 
 ■ 1 measurements of 150 
 
 Rumsey Abbey Church, Hampshire 4 
 
 Salisbury, Old Cathedral of 72, 73 
 
 Cathedral, 1 l6;— finished A. D. 1258, 78;— Style 
 
 of, xii, xxi, 5 ; — unmixed with the early Norman style, 72, 
 
 78; — vaulting of, 81 ; — Saxon Tower discernable 12 
 
 , . f Spire of, 12; — origin of the Spire • • • • 133 
 
 . , measurements of 150 
 
 Sandwich, Kent, frctte at 157 
 
 Saxon Arches, Sculpture of the 6'8 
 
 Architecture, Statues not used among its Ornaments 70 
 
 Cathedrals, Towers of the * 12 
 
 Churches, Mr. Bentham's Historical Remarks on the 17 
 
 , of Wood, 21, 23, 95;— generally built of 
 
 Stone • • • • 24 
 
 Style, 59; — introduced into the Northern parts of 
 
 the island in the 8th century, 42; — prevalent through 
 
 Europe • 99 
 
 ■ ■ — — , peculiarities, decorations, and distinguishing 
 
 marks of . 6'7, 70, 100 
 
 1 ■ , Sir Christopher Wren's opinion concerning the 59 
 
 Vaulting, disguised by Gothic additions 9 
 
 and Norman Styles, decorations of the 71 
 
 Screens, at Winchester, built 1525; at Wells, 1450; at 
 
 Exeter, 1466 10 
 
 Seals, Great, display the taste of Architecture which pre- 
 vailed in different reigns • 11 
 
 Shaftesbury Monastery 57 
 
 Somerset House, an early specimen of the Grecian style • • 1 
 
 Somersetshire Churches, of the florid Gothic 10 
 
 Spires 13, 133 
 
 , one of the earliest at Old St. Paul's, finished A.D. 
 
 1222 • 83 
 
 t , introduction of 13 
 
 Statues, not used among the Ornaments of Saxon Architec- 
 ture • 70 
 
 St. Cross, near Winchester, 4, 6*9, 76 ; — Chapel of, 60 ; — 
 
 Tower of Church 12 
 
 ■ , Mr. Milnor's account of 125 
 
 Stone, for building, brought from Caen and other places in 
 
 Normandy • • • • 3, 18, 100, 123 
 
 Taunton, Tower of the Church at 10 
 
 Thrones, Episcopal, date of ..•» t 10 
 
I7p INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Tomb Architecture, improvement of lo 
 
 Towers, necessity of, first suggested by Bells - •'• 12, 56, 82 
 
 Vaulting of Roofs, decorations of, &c. 80, 83 
 
 Warton's, Rev. T. Essay 1 to 15 
 
 Warwick, Choir of St. Mary's Church at 6 
 
 Wells Episcopal Throne ♦ • • • 10 
 
 Cathedral, west end of • 15 
 
 , measurements of • • 151 
 
 Wermouth Monastery •• * 31 
 
 Westminster Abbey, xxi, 6l; — the Confessor's building 
 
 of, 64; — rebuilt by Henry I II. 79;— View of the Nave, 
 
 Plate 12. 
 
 , measurements of 153 
 
 Wilfrid, Bishop of York 38, 44 
 
 Wimboltsham, Saxon Ornaments at l60 
 
 Winchester Cathedral, body of • • * 6 
 
 . , Screen behind the Altar in 10 
 
 ■ — ■ 1 — , Style of the Transept of 4 
 
 ^ D e Lucy's work in 131 
 
 , Specimens of Architecture at ...... lo'2 
 
 , Cardinal Beaufort's shrine 9 
 
 ; , Bishop Fox's Chantry xxii, 9 
 
 : — } Bishop Gardiner's Monument 2 
 
 , Bishop Waynflete's Shrine f) 
 
 . measurements of 152 
 
 College, Tabernacle of the Statue of William of 
 
 Wykeham at • • • l68 
 
 Windows, changes made in the form of, 71 ; — enlarged • • • • 84 
 
 of the age of Henry III. 81 
 
 , two under one arch • 131 
 
 , great eastern and western, when first fashionable, 84, 132 
 
 Plate 9, 12, 166. 
 Wood, early Saxon Churches built of, 20; — at York, 21 ; — 
 
 at Dultinge, 23; — at Lindisfarne • 23 
 
 Worcester Cathedral, measurements of 152 
 
 Wren, Sir Christopher, ill informed as to the structures of 
 
 the Middle Ages, xv, xvi; — -his opinion further canvassed 127 
 
 York, St. Peter's Cathedral at 30, 33, 44, 47, 53 
 
 f Tower of- ix, Plate 7, l6l 
 
 } Library at, A.D. 780 45 
 
 t , remains of old work under the 
 
 Choir of • • • • • • 77 
 
 measurements of ••• 154 
 
 Zig-zag, specimen of • Plate 2, 157 
 
 Printed by Barlow and Child, 
 5 } Knowles' Court, Little Carter Lane. 
 
nibhflxd fyj Tliif n rTiTI niTiufca 
 
Fig. 5. 
 
Flate 
 
 Puthpiit tyJ.T/nlor. ]li>Worn.I.mdon. 
 
I +7^4 
 
 THE GETTY CENTER 
 LIBRARY