THE NORMAN PERIOD, A.D. 1090-1150.
We have now arrived at the period of those rich Norman churches which may still be considered as amongst the glories of our land.
It is very remarkable that so large a number of buildings of the rich character which generally distinguishes this style should all have been built in about half a century, from 1120 to 1170 or 1180; yet such is clearly the case. The early Norman style has been already described; the late or rich Norman is chiefly characterized by the abundance of ornament and the deep cutting, the absence of which is the chief characteristic of the earlier period.
Before we proceed to describe it, a few of the buildings known to have been erected at this time may be mentioned.
Peterborough Cathedral was begun from its foundations in 1117 by John de Seez, who formed the plan of the whole of it, which was rigidly carried out by his successors, and it was consecrated in 1143; the work is very good, but not very rich. The Norman tower at Bury St. Edmund’s was commenced in the same year, 1117, and finished in 1130; the porch is an addition about half a century later. The nave of Norwich was built between 1122 and 1145: the work is still very plain, being in continuation of the previous work. Castor Church, Northamptonshire, bears an inscription recording its dedication in 1124: the tower is good, rich Norman work; the ornaments are the hatched, the square billet, and the scollop, all of very simple character, shallow, and easily worked. Furness Abbey was founded in 1127, but very little of the original work remains. In Canterbury Cathedral, the work of Prior Ernulf, under St. Anselm, was completed in 1130, and part of Rochester, where Ernulf had become bishop, in the same year; so that we need not be surprised at finding more ornament in these two cathedrals than is quite consistent with the usual character of early Norman work, and the same ornaments repeated in both these churches. St. Martin’s priory at Dover was founded in 1131; the refectory is still standing, and is a good example of plain Norman work, neither very early nor very late.
The small Norman church of Newhaven in Sussex is unusually perfect, and gives a good general idea of a parish church of the twelfth century. At first sight it looks earlier than it is; the bold projection of the buttresses indicates a later period, early Norman buttresses are very flat, the greater the projection the later
Newhaven Church, Sussex, c. A.D. 1120.
The apse is usually an early feature; in this instance the projection of the buttresses and the ornamental string round it shew it to be later. The side-window is an insertion in the Early English style.