The work is frequently quite as massive, and in all other respects of as early character, with the pointed arch as with the round one; they occur in Malmesbury Abbey Church, apparently in the work of Roger, bishop of Salisbury, A.D. 1115-1139, without any other apparent difference of character from the rest of the work. The pointed arch, taken by itself, is therefore no proof of the change of style, nor even of late work.
St. Cross Church, near Winchester, founded by Henry de Blois in 1136, has pointed arches; and the triforium has intersecting arcades, with the intervals left open as windows. To these may be added, Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, founded in 1132: pointed arches occur in the early part of the work, which is of pure Norman character, and appears to have been built before the fire in 1140;—and Kirkstall Abbey, built between 1152 and 1182; here the work is of later character, but still pure Norman. All these are previous to the period of transition, and have not transitional moldings.
The Piers in the earlier period are either square solid masses of masonry, or recessed at the angles, in the same manner as the arches, or they are plain round massive pillars, with frequently only an impost of very simple character, but often with capitals. The round pillars are sometimes ornamented with a kind of fluting, as in the crypt at Canterbury, sometimes with a rude and shallow zig-zag pattern, as at Waltham Abbey, Durham, and Lindisfarne.
In the later period the pillars are in general not so massive as in the early part of the style, and are frequently ornamented with small shafts; and these as well as the pillars are sometimes banded, as at St. Peter’s, Northampton.
The Capitals in early work are either plain cubical masses with the lower angles rounded off, forming a sort of rude cushion shape, as at Winchester, or they have a sort of rude volute, apparently in imitation of the Ionic, cut upon the angles; and in the centre of each face a plain square block in the form of the Tau cross is left projecting, as if to be afterwards carved: this remarkable feature is found in the chapel of the White Tower, London, in the early part of the crypt at Canterbury, at St. Nicholas, Caen, and other early work, but it has never been observed in late work.
The scolloped capital belongs to rather a later period than the plain cushion or the rude Ionic, and does not occur before the time of Henry I.; as at Stourbridge, Malmesbury, and Kirkstall. This form of capital was perhaps the most common of all in the first half of the twelfth century, and continued in use to the end of the Norman style.
The capitals were frequently carved at a period subsequent to their erection, as in the crypt at Canterbury ([p. 37]), where some of the capitals are finished, others half-finished, with two sides blank, and others not carved at all. In the early work at Westminster ([p. 13]), before mentioned, this is equally evident. At Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, is the jamb of a Norman doorway with the pattern for the sculptor scratched upon it with the chisel, but never executed.
In later Norman work the capitals are frequently ornamented with foliage, animals, groups of figures, &c., in endless variety. The abacus throughout the style is the most characteristic member, and will frequently distinguish a Norman capital when other parts are doubtful. Its section is a square with the lower part chamfered off, either by a plain line or a slight curve; but as the style advanced it had other moldings added, and the whole are frequently so overlaid with ornament that it is difficult to distinguish the section (or profile) of its moldings.
NORMAN CAPITALS.
