contains a trefoiled arch, and those at the sides seem to have contained a similar arch, but they are now much decayed.
The west wall has flat buttresses of Norman character (see [Fig. 374.]) at each side of the central aisle, and the upper portion of the wall has a central round-headed window, flanked on each side by three small pointed arch heads, the caps carrying which rested on long single free shafts, now gone. The central window has deep mouldings, but no enrichment. The west front has been finished with an octagonal turret at each side, as at Kelso Abbey, and the gable contains a central circular window, which has been filled with tracery at a late date. The west end walls of the aisles have each contained a circular headed window of Norman design, with a chevron ornament in the arch and a nook shaft at each side.
The south doorway ([Fig. 376]), leading from the cloister into the nave above referred to, is of late Norman design. It is extremely rich in its decoration, though somewhat decayed. It contains the remains of several shafts and enrichments in the jambs, and the caps have been very elaborate in their carving. The round arch head contains four orders of mouldings. The inner order and the door jambs are both carved with the same chevron ornament; the next order consists of plain mouldings; the third order is enriched with figures comprised in small semicircles; and the outer order contains a deep series of zig-zags. The whole is enclosed with a small label. The doorpiece projects, the outer angle having a bold bead, and a small cornice runs along the top.
The above description of the nave and its Norman west end and doorways will make clearer what has already been indicated with regard to the completion or restoration of the edifice in the Transition period. The suggestion is that the lower part of the walls of the choir and the western wall and doorway and south doorway being all of Norman work, it seems probable that the whole building was set out and partially executed in Norman times, and that the work was either stopped for a considerable period and then resumed, or that the structure, after being completed, was destroyed, and had to be restored in the late Transition style.
The Transition work is well advanced in style, and may be regarded as being of the date of the end of the twelfth century, or beginning of the thirteenth century.
The Norman north transept, as already mentioned, is fairly well preserved, but both the north and south transepts have undergone great repairs about the end of the fifteenth century. The crossing appears to have been so greatly damaged by the assaults of the fifteenth century that it was found necessary to rebuild it. The restoration is distinctly visible (see [Fig. 364.]) in the south-east pier of the crossing, the style of which is quite different from that of the Norman work adjoining in the choir and south transept ([Fig. 367]), and the junction of the new work with the old is very apparent. This pier has clearly been rebuilt. It is plain next the crossing, but next the aisle it consists of a series of
Fig. 375.—Jedburgh Abbey. West Doorway.