The Arches are generally round-headed: in early work they are plain and square-edged, with or without a recess at the angle; sometimes doubly recessed, and still square-edged, as in the early work at Westminster, p. 11, the White Tower, London, and the transept of Winchester, p. 27; sometimes molded, with plain round moldings. In the later period they are more richly molded than in the early part of the style: the chancel-arch especially is very much enriched; and the western side, facing the spectator when looking towards the altar, is generally much more ornamented than the eastern side. The chancel-arch at Iffley is one of the richest and best examples: where there is a central tower, as in that instance, both the tower-arches across the church are usually ornamented in the same manner; the side-arches, where there are transepts, are frequently much plainer, and often pointed. In the later part of the Norman style, without any other change, they are still quite plain and square-edged. In this manner the pointed arch occurs quite as early as 1150, or even earlier; at a later period they become much more common, and are gradually developed into the Early English style, which some call the “first pointed style;” but the pointed arch alone does not make a change of style.
The Small Arcades which are frequently used as decorations of the walls, and for sedilia, have scarcely any separate character; they are diminutives of the larger arches, except that the shafts are smaller and shorter in proportion: in rich work they are used both inside and outside of the walls, and frequently on the outside of the clerestory, as well as on the inside in front of the blind-story, now called the triforium. Intersecting arches occur in these arcades from a very early period; and Rickman observes, that whoever constructed them, constructed pointed arches; and he adds, “It appears as if the round and pointed arches were for nearly a century used indiscriminately, as was most consonant to the necessities of the work, or the builder’s ideas.” At Canterbury, an ornamental arcade of intersecting arches occurs both on the inside and outside of the wall in St. Anselm’s tower.
In the apse in the White Tower the arches are stilted to accommodate them to their position. The arches of the triforium are generally wide and low; sometimes they are divided by two sub-arches.
The form of the arch was at all periods dictated partly by convenience, and is not to be relied on as a guide to the date or style; but there was a prevailing fashion, and that form was usually followed at each period, unless there was some reason for changing it, which is generally obvious if we look for it. To
NORMAN ARCHES.
Triforium Arcade, Peterborough Cathedral, A.D. 1146.
This is the earliest example known of what is called Plate-tracery; this was soon followed by Bar-tracery in windows.
judge of the age of any building we must look at the general character of the work, and not seize upon some particular feature to ground any rule upon. The moldings are generally the safest guide, but even these sometimes require to be qualified by comparison with other parts.