NORMAN STYLE.
This style is easily recognised by its simple and massive forms and its semi-circular arches. The exterior ([Fig. 17]) is generally plain, with broad and slightly projecting buttresses attached to the building, and sometimes
Fig. 17.—Church of St. Cross, Hampshire. Elevation of the East End. (From Britton’s Antiquities.)
crowned with pinnacles. The doorways are, however, generally treated in a more ornamental manner. They are often deeply recessed, and have the jambs decorated with a series of round shafts set in square nooks or recesses, and furnished with richly-carved caps and bases. The arch
Fig. 18.—Durham Cathedral. The Nave. (From Billings’ Durham Cathedral.)
mouldings, which are also numerous, are arranged in square steps or orders, and frequently ornamented with much carving of special kinds of enrichments. Of these the chevron, or zig-zag, is most abundantly used, together with the billet, the bird’s head, &c. The windows are wide in proportion to their height, and are covered in with round arches.
In the interior ([Fig. 18]) the Norman piers consist of simple cylindrical columns of great size, frequently carved with large zig-zags or spiral lines carried round them, and finished with bold caps and bases. The most frequent caps are of the “cushion” form, which resembles one or more spherical figures having portions cut off perpendicularly. The caps are also sometimes carved with human or other figures. The abacus is always solid, and generally square in shape. In some examples, especially in France, the capitals of the piers are frequently carved in rude imitation of the Corinthian form and foliage.
Late examples show the piers subdivided into the clustered form, which became universal in the subsequent periods. In the transition from Norman to Early Pointed, many of the features of the latter style are gradually introduced. Hence a mixture of the round and pointed arch, and a lightening of the mouldings, and a new kind of carving of foliage are observable in the latter half of the twelfth century. The earlier Norman edifices are extremely plain, scarcely any ornament being used. The figure sculpture is almost entirely confined to the period after 1135.