174

HISTORY OF AKCIIITECTUUE.
Book I.
GOO
..^-?-5V-^'!UA^,'-7|l
'mmmmi
Fi;;. ISS.
soiniAX ORSAJiKNTS. (Soe names of Mouldings, p.
92.^.)
3. The trianipdur fietle ; 4. The nail head ; 5. The hillet ; 6. 'Die cnb/e;
7. Tlie hatched,
S. The hizeiige; 9. The ivavy ; 10. The jwlht mouldhig
;
11. Tlie nehide. The t^rta was
used, as was also the cavetto, which were both of Grecian extraction. The chief of tliese
ornaments, perhaps all, were used in the Saxon age, besides others wliich were oc-
casionally employed, and wliich to designate by name would be difficult ; such, for in-
stance, as the ci)rhel-tal)le
(1-),
which consists of small ranges of arches, resting on consoles
sometimes decorated with carved heads, often introduced along tlie whole L'uiiding im*
meiliately below tiie eaves or battleinent. Sometimes carved heads are observed in the
s|)Miulrels of arches, and are abo used as capitals of the ornamental pilasters, or as cor-
bels, to support what is called th"^ can.ipy, or exterior semicircle of moulding on arches
of entrance, or above tlie keystones of those arches. There are instances of whole figures
over doors in mezzo-rilievo which Millers observes was the nearest approach the Normans
seem to have made to a statue. Plans.
The churches of this period are always with
transepts, and a tower at the intersection, loftier than heretofore, but without spires over
them. There are rising from them stories of arches, one above the other
;
and the eastern
ends are semicircular. Though much of the Saxon style is retained, there is, from the
larger dimensions of the edifices of this period, a much more impressive air of mag-
nificence than had before appeared. Millers very truly says, that the churches were
"
in all dimensions much amjjler. with a general air of cumbrous massive grandeur.
'I'he Normans were fond of stateliness and magnificence
;
and though they retained the
other characteristics of the Saxon style, by this amjilitication of dimensions tlicy made such
a striking change as might justly be entitled to the denomination wliich it received at
its first introduction among our Saxon ancestors, of a vnv style
of
architecture.^' The
criterion between the Saxon and Norman styles, of enlarged dimensions, is too vague
to guide the reader in a determination of the age of buildings of this period
;
for it is only in
large edifices, such as cathedral and conventual churches, with their transepts, naves, side
aisles, and arches in tier above tier, that this can be perceptible. There are many parish
churches of this age, whose simplicity of form and small dimensions have been mistaken
foi Saxon buildings
;
and which, from not possessing any of the grander Norman features,
have been assigned to an earlier age. The distinction ascertainable from heights of co-
lumns, naiuely, taking the height of the Norman column at from four to six diameters,
and that of the Saxon at only two,

will, we fear, be insufficient to decide the question in

caf.es of doubt; but it must be admitted this is one of the means which, in some measiu-e,
would lead us to an approximate judgment of the matter, and a careful observation and
comparison of specimens would make it more definite. We shall here merely add, that the
first Norman architects, by the lengthened vista of the nave, uninterrupted by any choir
scteen, produced a sublime and imposing effect by the simple grandeur and amplitude of
dimensions in their churclus.
;i98. E.vinnples.Examples of Norman architecture in English cathedral churches are to lie
found at E/y, in the western towers and nave; at Bristol, in the elder Laily Chapel, and Chap-
ter House; at Canterhiiri/ in the choir, and the roinid part called Ikcket's Crown ; at Norwich-