The arch opening from the chancel to the tower is 9 feet 10 inches wide by 27 feet high, and is of a plainer description than the apse archway.
Fig. 157.—St. Regulus’. Arch Moulding of West Arch of Tower.
The jambs have a square recess or nook on each face of the wall with a shaft in each recess; and the arch above is quite plain, with square edges. The western arch, from the tower into the supposed nave, is shown in Fig. 154. It is 10 feet 4 inches wide by 28 feet high. Both of the archways in the tower are now built up. The moulding of the west arch, as far as visible, is shown in Fig. 157. The capitals of all the shafts are rather shapeless and clumsy, but the necking and arch mouldings are of good design. The arches are all slightly of the horse-shoe form.
The three-arched openings above described are all of about the same dimensions, and as the two eastern ones cannot be called doorways, so neither can the western one be considered as merely the entrance doorway to the church, but would rather appear to be the arched opening from the nave into the tower and chancel. When we consider that this church was once a cathedral, as well as the church of a monastery, and also, perhaps, served the purpose of a parish church, it seems probable that it must have been a larger building than the simple oblong chamber to the east of the tower which now survives. Considerable discussion has taken place with reference to the probable arrangement of the plan. Some have supposed that the church consisted of the simple oblong chamber which still exists, with an eastern apse and western tower; while others maintain that the existing oblong was the choir, that there was a western nave, and that the tower was central. Sir G. Gilbert Scott points out that in the latter case St. Regulus’ would be parallel to Jarrow Church, while in the former case the church may have had a lofty western porch, as had those of Wearmouth and Barton-upon-Humber. Sir Gilbert, however, thinks that the large size of the western arch, and the mark of
Fig. 158.—St. Regulus. Belfry Window.
the roof on the tower, suggest a nave.[146] The seals of the church, dated 1204 and 1214, which are preserved at Durham, show a nave and chancel.